Signs of Good and Bad Luck

Signs of Good and Bad Lucks !

Interesting Myths and Superstitions around the World ! Part V

• The Romans had a habit of casting into a stone every day, the color of the stone denoting whether the person was in good or bad luck. At the end of the year the stones were counted and a balance cast to see whether good or bad preponderated. 

• It is unlucky to be recalled after starting away on a voyage. At least a day should be allowed to elapse before starting out again. 

• To leave home and be compelled to come back for some article which was forgotten, is unlucky, unless you sit down for a moment before going out a second time.

• Carrying a crust of bread in one's pocket is considered lucky and brings prosperity. 

• If in eating you miss your mouth and the food falls, it is unlucky and denotes illness. 

• A bent coin or one with a hole in it, are often carried for good luck. A crooked sixpence is popular for this purpose in England. 

• In many rural districts it is customary to give back to a customer of com or cattle a small part of the money he has just paid. This is called "luck money." 

• In some countries the buyer gives the seller a small coin to insure his luck. 

• To count your gains is supposed to bring bad luck. To reckon on money you are to receive and lay out plans of spending it, is considered unlucky. One should never count one's chickens before they are hatched. 

• Burning tea leaves is supposed to bring good luck, but to bum the leaves of a rose is a bad omen. 

• Finding a four-leaf clover is a sure sign of good luck. It should be worn in the lapel or pinned to one's coat. 

• There is a legend that Eve on being ejected from Paradise took a four-leaf clover with her. 

• To pluck an ash leaf was considered lucky in olden times. 

• On meeting a person out on new business, it is well to salute him with "I wish you good luck." 

• It is bad luck to shake hands with any one across the table. 

• It is a bad omen to find the bellows on the dining table. 

• It is a sign of ill luck to find money and not spend it. It should be spent in a good cause, or given in charity. 

• "Set a pin and pick it up, all the day you'll have good luck. See a pin and leave it lay, you will have bad luck all the day." 

• It is lucky to throw a small coin into a well of drinking water. 

• To sit cross-legged is considered a sign of good luck. To cross one's fingers is another way of averting evil.

Source: Signs. Omens and Superstitions book