Column Chronicles: Global superstitions

Global superstitions

Frank Cotolo
March 26, 2020

In every corner of civilization there are beliefs that good or bad luck will surface under certain circumstances. Here are some of the superstitions embedded in various neighbourhoods of Earth.

In Liberia, no luck will come to any man whose wife sings herself to sleep while waving to a neighbor.

In Italy, it is thought that baking two apple pies at once could cause a local catastrophe.

Residents of towns outside of major cities in Sweden feel that good fortune will come their way if five blondes dye their hair with water from the same pond.

In Nigeria, the third son of a second son will be honored his entire life whenever he crosses a bamboo bridge while holding a rooster.

Deep in the Louisiana backwoods, Cajun families scorn the use of Brillo Pads to clean canoes because it corrupts their ability to play accordions.

New Yorkers refuse to cross the street when the light turns green for pedestrians because that is when they are supposed to walk and to follow rules in the big city is asking for cosmic punishment.

In rural Spain, people believe a curse will fall upon the first woman to draw a mallard on her husband's back during sexual intercourse.

In most of the Orient, licking a dog's ear is seen as a sign the devil has entered the soul of someone in the vicinity of the licking.

In Australia, putting out a campfire on Sundays is taboo due to an old saying that goes: Do not be so foolish as to put your campfire out on Sundays.

In The Hague, luck will be cast upon all people who wind their watches in the opposite direction.

Brazilians say that when a couple falls in love they exchange genders.

Canadians never accept free passes to hockey games, else be hit by a puck during the game.

French women who shave their armpits on any day but Wednesday are in for happy times.

To teach mathematics before noon in Florida is to bring death upon someone who is not even sick at the time.

Peruvians are loathe to climb a rope ladder immediately after the birth of a child.

Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.