As Stevie Wonder once remarked “When you believe in things that you don't understand, then we suffer, Superstition ain't the way”
Wise words indeed from the great man but if we’re being honest not ones even the most sceptical of us bother with on a daily basis for if we as a nation are to look deep into our mystical little hearts, you’d find a superstitious sod lurking suspiciously.
Here are the 5 superstitions we are ALL slaves to whether we admit it or not.
1. Sneaks and Ladders
The majority of people would rather step into oncoming traffic rather than walk under a ladder. This superstition arises from early Christian teachings that an object with three points represents the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The early superstitious thought is that walking under a ladder — through the Holy Trinity — expresses disbelief in the trinity and that one is in league with Satan...natch! Performing such an act, especially in early Christian times, could have gotten you labelled as a witch and an unwelcome invite to a BBQ. This particular lunacy has lasted the ages and even those ‘brave’ enough to defiantly brave this ancient unholy curse will wince just a little!
2. Dry Toast
There’s little more we Irish love doing more than sharing a cherished ale or a vino in the company of our slight less cherished friends and family. Part of this ritual joy is the clinking/smacking of each other’s glasses to a cheery ‘Sláinte’. You might think this a simple and hearty tradition but should you not sup directly after you Sláinte you are doomed to have bad sex for 7 years...it’s just science.
3. Knock On Wood
The expression comes from the ancient belief that good spirits lived in trees, so by knocking on something wooden, a person was calling on the spirits for protection and in our own local version, it was a thank you to the little folk for good luck. This is one of the more adaptable superstitions as people will reach for the nearest hard surface and mutter something like "I think the interview went well...touch Polyurethan"
4. Bride before a fall!
Weddings are essentially the Olympics of superstition! A groom accidentally catching a glimpse of his soon wife’s guna will the bridal party to explode like angry seagulls, her mother to faint and the bride to consider cancelling the entire deal. The origins of this one are as typically depressing. During the time when arranged marriages were custom, the betrothed couple wasn’t allowed to see each other before the wedding at all. The wedding symbolized a business deal between two families (romantic, huh?), and a father would have been pleased for his daughter to marry a man from a rich, land-owning family. But he also feared that if the groom met the bride before the wedding and thought she wasn’t attractive, he’d call off the wedding, casting shame onto the bride and her family. Therefore, it became tradition that the bride and groom were only allowed to meet at the wedding ceremony so that the groom did not have the opportunity to change his mind. And that veil the bride wears? Its original purpose was also to keep the groom from finding out what the bride looked like until the last possible minute, when it was too late to back out of the transaction.
5. Droppings Like It’s Hot
Talk about seeing the good in everything. Being used as a portaloo by a bird is fowl in the extreme (ahem) but this ignominy will very soon be compounded by some cheery sod making some ‘reassuring’ remark along the lines of ‘Ah sure that’s a sign of good luck’. In this case you are very much entitled to shove the soiled garment where the birds don’t fly!
