The most popular superstitions and their origin

We have collected the top ten most common superstitions and their origins. Whether you believe in bad omens or not, it may be interesting for you to find out where their "legs grow" from.

You can't do anything on Friday, the 13th.

The belief in a terrible day-Friday, the 13th-supposedly appeared from a free interpretation of the Old Testament. Allegedly, it was on this day that Cain killed his brother Abel. Over time, this legend has become overgrown with a huge amount of speculation, turning the number 13 into a sign of troubles and misfortunes.

You can't pass anything through the threshold.

The thing is that in ancient times, the ashes of ancestors were stored under the threshold of the house, and it was considered extremely dangerous to disturb them by passing something through the threshold. That is why it is impossible to sit on the threshold, which is still considered the border between two worlds — a safe home and a hostile world, or even more terrible — the world of the living and the world of the dead.

If a black cat has crossed the road, it will be a misfortune.

Often, under the cover of night, almost indistinguishable in the dark, a black cat ran across the rider's path, the horse bucked, and the rider fell. It was for these tricks that black cats were accused of having ties with evil spirits.

You can't give away a watch.

Even now, in our enlightened age, such a gift as a watch is considered undesirable. Why not? This belief came to us from China, where they believe that getting a watch as a gift is an invitation to a funeral.

You can't celebrate your fortieth birthday.

This superstition is most likely due to the fact that the number forty is sacred in many cultures. It is, for example, often found in the Bible: for forty years Moses led the Jews through the desert, the Great Flood lasted forty days, and Jesus spent forty days in the desert after His baptism…

Our Slavic ancestors also treated the number forty with respect — there is an opinion that the number system was based on it. Many rituals related to birth and death were tied to the number 40. For example, the child could not be shown to strangers for forty days after his birth. On the fortieth day after death, the deceased was remembered for the last time: it was believed that his soul on this day finally said goodbye to the earthly world. In addition, in Kievan Rus at the dawn of Christianity, there was an interesting custom of checking the body of the deceased on the fortieth day. If the deceased led a righteous life and showed signs of incorruptibility, the question of his canonization could arise.

Before leaving the house, you need to "sit down on the path".

This sign is based on the ancient belief of people in good and evil spirits who rule the world. It was believed that house spirits cling to a person, interfering with him on the road and trying to bring him back, which means that there will be no good road. If you sit down before a long road, you can deceive the spirits — they will think that no one is going anywhere anymore, and they will lose their vigilance.

You can't eat with a knife.

The knife was considered not only an instrument of labor, but also an instrument of protection — both from real dangers and from all sorts of evil spirits. Such an important magical item required special treatment and was used only after performing special rituals. Eating from it meant angering the spirits, which make a person angry and aggressive. In addition, this way you can simply cut yourself.

You can't pick up anything at the intersection.

It is believed that if you" transfer " an illness or misfortune to some thing and throw it at the intersection, it will be taken away by evil spirits. It is in order not to pick up other people's troubles for yourself, and you should not pick up anything at intersections, because the more expensive the thing found there, the more serious the trouble or illness reduced to it.

You can't walk in one shoe.

This sign was observed at all times. One one of the old people says that if a person allows himself to walk in one shoe or one slipper, then he becomes an orphan very early.

After sunset, you can not take out the garbage.

This is probably the most popular sign among men. In principle, everyone knows it, but not everyone knows its roots. It is believed that if you take out the garbage after sunset, there will be gossip about you. And this is not surprising — why would there be any joy in taking something out of the house under the cover of darkness? After all, the neighbors are vigilant and will not miss the opportunity to discuss why you hide your garbage like this. They also say that when you take out the garbage at night, you take money out of the house, but this is not so easy to explain logically.