Every superstition
has a story.

Hanging Lemons & Chillies at Doorways

Tying seven green chillies and a lemon on a thread and hanging it at the entrance of your home or shop keeps away Alakshmi (the goddess of misfortune). If she comes, she'll eat the sour and spicy offering and leave satisfied without entering.

Don't Cut Your Nails at Night

Cutting your nails after sunset brings bad luck, invites evil spirits, or angers the goddess Lakshmi. Some versions say it shortens your life or brings poverty.

Don't Sleep Under a Peepal Tree at Night

Ghosts and spirits live in Peepal trees, and they come alive at night. Sleeping under one will make you possessed or sick. The tree is considered sacred but dangerous after dark.

Eat Curd & Sugar Before Important Events

Before heading out for an exam, interview, or any important event, eating a spoonful of curd (yogurt) mixed with sugar brings good luck. Your mom basically won't let you leave without it.

Black Cat Crossing Your Path

If a black cat crosses your path, your work will be unsuccessful. You should stop, wait for someone else to cross first, or take a different route entirely. Some people will literally turn around and go home.

Don't Sweep After Sunset

Sweeping the house after sunset drives away Lakshmi (goddess of wealth). Your wealth will literally be swept out the door. Some families extend this to mopping too.

Don't Eat During a Solar Eclipse

Food prepared or consumed during a solar eclipse becomes impure and poisonous. Cooked food should be thrown away. Pregnant women especially should not eat, go outside, or use sharp objects during an eclipse.

Adding ₹1 to Gift Money

When giving money as a gift (weddings, festivals), you should always add ₹1 to make it 101, 501, 1001, etc. Round numbers are considered incomplete or inauspicious.

Applying Turmeric on the Body

Applying turmeric paste (haldi) before weddings purifies the bride and groom, wards off evil spirits, and blesses them with a glowing complexion. The Haldi ceremony is a major pre-wedding ritual.

Travel & JourneyRead more →

Eye Twitching Predicts the Future

If your left eye twitches, something bad is coming. If your right eye twitches, good news is on the way. (For women, it's reversed in some regions.) People genuinely cancel plans over this.

Crow Cawing Means Guests Are Coming

If a crow sits on your house and caws, unexpected guests will arrive soon. In some regions, crows are believed to be messengers from ancestors or departed souls.

Breaking a Mirror Brings Bad Luck

Breaking a mirror brings 7 years of bad luck. Some Indian families also believe the broken reflection fragments your soul or future.

🇯🇵✕BUSTED

Number 4 Is Unlucky

The number 4 is deeply unlucky and should be avoided. Many buildings skip the 4th floor. Hospitals skip room 4. Gifts should never come in sets of 4.

Death & AfterlifeRead more →

🇯🇵◐HAS MERIT

Don't Stick Chopsticks Upright in Rice

Sticking chopsticks vertically into a bowl of rice is extremely taboo. It's considered one of the worst things you can do at a dinner table — deeply offensive and inviting death into the home.

🇯🇵✕BUSTED

Don't Sleep Facing North

Sleeping with your head pointing north (called "kita makura") brings bad luck or death. It's considered so unlucky that most Japanese people consciously avoid this sleeping position.

Death & AfterlifeRead more →

🇯🇵✕BUSTED

Hide Your Thumbs When a Hearse Passes

When a funeral hearse or procession passes by, you should quickly hide your thumbs by tucking them inside your fists. If you don't, your parents will die early, or you won't be present at their deathbed.

Death & AfterlifeRead more →

🇨🇳✕BUSTED

Number 4 Is Deeply Unlucky

The number 4 is so unlucky that buildings skip the 4th, 14th, 24th, and sometimes even 40-49th floors. Phone numbers and license plates with 4 are cheaper. Addresses with 4 lower property values.

🇨🇳✕BUSTED

Number 8 Is Extremely Lucky

The number 8 brings wealth, prosperity, and good fortune. People pay massive premiums for phone numbers, license plates, and addresses with multiple 8s. Weddings are planned on dates with 8s.

🇨🇳✕BUSTED

Never Gift a Clock

Giving someone a clock as a gift is one of the biggest taboos in Chinese culture. It's essentially telling someone their time is running out — a death wish disguised as a present.

🇨🇳◐HAS MERIT

Red Brings Good Luck

Red is the color of luck, prosperity, and happiness. It's worn at weddings, used in New Year decorations (red lanterns, red envelopes with money), and dominates celebrations. White, conversely, is the color of mourning.

🇺🇸✕BUSTED

Friday the 13th Is Unlucky

Friday the 13th is the unluckiest day of the year. Bad things happen. Don't start anything new, don't travel, maybe just stay in bed. Some people have a genuine phobia of it (paraskevidekatriaphobia — try saying that three times).

Travel & JourneyRead more →

🇬🇧✓PRACTICAL ORIGIN

Don't Walk Under a Ladder

Walking under a ladder propped against a wall brings terrible bad luck. You must go around it, no matter how inconvenient. If you accidentally walk under one, you should cross your fingers until you see a dog.

🇬🇧✓PRACTICAL ORIGIN

Don't Open an Umbrella Indoors

Opening an umbrella inside your house brings bad luck. Some versions say it insults the sun god, others say it angers the spirits who protect your home from bad weather.

🇺🇸◐HAS MERIT

Knock on Wood

After saying something optimistic or tempting fate ("I've never been in an accident"), you should immediately knock on wood to prevent jinxing yourself. If no wood is available, some people knock on their own head.

🇺🇸✕BUSTED

Breaking a Mirror = 7 Years Bad Luck

If you break a mirror, you're cursed with 7 years of bad luck. Some traditions say you can break the curse by burying the pieces under moonlight or by spinning around three times counterclockwise.

🇲🇽◐HAS MERIT

Mal de Ojo (Evil Eye)

Someone can cause illness (especially in children) just by looking at them with envy or excessive admiration. Symptoms include crying, fever, and restlessness. Red bracelets or "ojo" amulets protect against it.

🇪🇸✕BUSTED

12 Grapes at Midnight on New Year's

At midnight on New Year's Eve, you must eat exactly 12 grapes — one for each bell chime — for 12 months of good luck. If you finish all 12 in time, the new year will be prosperous. If you choke or fail, bad luck awaits.

🇺🇸◐HAS MERIT

Pulling the Sun (Coup de Soleil)

After a long day in the Louisiana heat, the sun can get "stuck" inside you — what Cajun and Creole families call coup de soleil or having the sun in the head. You feel pounding headaches, chills, fever, exhaustion, and sometimes hot, dry skin. In the version most people show today, someone lays a cool damp towel or cloth on your head, turns a glass of water upside down, and balances it on top; bubbles rising in the glass mean the trapped sun is leaving. Older Acadiana traiteurs treat the same sickness with prayer, hands on the head, and cool water — including stories of a cup held over the crown until the water seems to simmer.

🇹🇷◐HAS MERIT

Nazar (Evil Eye Amulet)

The blue glass eye (nazar boncuğu) protects against the evil eye — envious or malicious stares that can cause harm, illness, or bad luck. You'll find them hanging in homes, cars, offices, and even on airplanes.

🕌✓PRACTICAL ORIGIN

Always Eat with Your Right Hand

Eating with the left hand is considered extremely disrespectful and impure. Food must be passed, received, and eaten with the right hand only. Using your left hand at the dinner table is a serious social offense.

🌍◐HAS MERIT

Owl Sightings Mean Death Is Near

Seeing or hearing an owl — especially near your home at night — is an omen of death or serious misfortune. Owls are associated with witchcraft, sorcery, and dark spirits across many African cultures.

Shaking Your Legs Drains Your Wealth

Bouncing or jiggling your legs while sitting (pair hilana in Hindi) causes prosperity to "flow away." Elders commonly scold children: "Apne pair mat hila, acha nahi hota." The belief extends across East and Southeast Asia — in Japan, China, and South Korea, shaking legs is also believed to drive away good luck.

Don't Gift Knives or Sharp Objects

Gifting knives, scissors, or blades "cuts" the relationship between giver and receiver. Even passing scissors hand-to-hand is avoided — you place them on a surface for the other person. Monetary gifts (shagun) must be in odd numbers (₹101, ₹501, ₹1,001) — round numbers end in zero, signifying completion/ending, while the extra ₹1 represents new beginnings.

Hiccups Mean Someone Is Thinking of You

Unexpected hiccups signal someone close is thinking about you — often negatively. Some versions link it to the evil eye (nazar), suggesting envy. The folk remedy: recite names of people you know, and when hiccups stop, you've identified the "thinker." If your crush's name stops them, they were thinking of you.

Don't Wash Hair on Tuesdays or Thursdays

Washing or cutting hair on Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday is disrespectful to Hindu deities. Tuesday violations anger Hanuman and Lakshmi; Thursday violations displease Lord Brihaspati (Jupiter), leading to financial ruin; Saturday violations anger Shani Dev. For married women especially, washing hair on Thursday is believed to "wash away" Lakshmi's blessings.

Travel & JourneyRead more →

Breaking a Coconut for a New Vehicle

Before a new vehicle's maiden journey, a Vahan Puja must be performed — breaking a coconut near the right front tire, sprinkling coconut water on all four tires, hanging nimbu-mirchi from the bumper, and placing lemons under all four tires to be crushed as the vehicle drives forward. This invokes blessings of Lord Ganesha (remover of obstacles) and Vishwakarma (divine architect).

Don't Whistle at Night

Whistling after dark summons snakes, evil spirits, or both. In some versions, it invites bhoot-pret (ghosts) or brings financial ruin. This is one of the most globally universal superstitions — found in Japan, Hawaii, Turkey, Mexico, Korea, Russia, and even Inuit culture.

Salt & Chilli Ritual to Remove Evil Eye

When someone feels unwell or has received excessive praise, a family elder performs nazar utarna — holding rock salt, dried red chillies, and sometimes mustard seeds, circling them around the affected person's head, then burning them. The diagnostic: if the chillies produce a strong, eye-watering smell, no nazar was present. If they burn without the acrid smell, negative energy has been "absorbed."

One Crow Is Sorrow, Two Crows Are Joy

A single crow is inauspicious — a harbinger of sorrow. Two crows together signal joy, good luck, or arriving guests. The direction of a crow's flight after eating offerings is also interpreted — flying right to left means ancestors have accepted the offering.

The Broom Is Sacred — Never Disrespect It

A newly purchased broom must be treated with reverence. The broom is considered an embodiment of Goddess Lakshmi. Stepping on a broom, kicking it, or disrespecting it in any way invites financial ruin. Elaborate Vastu Shastra rules govern every aspect: buy only on auspicious days, never keep standing upright, never store in the kitchen, sprinkle salt before first use, and never take an old broom to a new home.

Peacock Feathers Inside Home — Lucky or Cursed?

This is the most regionally contradictory superstition in India. In mainstream Hindu tradition, peacock feathers (mor pankh) are deeply auspicious — associated with Lord Krishna. But in some regions and Western-influenced thought, the eye-like patterns represent the "evil eye" and bring bad luck, prevent marriages, and attract jealousy.

🇬🇧✓PRACTICAL ORIGIN

Spilling Salt Invites Bad Luck

Spilling salt invites betrayal or evil. The remedy: throw a pinch over your left shoulder (where the Devil lurks) using the right hand, blinding Satan. This is one of Europe's most enduring kitchen superstitions.