Walking in the Valley A bi-weekly column, featuring one Christian's (a)musings on life's journey by Barbara Dahlgren

Super – Superstitions Column for the weeks of October 16-31, 2007

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As we enter the Halloween season our mind wanders to thoughts of the supernatural – witches, goblins, and such. For some reason this always makes me think of superstitions. You know, like a black cat crossing your path brings bad luck.

By definition, a superstition is an irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome. Usually these feelings arise from fear or perhaps ignorance. Does anyone really believe a black cat brings bad luck?* Well, around Halloween time – maybe?

Some superstitions come from folklore. Some predict the future. Some come from a “good luck” or “bad luck” concept. Some have supernatural overtones such as getting rid of “evil spirits.” So in keeping with the “spirit” of Halloween I’m going to share 31 of my favorite superstitions with you. Boy, are you lucky I’m using the number 31! 31 is a lucky number because October has 31 days in it, but 31 reversed is 13 which would be unlucky!**

Here are some of my favorites:

1. To see your future husband just go into a dark room with one lighted candle as the only means of illumination. Place the candle in front of a mirror and peer into the glass. At the same time, you must either be eating an apple or combing your hair. After a few moments the face of the man (or woman) whom you will wed will appear over your shoulder. (I personally found my husband this way, so I know it works! But you have to do it on Halloween.)
   
2. If you knock your hand accidentally against a piece of wood or a wooden article, you are about to have a love affair. (This does not work if you purposefully go around knocking on wood!)
   
3. It’s bad luck to let milk boil over. (It also leaves a heck of a mess to clean up on your stove!)
   
4. Finding a horseshoe is good luck! As a bonus, if you hang it over your doorway, it will also ward off witches. Witches don’t like horses. (They prefer to travel by broom or pitchfork or in a limo.)
   
5. If someone is dangerously ill, place a lighted candle in a shoe with all other lights in the room off. Write the name of the illness on a piece of paper, burn it in the candle flame, and chant three times: “Go away death! Go away death! Life from the flame, give new breath.” The candle flame must then be snuffed with the fingers. (I know this works because I was near death last night and did this. Unfortunately my shoe burned up and my fingers are scorched, but I’m alive!)
   
6. Never mend a garment while you are wearing it, or misfortune will follow. (I make it a policy never to mend anything, just to be safe! I personally think it’s back luck to iron as well.)
   
7. It is unlucky to put on the left shoe before the right, and it is worse still to put the right shoe on the left foot, or vice versa. (This is true because Emperor Augustus nearly lost his life at the hands of assassins after putting his sandals on the wrong feet – and when I did this I fell down and broke my nose.)
   
8. Women should not whistle, for it encourages evil spirits to visit them. (Ladies, to help you remember not to whistle memorize this saying, “A whistling maid and a crowing hen are neither fit for God nor men.”)
   
9. Owls swoop down to eat the souls of the dying on Halloween. However, if you turn your pockets inside out, you will be safe. (I just make it a practice to keep my pockets inside out at all times, not just on Halloween. I saw Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and I don’t trust any of our feathered friends.)
   
10. You should walk around your home three times backwards and counterclockwise before sunset on Halloween to ward off evil spirits. (You may trip and break your neck, but no evil spirits will get you.)
    
11. To cure a cough, take a hair from the coughing person's head, put it between two slices of buttered bread, feed it to a dog, and say, "Eat well you hound, may you be sick and I be sound." (This works! Your dog will die, but your cough will disappear immediately!)
    
12. Triskaidekaphobia prevents me from listing a 13 th superstition! (This phobia has been so much a part of my life that I skipped being 13 so I was actually 12 two years in a row. This was most confusing to my teachers and parents. In fact, I’m not even sure how old I am now.)
    
13. An onion cut in half and placed under the bed of a sick person will draw off fever and poisons. (The smell will also rid them of any pesky visitors!)
    
14. If you use the same pencil to take a test that you used for studying for the test, the pencil will remember the answers. (This works, but only with pencils – not ink pens! That’s how I got all As in high school!)
    If 3 people are photographed together, the one in the middle will die first. (If you stand on the outside, not only do you get to live, but if you slant your body in a bit, you look ten pounds thinner!)
    
15. If you see a spider on Halloween then the spirit of a loved one (or a reincarnated, dead friend of Shirley McClain’s) is watching over you.

And let’s not forget that if a person writing an article about Halloween lists more than 18 superstitions she turns into a pumpkin, changes her name to Jackie O’Lantern, and has to bob for apples at midnight for a whole year wearing a garlic bulb necklace. I’m not going to make that mistake again!!!!!!

*Actually, in Britain and Ireland it’s just the opposite. Black cats are though to bring good luck.

**For the record, I made up the part about 31 being a lucky number. However, all the rest are genuine, bona fide, unsimulated, and absolutely true superstitions.

Be sure to visit this page often to read the next edition of Walking in the Valley. You can write to the author at bdahlgren@wcgsouthbay.org.