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In my family there is an old superstition that you should never let your wine glass chime or sing, because it causes a sailor to be drowned at sea, so if you accidentally "ping" a glass and it rings you should stop it immediately.

I have not heard of this peculiarity in other families, however I expect they have their own traditions.

Does your family have any such superstitions?

Nothing specific that I know of, no.

There's the old "crack the bottom of a boiled eggshell after you eat it or a witch will use it to sail around the seas and kill people", and "don't cross knives", but nothing that seems to only be in the family.

All superstitions are just pains in the arse to me, but "they're old sayings, so must be true" or "<insert someone a family member knows here> didn't follow a superstition and ____ happened to him <insert a usually large period of time later here>" seems to be the main justification.

Superstitions are fun to know about, but annoying when people take them a bit too seriously.

We had some witchcraft a few generations back, but no superstitions to speak of, and no practitioners in the last generation. I guess it skips a few. And I was only able to secure one story about the witch, which is a real shame.

We do have the drink orange juice to cure an illness one.

I'm just certain that the beliefs of a witch from a hundred years ago in the Appalachian mountains would have been far more interesting.

Vitamin C for a cold/Flu

Coming from a Judaic family, we always leave a rock on a grave whenever we visit. It shows that we've visited, and that the memory of the deceased lives on in us.

That vaccines are good for you and don't cause autism. Silly medical family.

we put a horse shoe over the threshold to our house.

My aunt Mary seems to believe in these things called Wesen, but I dont see them. Huh, go figure.
One thing, we always keep any marble we find, my cousin died young and he love marbles, so we think whenever we find a marble, he is saying Hi

As far as superstitions go I got nothing.

We've recently started the tradition of watching the Bill Murray movie 'Groundhog Day' every (You guessed it!) Groundhog Day

We paint lambs blood over the main door to our house but we're not Jewish so I dunno exactly why we do it.

Bad luck to buy beds on a Thursday, or metal on Saturdays. Also no meat on Tuesdays. Asking someone where they're going before they leave the house is bad luck, and if you sneeze when leaving the house, you should go back in and go out again or else it's bad luck.

The old church knee.

It's become a bit of a joke now that supposedly family members on my mother's side always get a ache in their knee when a storm is a comin.

You must MUST tell family members to "drive safe" when they head home or else their car will suffer an apocalyptic explosion.

 Avatar 720 wrote:
There's the old "crack the bottom of a boiled eggshell after you eat it or a witch will use it to sail around the seas and kill people", and "don't cross knives", but nothing that seems to only be in the family.

Huh, we were always told to do this to let the fairies out

My mom believes in ghosts.

We never speak about deer when someone is leaving our else they will hit one on the way home.
We also always watch A Christmas Story during Christmas break with the kids. And my wife and her family as well as myself and mine did the same thing growing up.

Superstitions no. But my family has some bizarre family stories on my dad's side (and by bizarre I mean I have no idea why they think they're true).

Like most Italian families, naturally we're a mafia family, but I've never seen any reason to believe that. I've done light research and found no connection between the mafia and our family name. Supposedly the three brothers who immigrated to the US owned a quarry in Naples, despite being from Sicily, which makes a little historic sense but I've never been able to locate a quarry in Naples with any connection to us. Not to mention that they supposedly came to the US because they were poor. Owning a quarry isn't glamorous but it doesn't make you poor. Not in 1920's and 1930's.

The weirdest one is the claim that my great grandfathers helped build the Brooklyn Bridge, which is absolutely odd. They'd need to have lived to be over 100 to have built the bridge and for my grandfather to be born. Add in that everyone knows that they moved to the US in the 20's and 30's, almost 60 years after Brooklyn Bridge was built. Maybe they did work on the bridge, but they certainly didn't build it.

My mother's side of the family has a more reliable and traceable history (all the way back to the May Flower and William Penn's colonists).

 Kilkrazy wrote:
In my family there is an old superstition that you should never let your wine glass chime or sing, because it causes a sailor to be drowned at sea, so if you accidentally "ping" a glass and it rings you should stop it immediately.

I have not heard of this peculiarity in other families, however I expect they have their own traditions.

Does your family have any such superstitions?

Never speak the name of the troll, lest he appear and sue or shoot at us again.

Always have a plan D.

When the boy starts talking formulas again, just nod your head. Only his sister has the faintest idea of what he's talking about.

No matter what, Frazzled must always wear a Hawaiian shirt for at least five minutes every day.

Bacon has no calories.


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 Cheesecat wrote:
My mom believes in ghosts.

I've seen a ghost. Its.. disturbing.

My family also believes in ghosts. I saw one once. I handwave it away without much second thought as sleep deprivation at the time.

Given that I come from a long and proud line of people with a history of mental disturbance, it's remarkably easy to dismiss. The holy water and salt scattered around the bedroom thresholds make it easier.

Is it better or worse if I'm joking?

Don't drink or spill my coffee. Bad things happen when my coffee disappear

You have to take your Christmas decorations down before a certain day otherwise it's bad luck.
Touch wood to avoid bad luck.

My sister believes in ghosts.

I don't know where she got it from, we were a non-superstitious family - funny considering it's a half-gypsy family.

Touch wood to avoid bad luck.

The Wife believes doing the " you" dance wards off helpful comments by Frazzled.

One superstition that stuck with me, if you allow a pole or other obstacle to come between you and someone you're walking with, you say "Bread and Butter" or it's bad luck for some dumb reason. My grandmother would sooner yank one of us kids and force us to walk on the same side as her rather than have to say it.

This superstition.

Also, black cat's crossing her path, walking under ladders, and a few others.

Avatar 720 wrote:Nothing specific that I know of, no.

All superstitions are just pains in the arse to me, but "they're old sayings, so must be true" or "<insert someone a family member knows here> didn't follow a superstition and ____ happened to him <insert a usually large period of time later here>" seems to be the main

I though that was the main justification for any superstition. It's why ancient civilisations kept sacrificing things, y'know, one day some guy put two and two together and said 'hey guys, we like, kill a goat every morning, and like, the sun always rises, so maybe like, killing a goat makes the sun rise'. But despite it obviously not related, no-one wants to be the douchebag that [i]doesn't[i] sacrifice a goat and cause an eternal night.

No superstitions really, but when I moved into my current house, my late grandfather told me on new years eve that I should open my front and back doors to let bad luck pass out of the house.
Then I reminded him where the house was, and that if I left my front and back door open on new year's eve, bad luck would definately pass out of the house, along with every possession I have that wasn't nailed to the floor

 Jihadin wrote:
Don't drink or spill my coffee. Bad things happen when my coffee disappear

We have the same family tradition That and if you speak to me before coffee do not expect a response, much less a coherent one

Never paint all of your miniatures. The more you paint the closer you are to dying.

 Ketara wrote:
Coming from a Judaic family, we always leave a rock on a grave whenever we visit. It shows that we've visited, and that the memory of the deceased lives on in us.

Now the ending to Schindler's List makes a lot more sense.

My family does not get along well with coffee tables or screen doors

Certain members of my family in rural Louisiana don't get along with "revenuers".