RHYS BOWEN: Friday 13th, in October, month that is scary enough to start with. Dare I go out today? Certainly not order anything online. But wait–am I really superstitious? I come from a family of superstitious women. I was raised by my grandmother and great aunts. (my mother was always a career woman, teacher then principal). My great aunt Sarah Ann had a saying for everything: if you dropped a knife it would be a gentleman visitor, a fork was a lady and a spoon… that was disappointment. You sneezed: once a wish, twice a kiss, three times comes a letter.
I see now in their small, quiet lives, women living at home, a visitor or a letter was a big event.
These women always said RABBITS when they woke up on the first day of the month to ensure luck for the month. I confess that I’ve done that all my life too. I wake up, turn over… wait… it’s the first of October. RABBITS! I don’t think any great disaster befalls if I don’t say it.
Other superstitions? I don’t think I have any worries about walking under a ladder, spilling salt and throwing it over my shoulder, stepping on cracks on the sidewalk, but Friday 13th is a big one.
(And I have to add here that I’m writing this at the auto dealership in the waiting area and a man behind me just asked “What kind of poison are you using?” And the writer’s mind is instantly alert. )
So Reds: are you superstitious? Will you be extra cautious today? Have you inherited any family superstitions?
LUCY BURDETTE: OMG Rhys, was he saying that to you because he knew you’re a mystery writer? If not, that’s very spooky!
No real superstitions here. Except…if saying something not exactly true, I cross fingers behind my back. Black cats get a bad rap, but I won’t walk under a ladder. That’s more for fear something will be dropped on me! I had a friend during my internship who always said Rabbit, Rabbit, so I got into that habit too. We wondered if it shouldn’t be Tibbar, Tibbar on April Fool’s day??
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: You DO go to interesting places, Rhys!
Let’s see. My stepfather was hilarious about this. He insisted superstitions were silly, but he absolutely would not put a hat on a bed. When I questioned that, he said it’s not superstition, it’s just something that one doesn’t do.
Sure.
I think black cats are good luck. I’m fine with 13. (But it does cross my mind.) There's no reason to walk under a ladder, see step-father above. If I find a penny face up, I definitely pick it up. If face down, I leave it, rationalizing that the next person might actually need the penny.
Yes, I saw rabbit rabbit, as soon as I remember.
HALLIE EPHRON: Rabbit Rabbit??? How did I miss that.
I do “knock on wood” whenever I find myself declaring some good fortune I’ve had. Because the evil eye could be listening. Or watching, I suppose. My mother had all sorts of superstitions. Spill salt?? No idea what that portended. Drop a fork or a knife? As I recall that meant a gentleman is coming. It all had meaning.
My daughter has two spectacular black cats (Pluto and Squidie) And they have been nothing but a sheer delight.
JENN McKINLAY: Black cat owner here. Patsy and Loretta, although Loretta passed last year and Patsy (19) appears to be headed that way. I am not superstitious at all. Although, I do remember walking home from school as a kid and someone told me if I stepped on a crack it would break my mother’s back. I was very careful after that but left the fear behind in childhood.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: I've had some lovely black cats, too, and think they are very unfairly maligned. Like Lucy, I don't generally walk under ladders, but only because I don't want things falling on my head. I never learned to say Rabbit Rabbit on the first of the month–I'd never even heard that one before Facebook! No one in my family threw salt, or had a saying for dropped knives and forks. I do remember as a very small child worrying about stepping on the cracks in the sidewalk, but I got over it. I do "knock wood" but I don't actually believe it brings good luck.
Not worried about Friday the 13th, either–where did that one come from?--but still not watching any scary movies.
(Rhys--I think it's early Christianity. Friday when Jesus was crucified and 13 unlucky because 12 Apostles plus Jesus and one of them was a bad lot!)
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Well, I hope there’s nothing to the superstition, because I’m flying today! I’ll let you know if any out of the ordinary disasters befall me - which leads to another superstition embedded in our language: dis-aster comes from dis astro, literally an evil star, a bad omen.
My own superstitions? I try not to walk widdershins (counterclockwise) and like the rest of you I always knock on wood. I always say, “God bless you!” to a sneezer because I read a folktale as a child in Germany that if someone sneezes three times and no one blesses them, the Devil will come and steal away their soul! Not that I believe it… but I do <i>remember</i> it.
I’m also the proud owner of a lovely black cat, Neko. The only bad luck she comes with is a sensitive stomach, which leads to a superstition I created: watch where you’re walking in your house, or you might step in cat barf.
RHYS: I admit I will drive a little more carefully today, check the stove to make sure I haven't left anything cooking and watch my step.
So who else is superstitious? What strange superstitions do you have?
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