Top 5 most unusual superstitions in the world

In a few days the most superstitious will face their worst nightmare… Friday the 13th. On this occasion, dailynewsfortravellers reveals a panorama of the most unusual, strange and funny superstitions in the world. If opening an umbrella inside or breaking a mirror are the most known superstitions there are many others. Every country, every people, and sometimes even every region, has its own beliefs.

In Mexico : a broom story

Besides the endless fear of the black cat or the 7 years of misfortune following the breakage of a mirror, Mexicans count in their culture a certain number of superstitions… sometimes crazy ! Indeed, they are suspicious like the plague of their broomstick!

It’s a very popular belief. And in the event that the powers of the broom are not enough to drive out marriage, they also have the power to prevent unwanted visits. Just put a broom behind your door to keep people who don’t like you (and you don’t like them either) from coming to your house. » A good excuse not to clean up ?

In Sri Lanka: the gecko is master of your destiny

You know gecko? It’s that reptile that looks like a big lizard! Well, in Sri Lankan tradition, this little animal is associated with spirits, good or bad. He intervenes to help you when you need to make an important decision in your life.

The geckos are important in Sri Lanka which may seem strange… When we are making an important decision for the family, if the gecko makes a little chirping, then we say that he gives his consent. But if he tweets louder, it’s considered a bad sign and you change your decision. »

With his cry, the gecko also tries to warn you that something bad can potentially happen to you if you leave the house. If the scream comes from behind you, then that means that the problems that will soon fall on you are related to a person who envies you and jealous of you. If it comes from the left, it is a sign of luck and good fortune. If it comes from the right, it is on the contrary a sign of misfortune.

As strange as it may sound: the gecko is capable of jumping. According to Sri Lankan beliefs, it does this only so that you run to check the Sri Lankan calendar to see what the future holds for you. Depending on which part of your body it lands on, it means wealth, health, love, … or illness and poverty !

In Vietnam: the importance of the first times

The Vietnamese New Year is an opportunity for the inhabitants to respect all kinds of rituals linked to ancient beliefs and superstitions. If the head day is the most important day of the year, so is the person who comes to visit you first. It symbolizes the turn that your coming year will take. We must therefore choose this person conscientiously! Generally speaking, it is most often a family member who is the first visitor of the day, which announces a very good year!

On a daily basis, Vietnamese people pay special attention to the people they meet on the street as they leave their homes for the first time of the day. If it’s an old person (and what’s more, a woman), the day looks bad… And it’s not better to be the very first buyer of the day in a Vietnamese shop because, according to belief, the first sale predicts the amount of sales of the day! The higher it is, the better the turnover of the day will be. You’ve been warned!

In China: a story of numbers

The vast majority of Chinese suffer from tetraphobia or, more simply, « number 4 anxiety ». A new fad do you think? Perhaps… but which is not so strange when you know that the pronunciation of the number 4 is almost the same as that of the word « death ». Thus, many hotels or buildings do not have a 4th floor, going directly from 3rd to 5th. In the streets, no house bears the number 4 and the number is most often « forgotten » number plates and telephone numbers. This superstition is so strong in China that traders even prefer to display « 39+1 yuan » on their stalls rather than « 40 yuan », thus protecting their customers from any possible misfortune.

If the number 4 is banished by all the Chinese, the number 8, is the one that everyone tears himself away and which is synonymous with luck and happiness. This superstition has its origin in its pronunciation, approaching the term « fortune » in Chinese. Finally, 9 was once the emperor’s number and is still a noble number today. So the Chinese avoid using it at all costs. Still considered too important a symbol for the common people.

In Japan: be careful where you put your chopsticks

It was already very difficult to handle perfectly the art of chopsticks… But this complexity goes up a notch if one wishes to respect all the rules under penalty of brushing the omen of death with each bite ! The first superstition is not to plant your chopsticks vertically in your rice bowl. This is the most disastrous act you can do in Japan…

It refers directly to the Buddhist funeral rite in which incense sticks are used, strangely reminiscent of Japanese chopsticks. Note that it is better to balance them on the side rather than plant them directly in the rice bowl. This will save you a lot of discomfort.

In the same vein, it is not necessary to point out a person with his sticks because that could predict a sudden death to him. There is a saying that if you keep your chopsticks close to food, you will always live close to your roots, while if you keep them far away, you will travel a lot.