About Superstitions

In the book "Krasna Amerika" (Beautiful America), several superstitions popular among the Czech people are mentioned. It seems to me that some of the superstitions are quite "international" ones, as I have heard about them before. Here are a few examples. Are you familiar with any one of them? 

1. When four people shake hands crossing them, some of their relations will get married soon.

2. To save the bees when their owner dies, one should knock on the hive and tell them that their carer has died.

3. Rain on Good Friday is a sign of a very dry year coming.

4. When two sisters get married on the same day, one of them will be unlucky.

 

5. A swallow's nest between the roof beams brings good luck to the house dwellers.

6. If a girl wants to get married next year, she should not look in any mirror on the last day of the current year.

7. Cover the mirrors (for a few days) in the house when somebody dies in it and there is a coffin too. If anybody sees the reflection of the coffin in a mirror, they will die soon.

 

8. When somebody dies in a house, a window needs to be open to let the soul go out.

 

9. Do not start new projects on Friday - it brings bad luck. Friday - bad beginning.

 

10. Spiders are supposed to bring money.

11. Washing feet in a stream on Maundy Thursday is supposed to bring good health during the entire year.

12. Sweeping around somebody's feet is supposed to bring bad luck to that person.

13. A dream about teeth loss - you will learn about somebody's death soon. 

 

Texas Czech Culture and Heritage Center, La Grange, TX

 

Bad/good omens I have learnt about in my family:

• Shaking hands over a threshold brings parting of the two persons is coming soon. So shaking hands while standing in the doorway was always avoided.
  
• Finding a spider in your home is a sign of good luck. I used to have a neighbor who would have never killed a spider, even when it was found in a bathtub. He too believed that "lucky/happy is the home where the spiders are".
  
• Regarding superstition no. 13
  When I dream about loose teeth + blood = sometime later, I learn about a passing of a relative. Loose teeth and no blood in a dream = soon I am told about a death of an acquaintance. This actually runs in our family. My mom's dreams of that kind announce the same future facts.
  

Source: 

"Krasna Amerika: A Study of the Texas Czechs, 1851-1939" by Clinton Machann, James W. Mendl, Eakin Press, Austin, Texas, 1983