Average Jane’s Family Superstitions

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On Sunday, my husband and I went to a neighboring state to eat lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant. As we crossed the state line, I asked automatically, "Did you hold your breath?"

He logically asked, "Why?" My illogical answer: "For good luck."

When my sister and I were growing up, our mother always advised us to hold our breath as we crossed the state line. What could possibly be the reasoning behind that superstition? That it’s lucky to bring a lungful of your own state’s air with you when you cross? How long is the luck supposed to last anyway?

It got me thinking about other holdovers from childhood that I still practice without thinking. Most of them involve wishing:

Blowing a stray eyelash off your fingertip and making a wish.
Pulling a chicken or turkey wishbone and making a wish.
Blowing out birthday candles and making a wish.
Wishing on a shooting star.
Throwing a coin into a fountain or well and making a wish.

Those are all the ones I can think of off the top of my head, but I’m sure there are more family superstitions lingering in my subconscious. What about you? Do you have any superstitious habits held over from childhood that seem silly now that you’re an adult? What are they?

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5 responses to “Average Jane’s Family Superstitions”

April 5, 2005

Rozanne

We had friends who said you were supposed to hold your breath when passing a cemetery, so I dutifully started doing it.
When I told my mom about it, she got very cross about it and told me not to do it. No idea why.

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April 5, 2005

Toby

Making a wish on a falling leaf; if you complete your wish before the leaf touches the ground your wish is suppose to come true.

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April 6, 2005

Keith

As a kid, I was led to believe that if you ate the crusts off the bread, you would get curly hair. There was an element of truth in it, but these days it has just about all fell out

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April 8, 2005

Suzanne

I also was instructed to hold my breath went passing a graveyard. I dutifully passed this superstition along to my son.
Eyelashes, however, were not to be blown off a fingertip! Oh, no no no. Eyelashes, either your own or someone elses, were to be eaten. Immediately. I know. It’s pretty gross. But hey, what can you do? The superstition stated if those stray eyelashes didn’t get eaten, you’d never grow another!

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April 12, 2005

Daisy

Saluting a single magpie to offset the bad luck it can bring – there’s an old rhyme that goes something like “One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy”.

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