Beliefs, omens and superstitions of the world

A crescent moon and a star: the sky as a calendar and a sign, used for lunar rites, fasting months, omens and night-time practice.

Beliefs, omens and superstitions are the small customs people keep without asking why: knocking on wood, salt over the shoulder, avoiding the number thirteen, the evil eye, a black cat crossing the road, a first visitor of the new year. They are found on every continent and are rarely tied to a priest or book. This page looks at where they come from, what the word superstition hides, and why they persist.

What they look like

Beliefs differ by place. The number four is avoided in China, Japan and Korea because it sounds like the word for death, while thirteen is avoided in much of the West. In India, a sneeze before leaving home may delay a journey, and a lemon and chillies are hung over a shop. The evil eye is feared under many names: nazar, mal de ojo, ayin hara. First-footing at new year in Scotland is said to bring luck to a house.

Whose word is superstition

The word superstition has a history. Roman writers used it for religion they disliked, and Christian writers for forbidden practice. Today it often means someone else's belief. Many religions regard some of their own customs as faith and others as superstition, and where the line falls depends on the speaker. Using the word can mark a speaker as modern and a neighbour as backward. Tests of common superstitions show that people who hold them are not less educated or less rational than others, and many hold them lightly.

Why people keep them

Psychologists find that superstition rises with uncertainty and stakes, which is why athletes, sailors, students and gamblers are known for them. Anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski observed in the 1920s that Trobriand fishermen used rites in dangerous deep-sea fishing and not in safe lagoon fishing. Most people who follow small customs say they do so partly in jest and partly just in case. Similar customs turn up in places that have never met each other, which suggests that people everywhere respond to risk in similar ways.

When belief causes harm

Most superstitions are harmless. Some are not: beliefs about witchcraft have led to killings in parts of Africa, India and Papua New Guinea, and beliefs about albinism have led to attacks in Tanzania and Malawi. Others cost people money, as when a fee is demanded to lift a bad omen. Education, law and trusted community leaders have all been part of reducing harm. Campaigns by health workers, teachers and community radio have been effective where they listen first and explain later.

Belief on EveryJaadu

The entries written up so far, best known first.

RegionSouth Asia Southeast Asia East Asia Central Asia and the Caucasus Middle East North Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Europe North America Latin America and the Caribbean Oceania

PurposeProtection Healing Seeing and foretelling Luck and prosperity Love and attraction Cursing and harm Cleansing and purification Speaking with spirits and the dead Change and initiation Binding and oaths Power and authority Wonder and entertainment

WhoShamans Folk healers Priests and ritual specialists Witches, sorcerers and cunning folk Diviners and readers Mediums and the possessed Ceremonial magicians and alchemists Households and ordinary people Stage magicians Scholars and sceptics

BeliefHindu and Tantric Buddhist Jain Muslim and Sufi Jewish Christian Sikh Zoroastrian Shinto and Taoist Indigenous and shamanic African and Afro-diasporic Pagan and Neopagan Esoteric and occult Folk and village custom Secular and stage Other traditions

OccasionWeddings and betrothal Festivals Birth and childhood Death and remembrance Harvest, farming and weather New year Initiation and coming of age Illness and misfortune Journeys and voyages Everyday use

StandingLiving Revived Fading Historical Legendary Performed

OrderBest known A to Z Newest Living first

🇺🇸 United StatesCurse of Tippecanoe An urban legend linking US presidential deaths to election years ending in zero.Belief · Cursing and harm Fading

🇺🇸 United StatesKennedy curse A pattern of tragedies linked to the American Kennedy familyBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇨🇦 CanadaSpoon bending A magic trick and paranormal claim involving the deformation of metal cutleryBelief · Wonder and entertainment · Power and authority Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreCurse of 1940 A superstition explaining a long championship drought for the New York RangersBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreFinancial astrology A practice linking planetary positions to stock market trendsBelief · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Fading

🇺🇸 United StatesAshtar A channeled extraterrestrial figure central to mid-century American ufology and New Age spiritualityBeing · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Seeing and foretelling Living

🇦🇺 Australia and 3 moreNelson (cricket) A cricket superstition about the score 111 and the leg-raising ritual to ward it offBelief · Luck and prosperity Living

🇷🇺 Russia and 1 moreTelekinesis A purported psychic ability to move objects with the mind aloneBelief · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇷🇺 RussiaAugust curse A Russian belief that severe disasters and national tragedies cluster in the month of August.Belief Living

🇺🇸 United StatesHail Satan A Satanic exclamation used as ritual greeting, rebel cry, and pop-culture punchlineBelief · Power and authority · Cursing and harm Living

🇺🇸 United StatesBaseball superstition Rituals and beliefs held by players and fans to influence game outcomesBelief · Luck and prosperity · Protection Living 🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreSuperman curse An urban legend linking misfortunes to actors and creators in Superman adaptationsBelief · Cursing and harm Living

🇺🇸 United StatesSecond-term curse A belief that U.S. presidents face greater trouble in their second term than their first.Belief Historical

Beliefs, omens and superstitions