Beliefs, omens and superstitions

Luck and unluck, the evil eye, knocking on wood and the small customs people keep without asking why.

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 StatesSalem Witch Trials A colonial legal crisis where over two hundred people faced accusations of sorcery in Massachusetts.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 7 moreSatanic panic A moral panic over unsubstantiated claims of Satanic cults abusing children in the late twentieth centuryBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇪🇪 Estonia and 1 moreEstonian mythologyeesti mütoloogia The pre-Christian beliefs and legends of the Estonian peopleTradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical

🇺🇸 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 StatesCurse of the Bambino A sports superstition linking a long championship drought to a player saleBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreCurse of 1940 A superstition explaining a long championship drought for the New York RangersBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreHiisi A Finnic spirit of sacred places that evolved into a demonic giant in folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesGreenbrier Ghost A West Virginia murder case where a mother claimed her daughter's spirit revealed the truth.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreWhite House Ghost A spirit said to walk the White House and former Illinois homes of the sixteenth president.Belief Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesMartian Monkey A 1953 Atlanta hoax involving a tailless monkey dressed as an alienBelief · Wonder and entertainment Historical 🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreKyöpelinvuori A Finnish mountain where dead women are said to gather after deathBelief Historical 🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreBaskerville effect A theory that superstition about unlucky numbers causes heart attacks through stressBelief · Cursing and harm Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesCurse of Rocky Colavito A baseball superstition linking a 1960 player trade to decades of team failureBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreChain letterFukou no Tegami A message that demands copying and forwarding to avoid bad luck or gain fortuneBelief · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Historical 🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreRemote viewing A claimed psychic ability to perceive distant targets without using the sensesBelief · Seeing and foretelling Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesStamping A childhood gesture believed to capture luck from specific animals or objectsBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesJewett City vampires A 19th-century New England family's belief in undead plague and their violent response to it.Belief · Protection Historical 🇺🇸 United StatesCurse of the Boulder Valley A legend attributed to Chief Niwot about the valley's beauty and its futureBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

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

🇨🇦 CanadaOak Island mystery A centuries-old legend of buried treasure and unexplained engineering on a Canadian island.Belief · Luck and prosperity Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesBelled buzzard A folklore omen of disaster, depicted as a vulture wearing a bellBelief · Cursing and harm Historical

🇺🇸 United StatesNew England vampire panic A folk response to tuberculosis involving the exhumation and burning of organsBelief · Protection · Healing Historical

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Kennedy curse: Walt Cisco, Dallas Morning News, Public domain, source
Spoon bending: Sgerbic, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Curse of the Bambino: National Photo Company, Public domain, source
Salem Witch Trials: unattributed, Public domain, source
Estonian mythology: Jeannette Berkowitz (illustrator), Public domain, source
Curse of 1940: Trophy: Unknown Photo: Alexey Chernyadyev Derivative work: J . delanoy, CC BY 3.0, source
Belled buzzard: Saturday Evening Post Irvin Cobb Douglas Durr, Public domain, source
Martian Monkey: Tim Farley, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Chain letter: Alpha, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Satanic panic: Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514), Public domain, source
Second-term curse: Achille Beltrame, Public domain, source
White House Ghost: Alexander Gardner, Public domain, source
Oak Island mystery: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
New England vampire panic: no credited author, Public domain, source