I LOVE this stuff !!!

Here are a couple of superstitions explained for those who are that way inclined (and a couple of humourous interpretations to go with them)

As far as Friday the 13th goes Poppagator nailed it correctly - 13 at the Last Supper and the Crucifixion on a friday.

Others like DROPPING SALT or BREAKING A MIRROR being worth 7 years bad luck: This arose from a very practical interpretation. Many hundreds of years ago when these two were propagated both salt and 'glass' mirrors were luxury items (especially the mirrors). To drop and lose either was a fairly significant disaster in that earning the money to replace it would take a substantial amount of time to do and many years to "catch up" financially as a result. In the case of the mirror it was quite likely that it may NEVER be replaced as it was just TOO expensive to do so - a polished metal one (though still quite expensive) was infinitely more affordable - though not as prestigious. Salt, too was a VERY expensive commodity as it had to be mined (they hadn't realised all that salt was there for the taking in the ocean.)

Another one mentioned was WALKING UNDER A LADDER: This stemmed from an old practice of using a ladder as a gallows. If a condemned prisoner was required to walk beneath a ladder (usually supported on tall trestles or between close-together-buildings etc it meant he was condemned to die and was doing so in order to be hanged. I'd reckon THAT kind of luck would fairly screw up your day!

Humourous ones: Many years ago I read a "Mad Magazine" article on superstitions where they showed consequences:

"A Black Cat Crosses Your Path" was accompanied by a weaponless adventurer walking along a jungle path when a bloody BIG black panther stalks out of the undergrowth ahead of him!

"Don't drop salt": was a cartoon of a worker in a Russian salt mine doing so with a bag of salt in front of an armed guard - this one was accompanied by the remedy "Toss Some Of The Salt Over Your Left Shoulder" - the second cartoon showed the hapless peasant / worker tossing the whole bag over his shoulder and "K.O.-ing" the advancing guard!

BTW - the tossing the salt over the shoulder ONLY works if you spill the salt - and you MUST use the salt you spilled - and it MUST be over the LEFT shoulder as that is where the Devil lurks whispering foul deeds into your ear and suggestions to do evil. That you might curse God was a real possibility and the Devil would encourage that as a result of your misfortune. So you tossed the salt over your left shoulder where the Devil is lurking and thus BLIBD him so he cannot whisper in your ear or influence you further as he cannot see what you are doing or where you go.

Allied to this is the "God Bless You" when you sneeze. This was to prevent the Devil from possessing your body. It was believed that the force of a sneeze was strong enough to expel your soul from your body for a short time leaving you temporarily defenceless against Blandishments or even outright posesseion by Satan. Thus a passer-by would "Bless You" to basically, cover you until your soul was recovered enough from being 'sneezed out' to re-enter your body and continue protecting you!

Anyway - that was fun

Mutt