My mother chopped down an Elder tree that was in the backyard within a few feet of the house shortly before she became increasingly ill and then died very suddenly and unexpectedly.

I remember feeling a bit uncomfortable with the warning stories around doing such things, and saying to her at the time she cut the Elder down - "That's supposed to be extremely bad luck Mum. Are you sure about it? You need to be careful about angering the 'Elder Mother'. You should probably at least apologise or something."

At the time the act of chopping down a tree so deeply steeped in tradition made me slighly perterbed, though I didn't dwell on it too much. But it's something I won't forget in a hurry, and I know I'll pay due attention to such seemingly superstitious things for myself in future.