Chasing Rainbows: Superstition Trivia - Part 3

DANDELION	Pick a dandelion that has gone to seed. Take a deep breath and blow the seeds into the wind. Count the seeds that remain on the stem. That is the number of children you will have.
DEATH	Superstitions about death
DOG	A dog howling at night when someone in the house is sick is a bad omen.
DOOR	It's bad luck to leave a house through a different door than the one used to come into it.
DREAMS	The meaning of dreams and dream superstitions
EARS	If your right ear itches, someone is speaking well of you.
	If your left ear itches, someone is speaking ill of you.
	Left for love and right for spite: Left or right, good at night.
EASTER	For good luck throughout the year, wear new clothes on Easter.
ELEPHANT	Pictures of an elephant bring luck, but only if they face a door.
EYE	If your right eye twitches there will soon be a birth in the family. If the left eye twitches there will soon be a death in the family.
	To cure a sty, stand at a crossroads and recite Sty, sty, leave my eye Take the next one coming by.
EYELASH	If an eyelash falls out, put it on the back of the hand, make a wish and throw it over your shoulder. If it flies off the hand the wish will be granted.
FINGERNAILS	It is bad luck to cut your fingernails on Friday or Sunday.
	Fingernail cuttings should be saved, burned, or buried.
FISH	A fish should always be eaten from the head toward the tail.
	Dream of fish: someone you know is pregnant.
FISHING	Throw back the first fish you catch then you'll be lucky the whole day fishing.
	If you count the number of fish you caught, you will catch no more that day.
	It's bad luck to say the word "pig" while fishing at sea.
FLAG	It brings bad luck for a flag to touch the ground.
FLOWER	First Flower of Spring: The day you find the first flower of the season can be used as an omen: Monday means good fortune, Tuesday means greatest attempts will be successful, Wednesday means marriage, Thursday means warning of small profits, Friday means wealth, Saturday means misfortune, Sunday means excellent luck for weeks.
FOOT	If the bottom of your right foot itches, you are going to take a trip.
FORK	To drop a fork means a man is coming to visit.

FRIDAY	A bed changed on Friday will bring bad dreams.
	Any ship that sails on Friday will have bad luck.
	You should never start a trip on Friday or you will meet misfortune.
	Never start to make a garment on Friday unless you can finish it the same day.
FRIDAY THE 13TH - how did Friday the thirteenth become such an unlucky day?
	fear of Friday the 13th is rooted in ancient, separate bad-luck associations with the number 13 and the day Friday. The two unlucky entities combine to make one super unlucky day.
	There is a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Balder died and the Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned.
	There is a Biblical reference to the unlucky number 13. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to the Last Supper.
	A particularly bad Friday the 13th occurred in the middle ages. On a Friday the 13th in 1306, King Philip of France arrested the revered Knights Templar and began torturing them, marking the occasion as a day of evil.
	In ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.
	Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.
	It is traditionally believed that Eve tempted Adam with the apple on a Friday. Tradition also has it that the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower of Babel, and the death of Jesus Christ all took place on Friday.
	Numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus. In exceeding 12 by 1, 13's association with bad luck has to do with just being a little beyond completeness.
FRIDAY THE 13TH - how is fear of the number thirteen demonstarted?
	More than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor.
	Many airports skip the 13th gate.
	Airplanes have no 13th aisle.
	Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.
	Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.
	On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half.
	Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue
	In France, socialites known as the quatorziens (fourteeners) once made themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.
	Many triskaidekaphobes, as those who fear the unlucky integer are known, point to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.
	If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck . Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names.
FROG	A frog brings good luck to the house it enters.
	The dried body of a frog worn in a silk bag around the neck averts epilepsy and other fits. Resource: www.corsinet.com Trivia