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General Superstitions

A superstition is a belief not based in science used to explain unfounded events. Superstitions vary between cultures and countries. Some become rituals for good luck or things avoided for bad luck. Common English superstitions include: dropping a fork means a female visitor while a knife is male; spilling salt is remedied by throwing some over your shoulder; opening an umbrella indoors or breaking a mirror brings seven years bad luck. Knocking on wood affirms hoped-for events.

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Boudica Rocio
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73 views

General Superstitions

A superstition is a belief not based in science used to explain unfounded events. Superstitions vary between cultures and countries. Some become rituals for good luck or things avoided for bad luck. Common English superstitions include: dropping a fork means a female visitor while a knife is male; spilling salt is remedied by throwing some over your shoulder; opening an umbrella indoors or breaking a mirror brings seven years bad luck. Knocking on wood affirms hoped-for events.

Uploaded by

Boudica Rocio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Superstitions

A superstition is a belief that is not based on anything scienti c and is often


created to explain things we fear or don’t understand. Superstitions can be
di erent from country to country or culture to culture, you can probably think of
some superstitions from your country or culture right now!

Sometimes superstitions become rituals we do for good luck, and sometimes


they become things we avoid in case of bad luck. Let’s take a look at some
common English superstitions!

General Superstitions

If you drop a fork, you will have a female visitor. Your


visitor will be male if you drop a knife.

If you spill salt, throwing some over your shoulder will


chase away bad luck.

If you open an umbrella indoors, it will bring you bad luck.

If you break a mirror, you will have seven years bad luck.

If you walk under a ladder, you will anger spirits.

If you see two magpies (a type of bird) you will be very lucky. If you see only
one, you will have have bad luck. It is believed that if you say “Good morning
Mr. Magpie, how is your wife today?” the bad luck will not be passed on to you.

Other Superstitions You May Have Heard About

Some people believe horseshoes are lucky. Hanging a horseshoe above a door
open end up catches good luck. If you hang the horseshoe the other way
around, it will spill out the good luck.


Good Luck
Some people believe putting money in new clothes will

attract good luck and wealth.

Bad Luck
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Many people believe that if you touch or knock on wood after
talking about something you hope will happen, it will come true.

Some superstitions are about travel. For example, there are people who think if
your foot is itchy, you will travel soon. Other superstitions predict things. Have
you ever heard that if a butter y lands on you, you will get a new shirt?

Try to remember, even though superstitions can be found all over the world, they
aren’t scienti c or factual. People often use them to emphasize common sense
behaviours (like not walking under a ladder that someone may be working on!)
or to give them a sense of security in uncertain situations (like writing your
exams with a “lucky” pen).

Questions

A.
1. What is a superstition?

2. Why do people believe in superstitions?

3. What do people believe will happen if they drop a fork?

4. Why would someone knock on wood?

5. What do people think will happen if you break a mirror?

B.

Think of another superstition you know. Try and explain this using a rst
conditional sentence: for example: If you walk under a ladder, you’ll get bad luck.
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C.
Make a list of three superstitions either from your own country or from another
country. You may need to use the internet to look for these superstitions. Use
superstitions that are different from those in the story. Write them in the rst
conditional

Country Superstition

D
Make up your own superstition. Write it in the rst conditional, for example: If
you don’t brush your teeth in the morning, you will fail a test
.

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.

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