The ides of March

Astrology has been a rampant theme in several Shakespearean plays, together with omens, folklores & superstitions. The soothsayer’s warning to Julius Caesar, “Beware the ides of March,”  has made today subconsciously linked with a sense of foreboding. Despite all science, the human mind can be trained to shun logic and stick to intuition. 

Here’s a collection of some rather whacky superstitions from around the world:

#1: Korea: Don’t wash your hair on an exam day. Apparently, people believed that when they washed their hair, their memories were cleaned by the water, making them forget the stuff they had studied.

#2: Mexico, America: Counting stars will make your eyes look like those of a fish, or cause corns on your feet.

#3: Korea: If you marry someone with a five years difference in age, you’ll fight with your spouse every day, but you won’t get divorced. If you marry someone six years older or younger than you, you and your spouse will live happily, but you will always be beggars. 

#4: Russia: If you look in a broken mirror, you’ll have bad luck. If you eat and look in a mirror at the same time, you will choke your luck. If you drink at the same moment you look in a mirror, you will improve your luck.

#5: Thailand: You will meet your soul mate soon if you dream that a snake is holding you tightly.

#6: Turkey: If you stand between two people whose names are the same, you should wish for something because your wish will come true.

#7: Venezuela: Never give a packet of handkerchiefs as a present because if you do, this can make the two people (the giver and the receiver) have a fight.

#8: Afghanistan: If you don’t cover your bald head, it will start raining.

#9: Bangladesh: If you eat an egg (especially a boiled egg) before appearing for an exam, it will make you get a result like an egg – a zero.

#10: Portugal: Find a penny, pick it up, all day long, you’ll have good luck.

Since we just passed Friday the 13th, I was tempted to read up on paraskevidekatriaphobia, the fear of Friday the 13th, which primarily stems from the combination of Friday (considered unlucky in Nordic mythology) and the number 13. Its origins are vague, mostly passed down in oral tradition. 

Do you believe in superstitions? What superstitions did you grow up with?

Shivya Nath

Welcome to my blog, The Shooting Star. I’ve been called a storyteller, writer, photographer, digital nomad, “sustainability influencer,” social entrepreneur, solo traveller, vegan, sustainable tourism consultant and environmentalist. But in my heart, I’m just a girl who believes that travel – if done right – has the power to change us and the world we live in.