Superstitions are wacky ways to get luck, no matter if it is good or bad. From crossing your fingers to walking under ladders many of these popular superstitions have unusual origins.

Many people don’t consider themselves superstitious, yet take part in superstitious habits that they don’t think twice about.

When asked if she considered herself superstitious, Erin Schwane, an English teacher here at NBW, said, “My initial reaction would be no, but there are some things that I think I do that could be considered superstitions. But there’s a blurry line between traditions and superstitions sometimes.”

Saying, “Bless you” to someone when they sneeze is possibly the most common superstition in our daily lives, especially around school. There aren’t any confirmed reasons for this common superstition; most people believe that it is because your soul leaves your body or your heart stops beating when you sneeze.

Another superstition with a quite ludicrous background is breaking mirrors. This is rumored to give you seven years of bad luck. Many people believe that mirrors hold parts of your soul, but more realistically, that breaking mirrors is simply dangerous.

“I don’t actually think I did (get bad luck), but I did think about that superstition when I broke the mirror.” said Schwane in regards to the time she broke a mirror.

Similar to breaking mirrors, opening an umbrella inside is also a superstition for bad luck. While there is a story of a house collapsing due to an open umbrella, this is mostly dismissed as a safety precaution. It’s your chance if you get ‘rained on’ with bad luck.

Knocking on wood has quite a mystical background. People used to believe that spirits lived in certain trees, and knocking on those trees would give you good luck. Over the years, this has reduced to knocking on the closest wood to reverse a taboo statement.

“Bless you comes up a lot more than knock on wood, but many times a year I probably say knock on wood.” Schwane stated.

Many of these superstitions are parts of our daily lives, whether we realize it or not, such as saying ‘bless you’ or knocking on wood. We’ll never know the true backgrounds of these superstitions, but some of them have quite interesting explanations tied to them.