Wherever you find yourself in the world, there is a chance that you’ll encounter some familiar superstitions. This usually includes getting some kind of bad luck for things like walking under the ladders or breaking a mirror. People usually consider superstitions to be something that has been there since the dawn of time. But as it turns out, the origins of popular superstitions can actually be traced to a certain point in history. Let’s check them out.
Black Cat Crossing Your Path Brings Bad Luck
Are you instinctively running away from bad cats who want to cross your path? If that is so, you are actually following the practice from the Middle Ages. At the time, people believed that black cats were either companions of witches or witches in disguise, leading to the superstition that they bring bad luck.
7 Years of Bad Luck for a Broken Mirror
This superstition is a combination of practices from Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. In Ancient Greece, people would often visit “mirror seers” to tell them their fortune by analyzing their reflection on reflective surfaces. Clear reflection meant good luck, while distorted reflection indicated bad luck. Ancient Romans added their belief that the health of people changes in seven-year cycles to the mix, setting the foundation for seven years of bad luck for a broken mirror superstition.
Bad Luck for Walking Under the Ladders
For this one, we have to go all the way back to Ancient Egypt. When a ladder is set against the wall, it forms a triangle. The shape was sacred to Ancient Egyptians, as it represented the trinity of gods, and walking “through” that trinity even in this manner was considered disrespectful and an invitation of bad luck.