What is the origin of some of the most popular superstitions?

Friday The 13th It's Friday the 13th today, hence the answer. This is perhaps the single, most dreaded date in the entire calendar. So much so that whole superstitions based on Friday the 13th have been created by some imaginative minds. Not just that, a whole series of horror movies have been created simply on the basis of the day and its date - Friday the 13th. Today, the phrase Friday the 13th easily rolls off the tongue in reference to bad luck, strange happenings and a hockey-masked murderer in a slasher flick. So what's so ominous about Friday the 13th? Here are 13 things to know about the date: 1. There is no known origin of the phrase Friday the 13th or of the superstitions related to it. However, the first written reference to the date's wickedness appeared in the mid-19th century when William Fowler, a US Army captain, founded the Thirteen Club - a group of 13 men in Manhattan devoted to proving that superstitions were false. Apparently, five former US presidents were honorary members of the club. 2. According to folklore, historians such as Donald Dossey who wrote "Holiday Folklore, Phobias and Fun", Friday the 13th is actually a combination of two separate superstitions: the evil of the number 13 and the bad luck of Friday. By itself, the number 13 is a loaded number, full of cultural, religious and mythic history. According to Nordic mythology, 12 gods had gathered for dinner, when a 13th guest joined them. This was Loki, a mischievous, trickster god, who took his bow and arrow and shot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness. Balder's death immediately plunged the world into darkness and mourning. Alternatively, in Christianity, the belief that the 13th guest to attend the Last Supper, Judas, was thought to be the same person who betrayed Jesus prior to his death. His death, coincidentally, is said to have occurred on a Friday. 3. Friggatriskaidekaphobia is the scientific name for those with a phobia of Friday the 13th. The name comes from Frigga + triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number 13. Frigga is the wife of the Norse god Odin after whom Friday is named. It is also called as paraskevidekatriaphobia, partly from the Greek word Friday. 4. Friday the 13th will occur only once in 2014. However, in 2015, the date will come thrice - in February, March and November. In 2016, it will come only once, in May, and in 2017, it will come twice - in January and October. 5. For those who are superstitious, here's some added fuel: the date June 13, 2014, or Friday the 13th, will coincide with a full moon - an out-of-this-world omen which is likely to be considered by some as the world's worst day ever in terms of superstitions. The last time this combination of events occurred was on October 13, 2000. The next time this combination will take place will be in August 2049. 6. The fear of the number 13 is such that most hotels do not have a 13th floor and instead go directly to the 14th floor after 12. Some builders even refuse to build beyond the 12th floor. 7. Not all superstitions about Friday the 13th are bad. The ancient Egyptians believed that life was a spiritual journey that unfolds in stages. They believed that 12 of those stages occurred in this life, and the last, the 13th, was the ascension to an eternal afterlife. So the number 13 represented death to the Egyptians, but not death as in decay and fear, but as acknowledgement of a glorious eternal life. 8. In Spanish-speaking countries, it's not Friday the 13th that arouses fear, it's actually Tuesday the 13th which is considered as a day of bad luck. 9. If a 31-day-month contains a Tuesday the 13th, the next month will have a Friday the 13th. 10. Legendary rapper Tupac was killed on Friday the 13th in Las Vegas. 11. Nearly 21 million people in the US are superstitious about Friday the 13th according to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, NC. Famous Presidents who suffered from this fear include Franklin D. Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover. 12. One superstition goes like this: If you cut your hair on Friday the 13th, someone in your family will die. 13. Another one says: A child born on Friday the 13th will be unlucky for life. 14. Some say Friday's bad reputation goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. It was on a Friday, supposedly, that Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit. Adam bit, and they were both ejected from Paradise. 15. Tradition also holds that the Great Flood began on a Friday; God tongue-tied the builders of the Tower of Babel on a Friday; the Temple of Solomon was destroyed on a Friday; and with the crucification being on a Friday as well, Christians consider it as a day of penance for Christians. 16. Ancient Persians believed the twelve constellations in the Zodiac controlled the months of the year, and each ruled the earth for a thousand years, at the end of which the sky and earth collapsed in chaos. Therefore, the number is identified with chaos and the reason Persians leave their houses to avoid bad luck on the thirteenth day of the Persian Calendar, a tradition called Sizdah Bedar. Reasons/ Speculations: Though no one can say for sure when and why human beings first associated the number 13 with misfortune, the superstition is assumed to be quite old, and there exist any number of theories — many of which deserve to be treated with a healthy skepticism, please note — purporting to trace its origins to antiquity and beyond. It has been proposed, for example, that fears surrounding the number 13 are as ancient as the act of counting. Primitive man had only his 10 fingers and two feet to represent units, this explanation goes, so he could count no higher than 12. What lay beyond that — 13 — was an impenetrable mystery to our prehistoric forebears, hence an object of superstition. Still other sources speculate that the number 13 may have been purposely vilified by the founders of patriarchal religions in the early days of western civilization because it represented femininity. Thirteen had been revered in prehistoric goddess-worshiping cultures, we are told, because it corresponded to the number of lunar (menstrual) cycles in a year (13 x 28 = 364 days). The "Earth Mother of Laussel," for example — a 27,000-year-old carving found near the Lascaux caves in France often cited as an icon of matriarchal spirituality — depicts a female figure holding a crescent-shaped horn bearing 13 notches. As the solar calendar triumphed over the lunar with the rise of male-dominated civilization, it is surmised, so did the "perfect" number 12 over the "imperfect" number 13, thereafter considered anathema. In pagan Rome, Friday was execution day (later Hangman's Day in Britain), but in other pre-Christian cultures it was the sabbath, a day of worship, so those who indulged in secular or self-interested activities on that day could not expect to receive blessings from the gods — which may explain the lingering taboo on embarking on journeys or starting important projects on Fridays. To complicate matters, these pagan associations were not lost on the early Church, which went to great lengths to suppress them. If Friday was a holy day for heathens, the Church fathers felt, it must not be so for Christians — thus it became known in the Middle Ages as the "Witches' Sabbath," and thereby hangs another tale. The name "Friday" was derived from a Norse deity worshipped on the sixth day, known either as Frigg (goddess of marriage and fertility), or Freya (goddess of sex and fertility), or both, the two figures having become intertwined in the handing down of myths over time (the etymology of "Friday" has been given both ways). Frigg/Freya corresponded to Venus, the goddess of love of the Romans, who named the sixth day of the week in her honor "dies Veneris." Friday was actually considered quite lucky by pre-Christian Teutonic peoples, especially as a day to get married because of its traditional association with love and fertility. All that changed when Christianity came along. The goddess of the sixth day — most likely Freya in this context, given that the cat was her sacred animal — was recast in post-pagan folklore as a witch, and her day became associated with evil doings. Various legends developed in that vein, but one is of particular interest: As the story goes, the witches of the north used to observe their sabbath by gathering in a cemetery in the dark of the moon. On one such occasion the Friday goddess, Freya herself, came down from her sanctuary in the mountaintops and appeared before the group, who numbered only 12 at the time, and gave them one of her cats, after which the witches' coven — and, by "tradition," every properly-formed coven since — comprised exactly 13. One theory, recently offered up as historical fact in the novel The Da Vinci Code, holds that the stigma came about not as the result of a convergence, but because of a catastrophe, a single historical event that happened nearly 700 years ago. That event was the decimation of the Knight Templars. "On October 13, 1307, a day so infamous that Friday the 13th would become a synonym for ill fortune, officers of King Philip IV of France carried out mass arrests in a well-coordinated dawn raid that left several thousand Templars — knights, sergeants, priests, and serving brethren — in chains, charged with heresy, blasphemy, various obscenities, and homosexual practices. None of these charges was ever proven, even in France — and the Order was found innocent elsewhere — but in the seven years following the arrests, hundreds of Templars suffered excruciating tortures intended to force "confessions," and more than a hundred died under torture or were executed by burning at the stake." (as recounted by Katharine Kurtz in Tales of the Knights Templar (Warner Books, 1995)) In 1881 an influential group of New Yorkers led by US Civil War veteran Captain William Fowler came together to put an end to this and other superstitions. They formed a dinner cabaret club, which they called The thirteen Club. At the first meeting, on Friday, January 13, 1881, at 8:13 p.m., thirteen people sat down to dine in Room 13 of the venue. The guests walked under a ladder to enter the room and were seated among piles of spilled salt. Many Thirteen Clubs sprang up all over North America for the next 40 years. Their activities were regularly reported in leading newspapers, and their numbers included five future US presidents, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_A._Arthur to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt. Thirteen Clubs had various imitators, but they all gradually faded from interest http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/13-things-about-friday-the-13th/1/366665.html http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/friday_the_13th_4.htm All the Wishes in the world... Wishing on a shooting star Like a lot of superstitions, the beginning is unknown and the meaning can vary depending on the historic age and circumstances. “In Europe at the time when the Greek astronomer Ptolemy’s view of the cosmos as a universe of interlocking spheres became the orthodoxy, there was a widely accepted and very poetic explanation for “falling stars” which was entirely consistent with other deeply held beliefs of the time. It was thought that the gods, overwhelmed with curiosity, would sometimes look at the earth from between the spheres, and that in that instant a star or two might slip through the gap and become visible as a falling or shooting star. Since the gods were clearly peering down at that very moment, it was considered an excellent opportunity to voice one’s wishes with the guarantee that the gods would hear them.” The Greek goddess of shooting stars was Asteria. She was the Titan "of the oracles and prophecies of night, including prophetic dreams, the reading of the stars (astrology), and necromancy. She was the mother of the goddess Hekate by Perses (the Destroyer). After the fall of the Titans, Asteria was pursued by the god Zeus. She fled his advances, transforming herself into a quail and leaping into the sea where she became the island of Delos." The Greeks believed the shooting stars to be rising or falling human souls, while Jews and Christians believed them to be fallen angels or demons. The correct way to actually perform your wish also varies greatly … some believe you need to hold something in your hand, you need to complete the wish before the star disappears, the more times you can repeat the wish on the same star before it vanishes is also suppose to add to the likely hood of wishing success. In Chile, for instance, when you spot a shooting star, you must pick up a stone in the same moment, while making a wish. If you’re in the Philippines, you must tie a knot in your handkerchief instead. Scientifically, shooting stars are not actually stars, they are meteors and appear as intense streaks of light across the night sky. The way these small objects quickly shoot across the sky with streaks of light makes them look like a falling star. The fact that such occurences are so rare to see, especially considering the polluted skies, makes them more special http://historiesofthingstocome.blogspot.in/2010/08/when-you-wish-upon-star.html Candles Rumors, superstitions, and omens about candles date back hundreds of years. Some of these have passed into history, while others, such as the blowing out of birthday candles, are still very much a part of modern society. Candles and their behavior have been said to predict everything from luck, to marriage, to death, and everything in between. Candles have always been a tradition when it comes to birthdays and other special occasions, but there is a reason for them. Greeks baked cakes for Artemis, the god of the moon, where a cake represents a moon (when round) and a candle represents the light of life. The Europeans and especially the Germans (18th century) were skilled candle makers and put a big candle in the middle of a cake symbolizing 'light of life'and burned it all day long to ward off evil spirits. When the candle is blown out and a wish is made, the smoke is said to take the wish up to heaven. http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-do-we-blow-out-birthday-candles/ To dream of a candle usually has a meaning that is dependent upon the color of the candle. For example: Black – death or illness White – true love Red – passion and sexual desire In addition to this, there are other meanings of candles appearing in dreams. It is said that if a young woman dreams of two white candles, she will soon receive a proposal of marriage. Dreaming of five candles is said to mean love and marriage for anyone, young woman or no. A candle alone, with no indication of color, is often said to be an indication of intelligence, or of spiritual understanding. A candle in a holder means happiness and prosperity, while a holder with no candle indicates sorrow and great misfortune, maybe even death. Burning a pink candle on Valentine’s Day is said to bring true love, while a white candle at a wedding is supposed to ensure a long and happy marriage. Bringing a lover is a little more complicated, and involves sticking two pins through the middle of a red candle at midnight (the day is not important here), and when the candle burns down to the pins, the lover is said to arrive. Some events occur by accident. For example, accidentally knocking a candle out is a lucky sign that there might be a wedding in the near future. A candle that suddenly goes out during a wedding, though, indicates that the marriage will end in sorrow. It is considered bad luck to fall asleep with a candle burning. Vague, true, but this warning has a more mundane purpose as well, since an unattended candle could potentially burn a house down. Other omens are just as vague. The traditional saying, “If a candle falls and breaks in two, double trouble will come to you,” isn’t very specific. It could be anything. And the popular superstition that says that allowing a candle to burn itself out will bring misfortune is certainly subject to interpretation. Other superstitions regarding bad luck and candles are not so vague. A drip down the side of a candle during a séance (but at no other time) is said to predict bad luck or even death (which would be very bad luck) to the person nearest that side of the candle. http://theorderofthesacredstar.blogspot.in/2011/11/candle-magick-superstitions.html http://thewishingproject.com/thewishingproject.com/Birthday_cake.html Dandelions Making wishes on dandelions dates back to Celts and the French. Dandelion comes from a French word meaning “lion’s tooth” Dandelions used to be used for medical purposes to treat infections and diseases. Because they thought this was a magical herb, people began making wishes on them when the dandelions become gray and white. They are also considered lucky if a bride carries them in her bouquet. There are several customs related to dandelions the most popular being when you see the first dandelion of the season, make a wish. Others say you must blow on a dandelion puff and make a wish. Then say: "Dandelion, puffs away, Make my wish come true some day." Some people say that all the "whiskers" are gone after the third puff, your wish will come true. Wishbones The wishbone is a bone overlying the breastbone of fowl, but most especially the chicken and the turkey. It is the custom to save this bone intact when carving the bird at dinner and to dry it over the stove or by the fire (or, sometimes, to dry it for three days in the air, three being a fortuitous magical number) until it is brittle. Once the wishbone is dry, it is given to two people (usually children), who pull it apart until it cracks and breaks, each one making a wish while doing so. The person who gets the "long half" of the wishbone will have his or her wish "come true." If the wishbone breaks evenly, both parties get their wishes. In some families it is said that the wish will only come true if it is not revealed to anyone. The origin is not completely known, but it has something to do with the importance of poultry. These animals were thought to have magical powers because roosters crowed when the sun rose, and hens clucked when they had layed eggs. Their magic supposedly spread through their bones. The wishbone or proper name fercula was chosen because it is the symbol of fertility. Wishbones continue to be a tradition even today. Eyelashes If an eyelash accidentally falls out, you can make a wish on it. (It won't work if you pull one out.) Put the eyelash on the back of your hand, close your eyes, and blow gently while you make a wish. Open your eyes. If the eyelash has blown off your hand, your wish will come true. (Your wish won't come true if you overdo the blowing.) Put an accidentally fallen eyelash on the back of your left hand as you make your wish. Then, placing your left palm over the back of your right hand, hit your left palm with your right hand-three hard blows, with your eyes closed. If the eyelash is still there when you open your eyes, the wish won't come true. But, if one of the blows has knocked it off, the lash has gone to fulfill your wish. If you or a friend accidentally loses an eyelash, press the eyelash between your thumb and your friend's thumb. Both of you make a wish. Separate your thumbs. The person whose thumb the eyelash sticks to will get his or her wish. If the eyelash falls to the ground without sticking to either thumb, neither of you will get your wish. According to the stories, it's connected with the devil and witchcraft. Witches would collect something from a person, say a lock of hair or nail clippings, by which they could make a spell to wish them bad luck or something like that.  The devil plays an important part as per the stories. He would collect as much human hair and eyelashes to get power over a person. By blowing the eyelash away and make a wish, gives oneself more power to get rid of the devil! Wishing fountains and Wishing wells Many cultures throughout history have regarded water as a sacred gift from the gods, because of its vital necessity to human existence and surprising rarity in a potable form. The idea that a wish would be granted came from the theory that water housed deities or had been placed there as a gift from the gods, since water was a source of life and often a scarce commodity. The idea of a wishing well, a body of water that will grant wishes, comes from this tradition. Wishing wells can be found all over the world, ranging from man-made fountains which are believed to be lucky to natural springs which are said to have unusual powers. The idea of throwing a coin into a wishing well is also ancient. A wish would then be granted by the guardian or dweller, based upon how the coin would land at the bottom of the well. If the coin were to land “heads-up” the wish would be granted. If the coin landed “heads-down” the wish would not be granted This may be a left over from ancient mythology such as Mímir's Well from Nordic myths, also known as the ¨Well of Wisdom¨ a well that could grant you infinite wisdom provided you sacrificed something you held dear. Odin was asked to sacrifice his right eye, which he threw into the well to receive not only the wisdom of seeing the future but the understanding of why things must be. Mirmir is the Nordic god of wisdom, and his well sits at the roots of Yggdrasil, the World Tree that draws its water from the well. In November 2006 the "Fountain Money Mountain" reported that tourists throw just under 3 million pounds per year into wishing wells. A celebrated wishing well, the Upwey Wishing Well, is situated just north of Weymouth, England. The tradition of Wishing Fountain apparently started with the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy. In 19 B.C., the Roman soldiers were searching for some water source, and legend has it they ended up at the Trevi Fountain, which was not as glorious as it is now. They used that as their water source for 400 years and drinking from the fountain was supposed to give people good fortune. Now, the tradition is said that throwing a coin in the fountain will cause the same thing. This tradition spread to thousands of fountains around the world and is continued today. http://thewishingproject.com/thewishingproject.com/Wishing_Wells.html Curse of the Opal stone Opal is the specific birthstone for October, it is also the gemstone given to commemorate a couple’s 14th year of marriage. The term “opal” is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit word “upala”, which means “precious stone,” the Greeks called it “Opallios,” that literally means “to perceive a change of color.” Amazingly both cultures had very similar sounding names for the beautiful gemstone. When it was considered good: The ancient Greeks believed that opal came from the tears of Zeus the God of lightning after winning a battle against the Titans. His tears turned into opal when they landed upon earth. Indians believed that opal was the 'Goddess of Rainbows' who turned herself into stone to escape the advances of the other gods. The traditional peoples of Australia the aborigines believed that opal was the 'Rainbow Serpent' and were actually fearful of the stone. Traditionally opal has been known as a stone of foresight with the Greeks believing that it provided the gift of insight. During the medieval ages fair haired women from Germany and Scandinavia wore opals to protect their hair from losing its color. Ancient Romans considered the opal the “queen of gemstones”, because it contained the colours of every other gemstone. Roman philosopher Pliny described the opal as combining the best characteristics of all gemstones: “in them all you shall see the living fire of the ruby, the glorious purple of the amethyst, the sea green of the emerald, the golden yellow of the topaz and the deep blue of the sapphire...” Opal was regarded as a symbol of hope and purity, valued second only to the emerald. The Romans called it cupid paederos, meaning “child as beautiful as love”, and believed an opal would protect its wearer from disease. Nonius, a Roman Senator, owned an opal so beautiful it caught the eye of Mark Antony, who wanted to buy it as a gift for his lover Cleopatra. Under threat of death Nonius chose to go into exile rather than part with his opal. Another legend claims Cleopatra wore opals to seduce Mark Antony. The Indian Goddess of the Rainbow was so beautiful all the male gods vied for her affection. In despair she turned herself into a rainbow-coloured opal to escape their attentions. The Oriental peoples considered opals an “anchor stone of hope”, while Arabians believed they were magical stones from Heaven. Alternative Arabian mythology believes opals were formed by lightning strikes, which is how the brilliant flashes of colour were captured inside the gemstone. In European History Blonde women wore opal earrings and hair ornaments to stop their hair from going gray. An opal necklace was guaranteed to prevent hair from fading or darkening. This gemstone was said to allow its wearer the gift of invisibility, resulting in opals being called patronus forum, meaning “patron of thieves”. When France’s Louis XI’s goldsmith broke a royal opal during a setting the furious King ordered his hands be amputated. An opal in the French crown jewels was supposedly a gift from Napoleon to Josephine. He called the brilliant stone “the burning of Troy”, and presented it to his “Helen”. Empress Eugenie, Napoleon III of France’s wife, refused to wear opals, believing the stone cursed. Evilness Medieval Europeans shunned opal because of its likeness to the eyes of several "evil" animals, such as cats. Fear of the Evil Eye, common to cultures the world over, was and remains especially acute in the Mediterranean. The Evil Eye's association with the opal probably originated in Elizabethan England. There the stones were called "ophals," a shortening of the word ophthalmos, which referred to the human eye. The Evil Eye was accepted as fact in 16th Century Britain, as was belief in omens and auguries. In the minds of superstitious Elizabethans, the occult link between ophals and ophthalmos was both obvious and ominous. Also, During the late 18th and 19th centuries opal fell out of favour, as it was associated with pestilence, famine and the fall of monarchies. Opal was also tied to the Black Plague, an affliction that struck in the middle of the 14th Century, ultimately eradicating more than a third of Europe's population and much more in neighboring territories. During the decimation of Europe by the Black Death, it was rumoured that an opal worn by a patient was aflame with colour right up to the point of death, and then lost its brilliance after the wearer died. As the plague put Europe under siege, desperate people searched for a scapegoat. They found several in the persons of Jews, heretics, and, of course, the much-maligned opal. "The year 1348, an astrological Martial sub-cycle, saw Venice assailed by destructive earthquakes, tidal waves and the Plague," wrote Isidore Kozminsky in The Magic and Science of Jewels and Stones. "The epidemic in a few months carried off two-thirds of the population of the city sparing neither rich nor poor, young nor old. It is said that at this time the opal was a favorite gem with Italian jewelers, being much used in their work. It is further said that opals worn by those stricken became suddenly brilliant and that the luster entirely departed with the death of the wearer. Story further tells that the opal then became an object of dread and was associated with the death of the victim." In the late 19th century, Alfonso XII of Spain fell in love with the Comtesse de Castiglione. Just before their wedding the King married Princess Mercedes. The bitter Comtesse sent them an opal ring as a wedding gift. Mercedes wore the ring until her mysterious death two months later. Alfonso gave the ring to his grandmother, Queen Christina, who died a few days later. The ring passed to Alfonso’s sister, who soon succumbed to the same illness that had befallen the previous owners. This didn’t deter Alfonso’s sister-in-law, who died soon after accepting the opal ring. This superstition stemmed from the best selling novel In 1829 English writer Sir Walter Scott published his novel Anne of Geierstein. The main character, Lady Hermione, wore a magical opal in her hair. When she was happy the gemstone sparkled beautifully, and gave off red fiery flashes when she was angry. This caused her to be wrongly accused of being a demon, so few drops of holy water were sprinkled on the opal, which lost its brilliance. Lady Hermione fell ill, and was taken to her bed. The following morning all that remained of her and her opal was a pile of ash in her bed. This book had such an effect on the image of the Opal that shortly after its publication, the Opal market crashed and Opal prices dropped by 50%. Another contributing factor to opal's bad reputation may be the fact that opals are a relatively fragile gemstone. Opals are a soft gemstone compared to diamonds, and can be broken if mis-treated or treated roughly. This may have contributed to an overall perception of opal as "bad luck", since anybody would be heartbroken to lose a precious beautiful opal or family heirloom. http://www.opalsdownunder.com.au/learn-about-opals/introductory/are-opals-bad-luck https://suite.io/sarah-todd/3vcc2kt I can go on and on. I love this kind of topics. But i think this has stretched on enough :D :D Sorry!! :D

I don't think anything can be authoritatively said about when these beliefs started and how. But we might try to make some sense out of it in today's world. Let us take up the first three from the list given in the question. If a black cat crosses your way, it's bad luck for you. Turn around, take another route. This shows that from very ancient times, Indians knew what we were coming to. So-called VIPs (whose importance is only to their own immediate family and friends) with black cat security are known to create traffic problems wherever they go with their cavalcades. So if you spot, or even sense any of them, it is best to turn around and take another route. Sneezing before doing something good/big is a bad omen I have not heard of such a belief, but let us think of what it might signify. Good/big things usually involve large gatherings. In these days of H1N1 and similar viruses that can spread through air, if an infected person sneezes, it can be considered a bad sign for others in the gathering. You should never ask the question "Where are you going? " while someone is leaving the house, its purpose will not be fulfilled I haven't heard of this one either, but seems to have been invented by some teenagers who were fed up with their parents and/or grandparents asking this question whenever they were leaving the house. Once this superstition is successfully implanted, one only has to pretend to be going out for something important, and no questions will be asked. Smart, isn't it?