Introduction

Before moving deeper into the lore and sources of the hundreds of common and not-so-common superstitions, we might first take a look at a superstitious day and see what the many pitfalls are that could face you.

You wake up to the sound of your alarm clock and you notice that it's Friday the 13th! You're immediately in trouble. This is the unluckiest day of the year, so you get out of bed on the wrong side and bump into the wall!  You stagger into the bathroom to look into the mirror and find that it has fallen to the floor and shattered. Seven years of continuous bad luck begins today! Friday the 13th was right. It really is your unlucky day, but it's far from over yet. 

Food figures prominently in the superstition stakes, but mostly in relation to bad cooking. The devil seems rarely interested in the gourmet kitchen for he prefers to sample failure rather than success. You are now faced with suffering a fate worse than death as you make a breakfast this dangerous morning. In the preparation of the coffee and eggs there are cautions to be observed at every turn. Don't stir your companion's cup as this will stir up strife. Don't spill the milk for this is the worst luck. Don't then boil over the milk or you add to the problems, and don't open the boiled egg at the small end or you offend the fates even more. If you have managed to break one or all of these rules, then it is essential the following rhyme is chanted:

"Break an egg: break your leg.
Break three, woe to thee; break two, your loves true.
You may be sure that if I break one,
I take good care to break another one as well."

With luck, this may bring the balance back to normal.

You leave the house on your weary way to work, two clocks chime simultaneously. Now, for the first time in the day, this piece of coincidental bad management might not actually cause you any personal hardship. But a poor unfortunate couple somewhere in your town will die as a result! But by this time you have become so paranoid that you are watching out for anything that might offend the fates. You look down at your shirt and you realize that you have put it on inside-out. Disaster! You return home quickly and put the shirt on properly. Ah, what a relief, for you have in one rapid act turned your bad fortune to good. You have wiped the slate clean and can start afresh without a care in the world.

But wait, there's a button missing from the shirt. Time is running short and you must rush to get to work in time, so you sew on the button without taking off the shirt. Disaster. You will have bad luck for the rest of the day, and someone will speak ill of you.

Oh well, at least one day's bad luck is better than seven years. Given a full understanding of superstitious ritual you could in fact make a balance sheet of it, the "bottom line" being the worst or best luck you could have under the circumstances.

So far, you're not doing badly at all.