Teacher Calendar
Bizarre Superstitions – October

October 2
If you drop a broom, you're going to have company. (You'd better pick up the broom again and start sweeping so you'll be ready for guests!) ²

October 3
If you have a headache, sleep with a nail under your pillow. In the morning, pound the nail into a tree; the tree will trap and hold your pain. ⁷

October 4
If you've had bad luck, turn your hat around and then pull your pockets out. Your luck will soon change. ⁶

October 5
It's good luck if you put a sweater or shirt on backward or inside out. But in the case of underwear, you must wait until after lunch to turn it right side out. ⁶

October 6
If an unwanted guest visits you, sweep out the guestroom right after the visit to prevent the guest from returning. ³

October 9
If the first butterfly you see next year is white, you'll have a good year. ³

October 10
If you keep bees for honey, be sure to tell them if there is a death in the house; otherwise, the bees will leave. ⁷

October 11
To learn your true love's name, place a snail on a flour-covered board under a glass bowl. In the morning, the snail's trail will spell out your love's initials. ⁷

October 12
When you move to a new home, put your cat in through the window, then butter its paws, and it won't run away. ¹

October 13
If someone you know has a fever, catch the tops of nine waves in a jar. Put the water on the face of the patient, then wipe it off in the direction of the sun. ⁷

October 16
Hang a horseshoe over your door for good luck. (But turn the shoe upward or the luck will "run out.") ³

October 17
Catch a falling leaf on the first day of autumn so you won't catch a cold all winter. ³

October 18
Take a test with the same pencil you used to study for the test; the pencil will remember the answers. ³

October 19
Spit all the seeds from an apple into your hand, then slap them against your forehead. The number of seeds that stick tells you how many children you'll have. ⁶

October 20
If your soup is salty, it means the cook is in love. ³

October 23
If you can eat 100 chicken gizzards at a time, you will be able to marry anyone you want. ⁶

October 24
It's bad luck if a bride trips and falls when entering her new home, so her groom should carry her over the threshold. ³

October 25
Until President Ulysses Simpson Grant was reelected in 1872, superstition said that no president with a middle name could be elected a second time. ⁴

October 26
If you see a white cat on your way to school, either spit or spin around to prevent bad luck. ¹

October 27
If you have hairy legs or if the lines on your palm form the letter M, you will get married. ⁶

October 30
If you wash a child's hands before the first birthday, you'll wash away the riches, and the child will be poor. ⁵

October 31
If you drop your book on the way to school, kiss it before you pick it up, or you'll forget everything you learned from it. ⁶

Sources

1. About.com. http://www.vividnet.com/~kattepus/catsuperst.html. September 2000.

2. Schwartz, Alvin. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat: Superstitions and Other Beliefs. Philadelphia and New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1974.

3. "Superstition A to Z" http://www.corsinet.com/trivia/scary.html

4. Stanwood, Edward. "Election Superstitions and Fallacies" The Atlantic Monthly 110, no. 4 (October 1912): 553-562.

5. Hunt, Robert. Popular Romances of the West of England. http://www.gandolf.com/cornwall/superstitions/PopularSuperstitions.shtml

6. Schwartz, Alvin. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat: Superstitions and Other Beliefs, Philadelphia and New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1974.

7. Sarnoff, Jane and Reynold Ruffins. Take Warning! A Book of Superstitions. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1978.