Burning Question: Very Superstitious?
Here’s a Friday-the-13th-tastic question for you to ponder: have you ever made a design choice in your home that might be considered superstitious? Do you keep a certain item in a room because you think it’s good luck? Or do you have a particular decorating habit that you can’t break for fear of the “or else…”?
Sure some of these might fall into the category of Fung Shui or general decorating rituals, but we’d still love to hear what you do around your house to avoid bad luck.
And for major good karma points, go take a look at some cute Virginia puppies who need a happy home over on Hamburger’s House.
Image courtesy of blik.
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Comments
I love the one about the Domovoi. That would be a really good incentive for me to keep things fixed and full of life!
We keep a black fortune cat in every room. According to legend, it is supposed to protect against evil spirits. We figure it couldn’t hurt!
No mirrors or flowers in the bedroom. I am always conscious of not allowing my feet to face the bedroom door, its supposed to be a death position.
I’m coming into this discussion late because I got DENTAL SURGERY on Friday the 13th! That’s about how superstitious I am – not at all! I also have two black cats that cross my path daily. I like to think that they make me doubly lucky (because I love them). My family’s superstitions are mostly about not saying bad things because they might come true. For example, my boyfriend joked about the brakes on the car failing, and I shushed him. You never know what’s listening. But in terms of decorating, I usually don’t think about that sort of thing.
Oh, except for what Sonja said above. My father always told us not to sleep with our feet to the door because that’s how they carry the dead out. I guess that might give me pause if I were to redecorate my bedroom, but only because my dad said it.
I’m coming way late to the discussion, but I had to add my tidbit because I can’t believe no one else has mentioned it yet. In old Irish tradition it is bad luck to have images of birds in your home, like pictures of birds, wallpaper with birds, pillows with a bird print…anything. I have no idea what the reason is, but I’ve heard about it my entire life.
My mother once had a decorator who insisted that she put up this wallpaper with birds printed all over it. My mom always had a bad feeling about it, but tried to get over it because it really was a neat print. Within a few months Hurricane Charley unexpectedly drove right through our backyard and trashed our house (blew out the walls on either side of the house, garage door ended up a twisted piece of metal, trees crushed the roof, etc). During the year and a half it took to put the house back together, my mom ripped that wallpaper right out. Trust me, no one in our family will ever include a bird print in their home again!
A few here: Bury a boot sole down under the chimney, no mirrors where people sleep, and no hats on the bed.
Amanda – that superstition about sleeping with your head to the north is bad luck is from China and some other asian countries. They bury bodies in coffins with their head facing north, so they usually sleep (when alive) with their heads facing south. Interesting and a bit creepy!