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Although I have never experienced anything unusual on this day my Grandma Rose believed every Friday and every 13th day of the month was unlucky. She had a long list of practices to overcome superstition and the unwelcome consequences of everyday living.
Here’s a few for all of you to ponder:
- drop a dish towel (unexpected company will come over)
- go to bed between 11:55 pm and midnight (will have bad dreams)
- buy a broom in May, (you’ll sweep someone away)
- wash blankets in May (you’ll wash someone away)
- go to the zoo or look at monkeys during pregnancy, (it will affect your baby’s behavior)
- sneeze at the breakfast table (bad spirits will be with you all day)
- carry a shovel through the house (you’ll be digging someones grave)
- walk under power lines that crossed (just plain unlucky)
- seat 13 at a table (one will die within the year)
- drink out of a cup with a crack (just unlucky)
- wear red or purple to a funeral home (means you’ re happy they’re dead)
- cross knives (you’ll get in a fight)
- stir your coffee 2 or 4 times around not 3times (uneven numbers bring bad luck)
- we could only live in houses with even street numbers,
- use white sheets and pillow cases only (bring good spirits around)
- no dirty dishes over night in the sink (unwanted company will be coming)
- the foot of the bed could not face the door, (you’re on your way out)
- never wear a hat in the house (going to a funeral)
- if you enter the house through the front door had to leave through the front (or more people will keep coming)
- sweep the house out every New Year’s Eve (get rid of the dirt)
- buy a new broom every time we moved (don’t take the dirt with you)
- move the furniture around in her house because we would change her good luck
Grandma lived happy and healthy until 85, and when we giggled about all this she would always say a few choice words in Italian and then say “someday you’ll miss me honey”.
She called that right and I’ll admit I always freshen up my blankets in April.