Superstition

[jinx13]

 I think I first heard about Russians and their superstitions many years ago when Gorbachev was President, I recall a news story about his wife and her interest in Astrology. People even wondered if she had influence over her husband as far as doing certain things based on the zodiac calendar. The story also talked about everyday Russians and their traditions and their penchant for things such as palm reading, psychics, astrology, and superstitions.

 Now that I have been with my Ukrainian girlfriend for over a year I can tell you they are crazy about this stuff! A day doesn't go by where it doesn't come up...she can't sit at the corner of the table because it means she will never marry...making a big purchase after dark is bad luck (for example we bought a car)....birds pooping on your car is good luck!  Whistling in the house is bad luck, and so on, there is a million more but I can't think of them right now.

 She is big into astrology, which I can sort of understand, I have to admit I'm pretty much dead on the description of a Taurus, and she fits the Pisces role too. Supposedly we make a good match! 

 She read my palm, and looks like I'm gonna die soon    too bad, I was looking forward to dating hot young chicks when I get to be Turbo's age 

 Seriously, what's up with this? I'm sure you guys can share many of the same experiences, let's hear it, I'm curious if this is as common as i think it is.

[I/O]

..birds pooping on your car is good luck! 

Bl@@dy good job cow's can't fly....!!!!

The subject: Yes it is quite usual but in my experience not extreme and certainly not annoying.  It pretty much comes down to Eastern Spiritualism VS Western Paragmatism. 

I tend to think that it is, in part, a product of Orthodoxy as differs from a more Evangelical type approach to religious development.  No...!!! Oiy...!!! Lets NOT go down the religion road here please...!!!!

I/O

[Jumper]

my wife isnt into the astrology thing at all..

but has all the small superstitions like

...
the bird poop being lucky..
 ...
no empty bottles set on the table, (they go on the floor )
...
whistling in the house or car..
...
etc etc

she doesnt take any of them very seriuosly at all ..more jokingly

but i think she's an exception not the rule..as far as eastern europeans and superstiotions..

[Captmonk1]

  My wife hates it if I whistle in the house. Brings bad luck.

  Also, gets on to me if I talk bad about my business. Believes talking about bad things will bring bad things.

  She won't let me pick up change off the street...pennies...dimes etc. Says that picking up small money will bring small money or something.

  What else...what else...something about if you put a ruble or something in each pocket...it's good luck when you are about to do something...like a test.

[LEGAL]

Jinx I remember one of my first trips to Russia, I was at a friends flat having dinner. I finished the last drink of vodka from the bottle and put the empty bottle on the table   What a unwittingly mistake I made  ??? You should have seen the look on my face when everybody jumped up... I learned real fast how superstitious Russian woman are  OK the meaning I am told placing a empty bottle on the table means no $ money in pocket, needles to say I did not make that mistake again. It was very funny

Sincerely
LEGAL

[catzenmouse]

Mostly the same experience here. Say Hello to each other if you walk on different sides of a pole etc. Look in the mirror when you go back into the house when you forget something etc.

I say enjoy and embrace it if it is not out of control. You never know, it might just be truer than you think! 

Ken

[Michelangelo]

For us, it's no keys on the table.

Also, you can't return to the house if you forget something!  Do something else and then go back.

On vacation, as you leave the room, kneel down and mediate and be at peace as you go. So much for my mad rush to the airport! LOL

[jinx13]

 To quote a cheesy 70's pick up line....What's your sign?  I'm the bull baby, don't lock horns with me! 


  Taurus
(April 20 - May 20)
 
 
Symbol: The Bull Ruling Planet: Venus
Element: Earth Cross/Quality: Fixed
Group: Emotional House Ruled: Second 
Polarity: Negative Opposite Sign: Scorpio
Favorable Colors: Green & Brown Lucky Gem: Emerald
Key Body Part: Neck/ Throat Period: April 20 - May 20


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Basic Profile:
conservative, sensible, responsible, meticulous, artistic, loyal consistent, dependable, generous, physically strong, sexual, but can be rigid, stubborn, selfish, suspicious, hot-tempered
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Famous Taureans:
Audrey Hepburn, Charlotte Bronte, Cher, Frank Capra, Bono, Billy Joel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Barbra Streisand, Benjamin Spock, Sigmund Freud, Katharine Hepburn, Stevie Wonder, Jerry Seinfeld, Queen Elizabeth II, Bing Crosby, Candice Bergen, William Shakespeare, Adolf Hitler
 Search Celebrity Index 
 
 
 
 

[Zmejka]

Now i knew some more superstitions myself and most of them are really funny. But (confessing) I also have 3 -it doesn't mean that if i forget something i won't come back home again but...
Don't show something on your body - like cutting off your head etc. - if show, then blow it away with your hand.
Don't go on different sides of an obstacle with your friend or boyfriend, don't let anybody pass by between you.
And make a wish if you happen to be the last person to pour a drink while the last drops are falling.
We, RW are quite creative in this matter and i'm also interested in astrology.

[viking]

Zmejka

I hope you mean hair and not head. If I cut off my head, I will not be able to blow it away with my hand.

[catzenmouse]

Viking,

 She said the right thing. If you were talking about someone that got their arm cut off and you show on "your" arm then you have to blow it off so it does not come true.

Ken

[I/O]

The last time mine was in my country, the whistling inside was about the only thing and it was more of a joke than anything else.  I would usually whistle sometime later after I had given her some money and it always brought rounds of laughter.  (Mat has no money now)  So what is new about that when you have a woman in your life?

I/O

[Zmejka]

Zmejka

I hope you mean hair and not head. If I cut off my head, I will not be able to blow it away with my hand.

I can imagine I meant when talking about someone who got for example badly injured "here and here" (with demonstration where it was on your own body). But your version was better

[Michelangelo]

I have a sore throat because of sinus drainege (mountain cedar).  But Vil says it's cuz of the cold coke I drank.  Hope this does not apply to cold beer!!!

[ScottinCrimea]

Superstitions are definitely big over here.  I could go on and on about them.  It seems I learn a new one every other day (usually by doing the wrong thing).  One very big one that hasn't been mentioned is that you never shake hands over the threshold of a door because this will bring bad luck.  This also means that you never kiss or hand something to someone over the threshold.  One of you has to either step in or out.
     My wife's family is big into bad energy and curses and will occasionally go to a local shaman (in simple terms a Tatar witch) to have this energy or curse removed.  I have gone a couple of times at the request of my wife or mother in law and it can be quite interesting.  It is common to bring salt, tea or eggs to have her do incantations over.  One of the funniest things that she had me do rid myself of bad energy was to break one of these eggs over a bowel movement and flush it down the toilet.  What the heck, it would have ended up there anyway.  This way I just bypassed the digestive process.  I usually go along because it makes them feel better, I have a strong belief in the placebo affect, and, hey, it just might work so why not?

[Jumper]

Don't show something on your body - like cutting off your head etc. - if show, then blow it away with your hand.

I forgot about that one!
thats a big deal around our house!

if you show it, it will come true on that person!  or yourself (whomever you  demonstrated it on)


michealangelo said:

I have a sore throat because of sinus drainege (mountain cedar).  But Vil says it's cuz of the cold coke I drank.  Hope this does not apply to cold beer!!!
 

hahaha!
not really a superstition but a cultural thing..
like cold corn/warm beer ?

i had a long rant about that "ice" one on RWG long ago it seems,,
(i think the thread was even titled "ice" )
and have alluded to it here a few times as well

yes "ice" is quite deadly and very perilous!
she used to look at me like I was about to fall over dead when i would have the foolishness to drink ICED tea?
 
and i was chastised bitterly , if i had a cold or sniffles, and yet dared to drink anything cold..
i was such a fool,  i tell you! 


now shes relishes frozen margaritas as very safe and delicious,,
ahh the sweet irony..   

and of course i don't let her forget it so easily...
 

[ScottinCrimea]

I am constantly told that if I go out in cold weather without a hat or sit on something cold then I will get sick.  I respond that if this were true, all Eskimos would have been dead long ago and Africans would be the healthiest people in the world.

[Michelangelo]

yes "ice" is quite deadly and very perilous!
she used to look at me like I was about to fall over dead when i would have the foolishness to drink ICED tea?
 

now shes relishes frozen margaritas as very safe and delicious,,
ahh the sweet irony..   

Thanks for the hopeful comment, AJ.... I am glad that in time I'll be able to have ice in my drinks again without being lectured! LOL

[Son of Clyde]

Maybe not superstition as much a cleanliness. My wife will not touch railings in the subway. Wash your hands whenever coming into the house from outside. Wear home shoes and home clothes. This is more cultural differences. Of course no whistling inside the house.

[corp]

Wow I feel left out!
Why is it none of the women I seem to hook up with display this trait very much?
OK, well once when I was walking with one RW and the topic of spanking children came up she asked "what does spanking mean?" I said .. "you know" and I proceeded to demonstrate by patting her on the butt. As soon As I did ... I remembered patting a woman on the butt has some connection to prostitution.
She did not seem to focus on that some much as she insisted I pull on the helm of her jacket???

One other girl, mentioned something about Astrology in a letter and I explained I don't believe in astrology at all. To me superstitions are not based on any logic really so no use to argue or debate it, Astrology is silly for a whole host of reasons and backed up research...(yeah I had to do a term paper once)  every thing from divorce and marriage records show no trend according to zodiac signs, neither do inmate population nor people in positions of leadership.

Recently I wondered... what will happen in the not too distant future when children can be conceived and brought to term without ever being in a womb, maybe then your "sign" will be assigned by the "take the baby home date?"
 
But seriously, maybe a week or two with someone is not enough time to pick-up on these superstitius things and thats why I have not seen so much of it.

[ScottinCrimea]

Had a weird thing happen this week in our household.  Our 15 year old daughter, who has very long thick hair. woke up to find that during the night her hair had been cut off very irregularly and was laying in a circle on the floor.  She remembers nothing.  My wife is convinced that she couldn't have done it herself and is convinced that it was either an evil spirit or a curse placed on our daughter by someone who was jealous.  Parapsychology seems to rule over psychology.  Sot the debate between her and her friends is whether to go to chuurch versus a witchdoctor to fix the problem.

[Mir]

A small list of Ruskie superstitions from a blog:

It’s probably impossible to know all Russian superstitions. Some are very common but some are taken seriously only by a limited number of older people. Among not usual superstitions one can often comes across in Russia although they are not ‘universal’.

1. Cut bread only with a knife. Don’t break it with you hands. Otherwise your life will be broken.
If you’re not married don’t sit at the corner of the table. Otherwise you won’t marry in the next seven years. If you are 15 you can easily violate this rule.

2/ If you leave your house and then suddenly discover that you left something at home, think twice – coming back home for forgotten things is a bad omen. But it’s not that hopeless. When you return, look in the mirror and the evil spell will disappear.

3. Stranger should not look at a new born baby before it is two months old (or six months or one year, it all depends). Anyway, if you look at a baby, don’t compliment it – compliments can put evil eye on the baby. Say something like, “Oh, what an ugly child!” instead. A word of warning – this superstition is not common and many young Russian families are unaware of it.

4. Don’t start anything serious on Mondays.

5. Don’t boast about your future success. It may bring bad luck. You see if people you’re talking about might envy you and put you evil eye on you. It’s safer to sound pessimistic even when you’re sure of success. If you cannot help yourself, after saying, “Next month I get a promotion”, spit three times over your left shoulder. Don’t do it literally – three symbolic spits will do. You can also knock on wood.

6. If you see a woman with empty water buckets coming up to you, run away!

7. If you see a funeral procession stay aside and wait until it passes. It brings good luck.

8. Never buy or accept as gifts baby clothes, shoes, toys, furniture, etc. before the baby is born. In Russia when you see in a store an excited man who is buying in a rush and in wholesale quantities baby clothes, don’t be surprised. Most probably, he became a father today. This is an interesting superstition that was “regenerated” in the 90’s. In the Soviet Union we didn’t even know about it. In times of total deficit, when store shelves were always empty, it was simply impossible to buy all necessary things for a baby in one or two days. Actually we had to stock things months ahead. I remember it took me two months to buy a good (albeit second-hand) baby carriage for my daughter. My wife was six months pregnant when a friend of my friend finally found a family who were so kind as to sell me the carriage they no longer needed.

8. When someone sneezes, don’t forget to say, "Bud' zdorov" (Be healthy) or “Na zdorovie” (For your health). Otherwise the sneezing person will get sick. I think 99% of Russians think this “na zdorovie” thing is just a tradition. But actually it’s a superstition which meaning was forgotten long ago.


I think all of us can have a superstion or two but none of the FSU girls I met were into them big time.
I have as many women in West interested in Astrology and palm reading as in FSU.

[Mir]

Scott

I am sure the young lady herself would first like to go to the hair stylist to get a new hair do!

[ScottinCrimea]

Mir,  Not much to work with there.  To get it even, my wife had to shave her head.  All we can do is rub it for good luck and wait.  I did buy her some protein powder today.  It might help are sympathetic and doing something for her.  Besides, it saved me having to sprinkle holy water around her room.

[Mir]

Scott

It is weired to lose so much hair overnight.
Did she have smooth bald patches on her scalp?
I wonder if she has alopecia areata!