In Korea it’s believed to be extremely bad luck to write your name in red ink – some say you can even die
In Israel, if you wear a red string around your wrist it’s supposed to scare evil away.
In Taiwan and Poland, wearing red underwear is supposed to bring you good luck on gambling and exams, respectively.
In China, parents tell their children that unless they eat all the rice in their bowl, their future partner will have a bumpy face
In Thailand they say that whoever eats the last bit of food on a place will have a beautiful boyfriend or girlfriend.
In Romania, food left on a plate will ensure a woman an ugly husband, and if you’re sitting at the corner of a table, you will be single forever!
In Israel if you don’t pass a knife to someone else directly or it will cut your friendship apart
In western cultures to ensure good luck the bride is supposed to carry four things with her: something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.
On top of that, it’s very bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding.
In some countries in Europe – Spain and Bulgaria, for instance – never sweep or clean around a person’s feet or they’ll be single forever!
It’s well-known that Chinese avoid the number 4 if possible – on street numbers, apartment addresses and phone numbers, because the word “four” in Chinese sounds a lot like the word for “death”
It’s the opposite case for “eight” which sounds like “wealthy”. If your phone number was 888-8888 you’d be very lucky indeed!
In Vietnam, you should avoid taking pictures of three people, because the one in the middle might die.
In many western cultures you should avoid the number 13. The ultimate bad luck day, of course, is Friday the 13th.
9 is feared in Japan because it sounds similar to the Japanese word for torture or suffering.
Some Italians are superstitious about Friday the 17th because rearranging the Roman numeral XVII can create the word “VIXI”—translated from Latin to mean “my life is over.”
In Korea, there are plenty of superstitions about sleep. If you dream of a dog you’ll have a bad day, but dreaming of a pig means your day will be lucky.
And when you go to sleep, don’t have an extra pillow on your bed, otherwise a ghost might decide to lay down beside you!
In China, don’t wash your hair for the first few days of the New Year, lest your luck gets washed away as well.
In Vietnam and Thailand, don’t say a baby is cute or pretty or handsome – doing that will result in the opposite thing happening.
In Spain, it’s bad luck to open an umbrella indoors, and to spill salt on a table. But it’s good luck to rub your lottery ticket on the belly of a pregnant woman, just make sure you know her first!
In western culture you will have bad luck if you: walk under a ladder, break a mirror, have a black cat walk in front of you, or talk about a future outcome that is negative.
In France you will have bad luck if you: wear new clothes on Friday, give carnations or chrysanthemums as a gift, or put your hat on a bed.
In Russia, if you forgot something at home and return to get it, you should look in the mirror to avoid bad luck. You also shouldn’t kiss or greet someone in a doorway, take out the trash after sunset, or eat food from a knife.
And finally, in Arab cultures, if your right hand itches, you will soon get to see someone that you haven’t seen in a long time. Good news!
