Are you superstitious?

Sitting in my room day-dreaming out the window and out the corner of my eye I see a magpie hop on to the roof opposite. Since I can remember, if I see a one magpie by itself I always salute at it. I always feel silly for doing this but it's just a habit I have; a superstition.

Superstition is defined as, "An irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome." 
When I see a magpie I always think of the childhood rhyme...

One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.

...and if I don't salute the lone magpie then I'll get bad luck. 

This led me to think about other superstitions that people have and why they have them. Some other common superstitions include:

• Opening an umbrella up indoors - brings bad luck
• Crossing your fingers - to bring good luck
• "Touch wood" - hoping that something will or won't happen 
• Breaking a mirror - seven years of bad luck
• Walking under a ladder - means that something bad will happen
• "Find a penny pick it up..." - bringing good luck for the rest of the day

I think we can all say that we are guilty of having at least one of these superstitions and without even realising they always occur in our daily lives. Most superstitions date back to the 18th century and despite the technological and scientific research around then, many people still believe that they are true. One of the most common, yet unknown, superstition is sneezing. When someone sneezes, the automatic response is to say, "Bless you" and even though must of us just say it to be polite it actually refers back to the 14th century when there was a plague. People would 'bless' someone who had sneezed as they thought a sneeze was the soul escaping from the body, therefore saying "Bless you" essentially bought the person back to life.

Which superstitions are you guilty of?

Gemma x