A mixed selection of folklore superstitions

Flowers carried on to an airplane is an ill omen, especially if they are a bouquet of white and red flowers. 

Never carry an axe on your shoulder through a house. If you must carry one through a house, carry it lowered. 

To insure good fortune for your baby throughout life, be sure that his first gift is a silver coin. Place it yourself into the child's hand. If the child drops it, s/he will have difficulty holding onto money throughout life. 

Gift the child with an old fashioned red coral and silver bell teething ring. 

The coral to ward off the evil eye, the silver bells for good fortune. 

Spit on your new bat before using it for the first time. 

A bat falling in front of a ballplayer foretells an injury in the next game played. A bat falling in front of the team manager foretells a loosing season. 

Never place your bed pointing north and south. It brings misfortune. 

Never kill a bee, it is as unlucky as breaking a mirror. 

If a bee enters your home, it is a sign that you will soon have a visitor. 
 However, if you drive the bee out of your home, you will have bad luck, or the visitor will be unpleasant. 

In some parts of the United States, a black cat crossing your path is thought to be unlucky. In Britain, it is considered good luck. 

Having a black cat as your household companion is considered very good luck. 

If a strange black cat enters your home uninvited, you will have great fortune throughout the year. If you shoo it away, it will take it's gift of good luck with it. 

A black cat aboard ship is a very good omen... if your man is a sailor keep a black cat in your home to insure his safety while at sea. 

It is bad luck to sweep dust out of your house onto the porch. Always sweep towards the center of the room, and take it up in a dust pan from there. 

"If you sweep the house with broom in May "You will sweep the head of the house away." 

To insure a loving marriage, both bride and groom must join hands and jump over the besom laid on the floor. 

To prevent an unwanted guest from returning, sweep out the room they stayed in immediately after they leave. 

Blue flame augers death in the family. 

The Yule Candle should be burned until it burns out naturally. 

Never light three candles with one match...nor have just three candles burning. 

If a cat sneezes rain is not far behind 

If a cat sneezes thrice, the household will get the sniffles 

It is good fortune, for a bride, on her wedding day, to be near a cat which sneezes, on that day. 

A child born with a caul/cowl meaning "helmeted head" which is is a piece of membrane that can cover a newborn's head and face. will have second site. 
The caul must be preserved and carried with the person born with it, for good luck.
The caul must be buried or cremated with the person born with it, or that spirit will never be at rest. 

Carrying a lump of coal brings good luck. 

The first person to enter your home on New Year's day should bring a bit of coal, so that the household enjoys good luck throughout the New Year. 

Never pass up a piece of coal lying on the ground. For good luck pick it up. If you do not wish to keep it, you must throw it back over your shoulder. 

If someone dies in your family, you must:
Stop all the clocks
Cover all mirrors with a black cloth or turn it face towards the wall.
Let the household fire go out.
Open all doors and windows

ALL omens lose their meanings during a SOLAR eclipse, and for up to three days before, and three days after. This period of time is completely neutral; meaning neither good nor ill omens have effect. 

LUNAR eclipses are just plain unlucky. The effects last for 7 days total.
People said to have the 'Evil Eye':
People with eyes of different colours.
People with eyes set too deeply in the sockets.
People with eyes too close together.
People with one eye lower than the other, which squints.
People with long fingers are spendthrifts. 

Vampire's have an index finger as long or longer than their second finger. 

People with crooked little fingers will be rich someday. 

If you drop a glove, never pick it up yourself; bad luck will follow if you do. It is a very good omen if a stranger picks it up for you. 

Only cut your hair during the 14 days between the New Moon and the Full moon. 

If anywhere on the right side of your body itches, it's a good omen. 
If anywhere on the left side of your body itches, it's a bad omen. 
If your right palm itches, you will soon be getting some money. 
If your left palm itches, you will soon be paying out money. 
If your right ear itches, someone is talking nicely of you. 
If your left ear itches, someone is talking bad about you. 
If your right eye itches, you will get a nice surprise.
If your left eye itches, you will get a nasty surprise. If your eyebrow itches, you can expect a visitor.
If the soles of your feet itch, you will soon be going to a strange place. 

When going on a journey, do not look back at your house; to do so is a
bad omen. 

If you drop your keys, it means something bad is going to happen. 
If you lose your keys, you will hear of a death. 
Carry an old iron key in your right pocket for good luck. 

Never walk under a ladder. 
Don't reach for anything, or hand anything through the ladder's rungs. 

You will get a letter if:
A moth flies towards you.
If your nose itches.
If you develop a white spot on the nail of your ring finger.
If you sneeze on a Wednesday.
If you are expecting a delayed letter; hang a found hairpin up by a nail on your wall.
Never put a letter into the left hand of your friend, or your friendship will end.

Never refuse a piece of mincemeat pie that someone offers you, to do so
brings a full year of bad luck. 

Break a mirror, have seven years bad luck. 

Never let a baby look in a mirror until it is at least a year old; to do so the baby will not grow well. 

A whole nutmeg carried in the pocket wards off rheumatism. 
If the nutmeg is filled with quick-silver and plugged, it brings the carrier good luck. 

If you hear a hoot owl persistently screeching near a home, death will come to a member of that household. 
If an owl perches on the roof of a house, or flies around it three times, a member of that household will die soon. 
If an owl hoots within the hearing of a mother giving birth, her child's life will be difficult. 

If you are walking and find a steel pin on the ground, pick it up and keep it for good luck.
It is unlucky to lend pins to a friend; lest your friendship end. If your friend gives you something in return, the ill omen is averted. 

Ancient Roman bridal couples shared a quince to ensure marital happiness. 

Dress your little girl in red, or at the least put a red ribbon in her hair, to protect her from evil. 

Finding a spider in the evening is always lucky.
Finding a spider in the morning is unlucky.
If a tiny spider runs over your clothes, you will be able to afford better clothes soon. Wind the spider around your head three times to be assured of it. 

Never put shoes on the dining room table, it is very unlucky.
Never put a pair of bellows on the table.
Never set thirteen people down to dinner, or one will die within a year. 

Never open an umbrella indoors, it brings bad luck and intensifies any other bad omen that is occurring.
Don't go out with your umbrella open on a sunny day, lest you attract rain.
Never lay an umbrella on the bed, or unhappiness will result.
Don't give an umbrella as a gift; or misfortune will go with it. 

Hang Vervain over your doorway to protect your home from evil.
Rub vervain over anything that has been exposed to the evil eye. 

An old French superstition is that every time you wash your body, you wash off some of your life essence.
If you and another wash your hands under the same flow of water, at the same time, you will argue before nightfall. 

If someone gives you Xanthium, they are saying that you are rude. 

Carry yarrow to attract love, and old friends. 

Carrying three white tail hairs and three black tail hairs of a zebra will let you find lost items.