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Christmas Superstitions From Around The World

Christmas Superstitions From Around The World
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In the USA, we have so many Christmas traditions taken from lots of other cultures. One thing common in a lot of cultures, but not quite as prevalent in US Christmas celebrations is superstition. Here are some of the most common superstitions in other places!

 

Using Foods to Determine Luck

Apples are often seen as a good luck food to eat on Christmas, probably part of the reason foods like apple pie are popular around this time of the year. Other common Christmas sweets also bring good luck. It is said that bad luck will befall anyone who refuses mince pie at Christmas dinner. Also, you will get a month of luck during the next year for each home you eat a mince pie at during the holidays. According to English superstition, eating a plum pudding on Christmas day will lead to friendship in the following year. Of course, these traditions might just be a convenient excuse to eat sweet treats on Christmas.

 

Christmas Weather Determines the Weather for the Rest of the Year

Weather predictions on holidays have always been popular. Predicting the weather for the year on Candlemas led to the modern holiday of Groundhog’s Day. Christmas is no exception to this. Some believe a windy Christmas will lead to good luck through the coming year. Others say the weather on the twelve days of Christmas determines the weather for the corresponding months in the new year.

 

Predicting Your Future Husband

Many old superstitions are based on helping an unmarried woman find her future husband. Woman from some culture pour melted lead into cold water, and the shape it takes determine the initials of the man she will marry. Similarly, some cultures believe if a woman peels an apple in a single ribbon and throws the peel above her head, the shape of the peel on the floor is her future husband. Throwing your shoe can help you find your husband, too. According to German tradition, a girl hoping to marry her sweetheart should throw her shoe into a pear tree twelve times during the 12 days of Christmas, if the shoe ever stays in the tree, her wish will come true. Another tradition mandates that a woman should lay on the ground and toss her shoe over her head. The direction the shoe lands in is the direction her true love will come from. If you want to turn this predicting into a competition between a group of unmarried friends, a blindfolded goose can be placed in the middle of a circle of girls. The first girl the goose touches will be the first to get married.

 

The Luck of Child Born on Christmas

A child born on or around Christmas is either bad or good luck depending on who you ask. It is a common belief in many cultures that having a child on Christmas of Christmas Eve is good luck, but this is not a universal belief. In Germany and Poland, having a child during the twelve days of Christmas may lead to that child becoming a werewolf. Similarly, Greeks once believed that a baby born during those days may become a half-human monster known as a kallikantzari

Christmas Superstitions From Around The World
Holiday Observance
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