13 surprising things you didn’t know were considered bad luck

Even the not-so-superstitious know that breaking a mirror and walking under a ladder can bring bad luck – and here are the origins of why so many of us believe those things. But there are plenty of other, lesser-known things that also have a reputation for causing misfortune. Not to freak you out, but you’re probably doing some of them all the time.

Sailors have always been a superstitious bunch. And “bunches,” indeed, were actually one of the things that they considered bad luck to have around on the high seas. In the 1700s, many ships that were lost or shipwrecked while travelling between Spain and the Caribbean happened to be carrying bananas at the time, so having one on board came to mean bad news. Whistling on a ship, too, was also said to bring bad luck, because letting loose a whistle was supposed to present a “challenge” to the wind. The wind would supposedly respond in kind by sending a storm.

Want to make an entire weekend of your birthday that falls on a Sunday? In that case, you might not want to celebrate in Germany. That’s because many Germans believe that wishing someone a happy birthday before the day itself will cause misfortune to befall everyone involved. Instead, they follow a tradition called “reinfeiern,” where they get together the night before someone’s birthday and begin celebrating exactly when the clock strikes midnight. Saying “happy birthday” so much as a minute sooner is a major no-no.

Find out the luckiest birthdays or each sign of the Chinese zodiac. 

According to an old wives’ tale, if you turn a mattress on a Friday, you’ll be cursed with bad dreams. Another variation says that changing your bed on a Sunday is bad news too, so you might just want to avoid replacing your sheets on weekends.

Or just try out these things you can do before bed to control what you dream instead.

What could possibly be bad luck about getting a new boat?! Well, if you alter its existing name, you could be tempting fate. This legend dates back to ancient times when sailors believed that the name of every single boat was written down in the immutable ledger of Poseidon. If you dared change the name of a boat, you’d incur the sea god’s wrath. If your boat’s name was one that you absolutely couldn’t stand, however, there was a loophole, according to BoatSafe.com. You could successfully “erase” the old name of the boat from Poseidon’s log by removing all traces of it. This meant everything from the bow of the boat to the life jackets had to be free of the old name. If you dared display the boat’s new name before every last vestige of the old one was gone, you’d be pushing your luck big time.

Maybe Friday the 13th is a bringer of bad luck; maybe it’s just a matter of perspective. While Anglo-Saxon cultures see Friday the 13th as bad news, in Spain, the 13th day of the month is more unlucky when it falls on a Tuesday. In Spanish, the word for Tuesday is “Martes,” which comes from Mars, the Roman god of war, so Tuesday spells trouble. One thing both cultures agree on, though, is that 13 is an unlucky number.

The Czech Republic is the country that consumes the largest quantity of beer per capita, so it makes sense that there would be some unwritten rules and superstitions associated with having a brew. Supposedly, if you pour one type of beer into a mug containing another type, you’re in for some misfortune.

Another Spanish bad-luck superstition claims that recipients of saffron-coloured garments will experience bad luck. According to Spanish legend, the sulphurous colour of yellow is related to black magic or, for the more extremely superstitious, even the Devil himself. If you’re feeling really superstitious, you should avoid wearing yellow altogether, but especially if you’re interviewing for a job, taking a test, or doing something else for which good luck would be beneficial.

In Serbia, if you say a baby is cute or sweet, you risk dooming the baby to a lifetime of bad luck. Saying it’s ugly instead will keep it safe in the luck department. So in Serbia, there’s essentially no way for parents to tell if someone actually thinks their baby is funny-looking or if they’re just trying to save it from misfortune.

In an unusual twist, it’s the popularity of this Shakespeare tragedy that makes its name bad luck. Legend has it that in England when a new play was a flop, the theatre would end the run early and stage a production of Macbeth instead, since the popular show was a guaranteed hit. Therefore, saying “Macbeth” in the theatre was equivalent to tempting fate and implying that the production might fail. Even today, thespians dare not utter the name of “the Scottish play” within a theatre’s walls.