In honor of Friday the 13th, we made a list of eight apartment superstitions. (By the way, the fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia, just in case you want to impress your friends tonight!) While some people take superstitions seriously, these are just meant to be fun old wives tales to celebrate moving into your new apartment.
- Leave your old broom behind: Never move an old broom into a new apartment. The superstition is that an old broom will not only bring in the actual dust and dirt from the old house, but also anything negative you experienced there.
- Don’t walk under ladders: Doing some painting or house maintenance that requires a ladder? Make sure you don’t walk under the ladder or bad luck will follow you.
- Give bread and salt as a housewarming gift: Bread symbolizes sustenance and salt represents purity and adding flavor/interest to life.
- Bags and shoes: In Asian cultures, there is a superstition that putting your purse on the floor is bad luck. In the Jewish culture, don’t even think about putting your shoes on a table!
- Opening umbrellas: Don’t open an umbrella indoors, not even to dry it off because bad luck may “pour” down on you.
- Sage: Want to cleanse the energy in your new apartment? Burn dried white sage in all corners and across all doorways. This process will bring peaceful energy into your home.
- Knives are bad gifts: Never give a knife as a housewarming gift. The superstition is that the person gifted the knife will become your enemy,
- Salt: Spilling salt is bad luck, So, if you spill salt, toss a grain over your left shoulder 3 times.
