SUPERSTITIONS IN THE UK (B1+)

DO YOU BELIEVE….?

 

 

 

Good Luck

1. Lucky to meet a black cat. Black Cats are featured on many good luck greetings cards and birthday cards in England.
2. Lucky to touch wood .
3. Lucky to find a clover plant with four leaves.
4. A horseshoe over the door brings good luck. But the horse shoe needs to be the right way up. The luck runs out of the horse shoe if it is upside down.
5. On the first day of the month it is lucky to say “white rabbits, white rabbits white rabbits,” before uttering your first word of the day.
6. Catch falling leaves in Autumn and you’re have good luck. Every leaf means a lucky month next year.

Bad Luck

1. Unlucky to walk underneath a ladder
2. Seven years bad luck to break a mirror.
3. Unlucky to see one magpie, lucky to see two, etc..
4. Unlucky to spill salt. If you do, you must throw it over your shoulder to counteract the bad luck.
5. Unlucky to open an umbrella in doors.
6. The number thirteen is unlucky. Friday the thirteenth is a very unlucky day. Friday is considered to be an unlucky day because Jesus was crucified on a Friday.
7. Unlucky to put new shoes on the table.
8. Unlucky to pass someone on the stairs.

1. Which British superstitions are similar to those in your country?

2. Which are different?

3. Do you know anything about the origins of some of the superstitions in your country?

4. Can you give the definition of “superstition”?