Category: Superstitions

– When a tooth is extracted, it either has to be buried or hideden in a place that nobody can find.
– Joining one’s hands on one’s knees and crossing the fingers of one’s hands are considered signs of bad fortune, so one must try not to do so.
– Cracking one’s knuckles is a sign of good health.
– When washing one’s hands, one must start with the right hand, otherwise he may have bad luck.
– When shaking hands or giving something to someone, the right hand must be used. The left hand is considered a sign of bad luck.
– One must not face in the direction of Mecca when putting one’s socks on.
– One must start with the right foot when putting on one’s socks.
– When someone has an itchy nose, it means people are gossiping about him.
– If one’s right hand itches, it is a sign that money is on the way. If the left hand itches, it is believed that money will be spent.
– The nails are not cut at night.
– Chewing gum is not allowed at night. People think it is not gum but the flesh of a dead body that is being chewed.
– It is believed that anyone who has an itch on his feet will go on holiday.
– Agate stops bleeding and brings good fortune.
– If an infant walks between two people who have not performed a ritual ablution, it is believed that the child will have open sores on his body.
– Hearing echoes in the left ear is a sign of prosperity.
– Hearing echoes in the right ear is a sign of good health.
– A twitch in the eye is considered a bad sign, as people believe that it is the messenger of death.
– When someone has echoes in the ear, it is believed that he or she has been remembered by a person living abroad.
– Putting one leg over the other when sitting is viewed as sinful.
– If a person loses a tooth from the upper side of the jaw, it is believed that he or she will lose one of his parents.
– If a person loses his top-right molar, it is believed that he will lose either his older brother or his uncle.
– If a person loses his top-left molar, it is believed that he will lose either his brother or his child.
– An itch in the hand means money is on the way.
– If someone steps on hair that has been cut, the owner of the hair will have a headache.
– If birds take the hair away, the owner of the hair will have a headache.
Beliefs Related to Celestial Bodies:
– People, who bath under the moonlight and in shadow, will shine as bright as the moon.
– Water on which the moonlight has been reflected may not br drunk, since it is believed that anyone who drinks that water have bad luck.
– Someone dies when a shooting star is seen.
– Babies born on the full moon are considered lucky, and it is believed that these babies will have a bright destiny.
– Girls born on the full moon are very beautiful with shining skin when they grow up.
– Cursing and spitting at the moon are considered unlucky.
– Sleeping while sun is going down may shorten one’s life span.
– Working in the fields during the solstice is not allowed.
– Animals sense the coming of a solar eclipse and express it with fear and screaming.
– The sun shines on the beautiful.
– Fruits that have been seeded during the old moon, bring abundance to the fields.
– When the moon is in crescent position, if it points to the earth, the month will be rainy, if they point to the sky, the month will be be dry.
– If someone loses his child as the sun goes down, he must not drink water.
– Sowing and harvesting activities are not allowed before the new moon.
– Trees are not cut down when there is no moon.
– Teeth are not extracted on days when there is no moon.
– It is not permitteded to go to or come back from the high plateaus or to go to the forest when there is no moon.
– Anyone who eats as the sun goes down will have bad luck.
– It is believed that all the saints come together when there is a shooting star.
Beliefs Related to Birth and Forty Days:
– A woman may not go far from her house until 40 days after childbirth.
– She may not go out of her house at night.
– Koran, amulets, knives and black cumin are placed by the head of a baby for 40 days.
– Matches and brooms are placed in the room where a woman who has had a baby within the last 40 days sleeps.
– Such a woman is not left alone in the house at night.
– After the 40th day, the woman visits her three neighbors first before going any distance away from her house.
– Women and their babies are not allowed to see each other for 40 days.
– Visitors to women within 40 days of childbirth give coins or money in order to protect baby.
– Cats and dogs are not allowed inside the room where there is a baby younger than 40 days; otherwise the skin of the baby turns red.
– Menstruating women are not allowed to see a deer in menstruation, as deer give birth once in seven years, it is assumed that the woman, too, will not have a child for seven years.
– If a baby younger than 40 days has to be left alone in the house, a knife, onion and garlic are put near him.
– People carrying gold or money are not allowed to see such a baby. If they do, gold and money are placed near the baby for a while.
– When a woman visits a house within 40 days of giving birth, she pours out water with myrtle leaves before entering the house.
– If a bridal procession passes in front of the house of such a woman, it is believed that that bride will not have a baby.
– Flour from the mill is not brought to the house of such a woman.
– Lambs are not shown to anyone unless aged over 40 days.
– A candle is lit at the head end of the bed of a woman who gave birth less than 40 days ago.
– Two such women exchange needles in order to bring the period to an end.

– People throw a knife into the garden to stop it hailing. – When a skull is taken out of the grave and boiled in water, it rains.
– During the devil’s wedding ceremony (rain in April) anyone standing in the rain will be taken away by genies.
– Rain in April is something like holy water, it is lucky. Getting wet in the April rain brings good health.
– Biting iron while there’s thunder brings good luck.
– Female creatures turns into male and male into female if they walk under a rainbow.
– Eating a few haildrops at the first hailstorm of the year is considered good for the health.
– A knife is thrown onto the roof of the house when there is thunder.
– It is believed that putting a trivet in the garden may stop hail.
– A knife is thrust into the ground when lightning flashes in the sky.
Popular Beliefs Related to Seasons, Months and Days:
– No one is allowed enter a house except for the residents on the first day of March. It is imagined that lambs and fawns will die otherwise.
– If the first people seen on the first day of January look well and healthy, the year will be a healthy one, if they do not look well, someone may fall ill during the year.
– On Tuesdays, washing clothes is not allowed. It is believed that anyone who wears clean clothes washed on Tuesday will die soon.
– Babies born on Tuesdays will become killers.
– No wedding ceremonies are held on Tuesdays.
– Both throwing dust and working are forbidden on Fridays.
– The baby conceived on Friday becomes wise.
– Washing clothes is not allowed on Saturdays.
– If a baby is born late in Friday night, it will grow rich. – If a person knits on Fridays, she will lose her good luck.
– If a person cuts his nails on Friday night, he will fall out of favor.
– Anyone who enters a field on 7th August will be paralyzed.
– Quilts are not covered with sheets on Saturdays, as it is believed that quilts which are covered on Saturdays are waiting for dead bodies.
– Fields are not sowed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. – On Fridays, trees are not cut down until Friday prayers
– No sowing is done on Fridays.
– Any job started on Monday goes slowly.

– Anyone who spits while taking a trip will meet with a catastrophe.
– Turning and looking back on the road is considered unlucky.
– It is unlucky to sleep where three roads meet.
– If someone drops a spoon from his or her hand, it is believed that a visitor may come.
– If someone drops food in his house, it is believed that a hungry visitor will come.
– If a man goes hunting, his wife throws a broom after him.
– A man going hunting is never asked where he is going. If anyone does ask him, he has to give up the hunting trip.
– If one shoe ends up standing on the other, it is believed that the owner of the shoes will take a vacation.
– Sleeping near the roads is not approved. Such people are told “You will fly with the wind” (meaning, you will be paralyzed by the devil).
– In order not to damage the prospects of the hunt, people do not talk with huntsmen while they are getting ready.
– Before going to hunting, a rifle is put on the ground. A boy or a girl who is at least three or four years old jumps over it.

– If an onion is eaten in the evening, angels will not visit the place where it happened.
– Looking in the mirror in the evening shortens one’s life.
– Peppery things like pepper, onion or garlic are not given out of the house at night.
– Milk, yogurt and cheese are not given away at night, if necessary, these are covered or coal and green leaves are put on them.
– It ıs a sin to whistle at night.
– Salt is not given out of the house at night.
– The front door is not cleaned at night.
– Bread baskets are not given from one house to another.
– If children play knucklebones it is believed that an enemy will come.
Popular Beliefs Related to Abundance:
– A man who eats the first bread made from the first flour from the mill will lose his wife.
– A house wıll suffer a declıne in prosperity if yeast is given to other houses.
– The house will suffer a decline in prosperity if someone steps on or drops breadcrumbs.
– A piece of bread is taken out of the mouth of anyone going abroad.
– Sewing things while people are still wearing them brings bad luck.
– Cutting bread with a knife damages the prosperity of the house.
– If someone starts eating without calling on God, he will still be hungry after the meal because he has shared his food with the devil.
– When knitting socks, one must start from the top, otherwise they will not last long.
– If someone breaks his scapula, it is believed that he will have good fortune.
Popular Beliefs Related to the House:
– It is considered inappropriate to put black stone on the groundwork of the house.
– Anyone who sits by the front door will be slandered. – It is not good to sleep near the wall, as the person who does so may end up paralyzed.
– The devil visits a dirty house, so that house will be full of discord instead of happiness.
– If a member of the household goes abroad, either the house is not cleaned, or else no visitors are received on that day.
– People do not visit their neighbors with the rope that helps carry goods, since it is believed that this rope may bring bad luck to the house visited.
– People are advised not to sit by their front door, lest they give the impression they are poor.
– One should not enter one’s neighbor’s house carrying a rope because this may disturb the prosperity of the house.
– One should not sit at the threshold of one’s house, as that is where the devil sits.
– It’s a sin to sit at one’s threshold when it is raining.

– If a man turns the lights on in a room, that household will enjoy plenty.
– If a woman slows a man down on the road, it is assumed that bad luck will ensue.
– If a woman passes through between two men, it is believed that she will never have a baby.
– If a man passes through between two women, his words will not be listened to.
– If a man passes through between two girls, he will have a very sparse beard.
– If a woman drinks half glass of tea, she will lose her husband.
– If a woman passes in front of a huntsman on the road, the hunt will not be successful.
– If the first hair of a baby girl is cut by her uncle (mother’s brother), her hair will be abundant.
– The first hair of a baby boy must be cut by his uncle. – Girls who marry and go to their new houses leave their parents’ houses on Thursday or Sunday.
– During the ram mating ceremony, if a girl is put on the ram, it is believed that the lambs born of it will be female, if a boy is put on, the lambs will be male.