The 8 Superstitions Every Latino Grew Up Believing

Latino Post ^ | 7/31/14 | Agelica Leicht

[jocon307]

Hah! I heard the broom thing too, from a lovely Jewish lady that I worked for years ago.

But I’ll follow the thing with the itchy palms, I’ve heard of that too, of course, but never the advice to put your hand in you pocket.

I like it!

[Sivad]

“Every River Had a Version of La Llorna”....that is,
every river except the Rio Grande?

[MD Expat in PA]

My mom, who was not at all Latino but of German/Welsh extraction and was born and grew up in central PA, had some superstitions. Among them; “Don’t every put a hat on the bed” and “don’t open an umbrella in the house” because both were bad luck. OK, the opening of an umbrella in the house I sort get; it is not so much bad luck but more likely because you might knock something over or accidently put someone’s eye out, but hats on the bed? I have no idea where that came from. She also would never answer the phone until after the 2nd ring and would throw spilled salt over her shoulder and FWIW, we always had pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day for good luck and that is very PA Dutch in origin. But my Norwegian born father always ate picked herring on New Year’s Eve for perhaps “good luck” but more likely just because he liked it as do I and because it was tradition and he told me that in Norway at Christmas he and all the other kids got a marzipan treat, a marzipan pig on Christmas Eve but only one of the treats had a almond inside and the kid who got the almond was supposed to have good luck.

And in my family babies never got their hair cut until after their 1st birthday or later, not so much out of any superstition but because the little ones often had such beautifully curly hair and the curls always seemed to be lost after that first hair cut. I have pictures of my big brother when he was nearly two years old and he had the most beautiful long blonde curly locks. But my dad, after getting upset that so many people commented what a cute little girl he was, took him to the barbershop, not for a hair cut but for a crew cut. LOL!

And speaking of babies and their 1st birthday, in my family the baby gets their own small 1st birthday cake put in front of them and baby is encouraged to eat the cake with their bare hands and sometimes plunge face first into it and nobody gets any cake until he or she does. That’s not however a superstition but it is good fun, if not so “clean” fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMH6Tpa2toA

[Patriot Babe]

Being an American of Mexican ancestry I did leave my purse on the floor a few weeks, only to fall down. So there! don’t leave your purse on the floor LOL

[JimSEA]

“Every River Had a Version of La Llorona”

Smelter pond in Superior, AZ. I was once convinced I heard the crying late on a Summer night.

[Figment]

The itchy palm and burning ears were in my non latino family beliefs. The hat on the bed bad luck one was in my fathers german family don’t list

[Chaguito]

In Chile, you must not drink a hot drink in front of an open door. It will cause your face to get all distorted, like this. No, really, it happened to my cousin.

[Alas Babylon!]

The Jewish side of my Ex’s family covered all the mirrors when someone died, so their ghost wouldn’t notice they were dead by not seeing a reflection and go crazy and never leave for Heaven (thereby being condemned to haunt the Earth forever).