Superstitions...

[CelticRoots]

My family was/is Very superstitious and I just wondered if these were traditions carried on from our ancestors from Scotland?
For instance, when at the table and someone says "pass the salt please", don't pick up the shaker and directly hand it to the person. Set it down on the table near them and let them pick up the shaker or there will be a death in the family.

Don't shake out the table cloth After dark.

Don't take a broom from an old house to a new house...leave the broom behind at the old house and buy a new broom for the new house.

These are just a few of the ones that folks in my family still enforce today. I just wondered where they came from.

[unsubstantial]

Originally posted by CelticRoots
For instance, when at the table and someone says "pass the salt please", don't pick up the shaker and directly hand it to the person. Set it down on the table near them and let them pick up the shaker or there will be a death in the family.

Theres always death in family, salt don't mean ****.

Should this be in the religion section?

[Muckle_Cross]

Pardon me for saying this but!

Should this be in the religion section?

This question has a philosophical nature and this is Religion & Philosophy.

Philosophy
a : pursuit of wisdom b : a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means c : an analysis of the grounds of and concepts expressing fundamental beliefs.

I have heard of the first two that are mentioned but I don't know of anyone that takes them seriously. I have not heard of the third - seems to be a waste of a perfectly good broom to me

[DevineHerring]

Should this be in the religion section?

how do these superstions differ in any substantial way from any other dogma ? Other than many of them have a practical origin such as :
Given that salt is a neccessary and precious substance and care should be taken in it's handling and that it is much less likely that one will spill the salt from the cellar if it is placed on the table rather than passed hand to hand. Making the consequences of not taking care dire, i.e. " diya wan yer Da or Auntie dyin' ! Puit thon cellar doooonnn nooo", works to make the the practice a habit(most particularly for the weans). Over time it gets ingrained in the culture...