The Rory Gilmore Book Club discussion

So, how many of you grew up influenced by superstitions? The older I grow, the more I realize just how many I learned from my mother. I don't always live by them, but there's always a little hesitation before I commit a violation of one of those rules.

Just a few minutes ago, I added someone as a friend and saw that my list contained 666 books! [shiver]
Not one I learned from my mother, but so ingrained in our culture that I immediately added a few more books! Whew!

Robbie, as a first generation American, I was taught many superstitions from my Ukrainian family. It's interesting because as an Orthodox Christian, I was raised to be very devout, but at the same time, there are many superstitions interweaved throughout my growing up.

Here's one for you. My family believes that when a bird pecks at your window, it signals that someone that you know is going to die. My family has numerous stories to support this superstition, and yesterday something very strange happened to my husband and me. A bird came around 12:30 afternoon and starting pecking at our back glass sliding doors. I had my dog chase it away, and then it came back, over and over. When my husband went upstairs, he saw the same bird at the front of our house. We have a huge window over our front door, and the bird was sitting there pecking on the window until my husband came back downstairs. Then, it went to the back window door again. It kept going back and forth all day until night hit.

I worked out front for awhile yesterday and every time I came in to get some water, the bird would sit on the ledge on the window above our door. It never came after me or anything, but it was always around.

I woke up this morning, and the bird was already pecking at the back window. It switched from the back door to the front window over and over all morning. I phoned my mother and she said that she is at a loss to explain what is going on, but for some reason, the bird won't leave. It's become a little unnerving to say the least, especially because my husband and I have people who very ill in each of our families.

Good topic, Robbie!

I don't have any real superstitions. That is to say, I don't think anything bad will truly happen to me if, say, I found I had 666 books. I don't believe that I really do jinx myself by talking about something that hasn't happened yet and I don't really believe that by knocking on wood, I absolve myself of that jinx. But that number creeps me out anyway, even though I don't think it has any real meaning until the end times, and I still find myself knocking wood.

However, growing up in the theatre, there are some theatre superstitions which, to me, are more like traditions. I don't whistle in the theatre or mention the Scottish play. I get why theatres leave a single light burning. I prefer for people to tell me to break a leg rather than wish me good luck. It usually occurs that if the final rehearsal is perfect, opening night will be awful, so having a bad final dress rehearsal is a good sign.

Sera, I hope that nothing will come of the pecking bird.

Thanks, Sarah. The bird is still here .

Poor Sera--creeps me out just thinking about it. It might be easy enough to ignore one peck, but that bird sounds like a terrorist!

Yeah, Sarah and Sera, my beliefs as a Christian preclude the superstitions, but there is always this sort of visceral dis-ease that I feel.

Superstitions to me are more of a cultural idiosyncracy than a real belief and there are plenty of them floating around my life over the years. But one was a purely family based thing stemming from my maternal grandfather's death -- my mother was always very careful not to begin any large project or job on a Friday which she couldn't finish that day -- not late but early. That one clings to me to this day just a bit.

One which comes through the Irish drop of ancestral blood is the sweeping out of the house on New Year's. Can't think off the top of my head of others.

Sera, I am utterly freaked for you not so much that I'm superstitious but I hate birds (they are just rats with wings IMO). And the idea of one pecking on my window just creeps me out.

I can't think of anything I'm particularly superstitious of. I tend to be too pragmatic for that. When I used to play basketball in school, it grossed me out to no end that some people would wear the same socks every game because they won in those socks. As much as I believe in fate and destiny (and luck), I tend to think that superstitions diminish the credit of a person's abilities (I would much rather depend on my teammate's dribbling ability than whether or not her dirty socks contributed to our win).

In Poland of course there are standard supestitions like black cats, getting up with your left leg, Fridat 13th. There is also such a supestition that when you see a chimney-sweep, you have to touch a button in your shirt, skirt, whatever with buttons and make a wish.

I kinda like the chimney sweep one. When I lived in Italy, particularly when I lived with an Italian family for a while, I saw MANY of these in action, but one I picked up for some reason is to toss a bit of salt over my shoulder if some is spilled. Silly, but why tempt fate? LOL Really it's probably more because it reminds me of fun days and those southern Italian friends that kept me laughing.

Sera, do you have kids? Could they have found an egg in a nest and brought it inside?? I'm a little worried for you, girl!

I don't know if there are other places that have this, but in Indonesia there's a superstition that if you stand at the door, or block an entrance, it'll be difficult for you to find a spouse. And if you are lazy to sweep the floor in the house, you'll get a bearded man for a husband.

Hahaha! Hey, bearded or otherwise, at least it'd mean I was GETTING a husband! Hahahahaha! (I haven't been standing in any doorways, I SWEAR.)

I don't have kids, except for my ebullient yellow lab, who I don't think has been into any bird nests - lol.

Yesterday, we left the house to go see "Iron Man", which was great by the way. When we returned home, the bird was at the back sliding door and then went to the front window again. A similar routine as the the day before, but slightly less frequent, and the bird seemed to be very calm - like it was just hanging out. I'm trying to make peace with this, because when I left for work this morning, he was pecking at the sliding door again. I don't think that he's leaving anytime soon, but eventually, he will leave right? Plus, it's raining pretty hard out there so I'm not sure why he or she isn't seeking shelter - unless it wants to come in - haha.

I'm doing some research on the web to see whether there is something that we can do to move this bird along. I'm not freaked out anymore; I actually feel sorry for the darn thing.

So Dini, women don't stand in the door in Indonesia? That's interesting. Once again, I learned something new :)

I definitely have a few superstitions that have hung around from childhood. I knock on wood all the time, I can't seem to shake that one. Knocking on wood has actually become an institutional supersition at my work. Whenever we're in a meeting talking about a student going a long period of time without exhibiting some maladpative behaviors the whole room knocks on the table-it's pretty funny to watch actually!

I'm superstitious with other jinx related stuff, like if we're watching the ball game and someone says "he's due for a hit" or "he's going to hit a home run" it makes me nuts. My dad is ridiculous about the sport superstitions-growing up he'd make us leave the room if we came in and they started losing or stay if they had scored when we came in the room. Part of that is also just being from Boston I guess.

When I was a kid we used to hold our breath or lift our feet whenever we drove past a cemetary-we thought it would add a day onto our lives. My sister and I would get really upset if our parents and siblings wouldn't do it too. I'm proud to say I've given that one up!

I grew up with a lot of superstitions related to making wishes-

My mom always had us make a wish whenever we went to a new church for a wedding or something, I still do that sometimes.

I still make wishes at 11:11-that has gone through various stages. I used to try to say the wish 11 times or say the wish and then try not to look at the clock again until it changed.

We made wishes if the clasp of our necklace came around to the front and if you blew an eyelash off your finger.

I feel like a lot of my superstitions have come from growing up Catholic too-maybe superstitions isn't the right word-more like rituals (that have superstitious undertones) like praying to St. Anthony whenever anything is lost or praying to St. Jude for anything really difficult.

God, writing all this makes me sound like I have OCD or something! Great idea for a topic!

Ah, yes, knocking on wood is a given! Probably a good outcome of superstition is that I can never bring myself to call in sick or anything like that, for fear that I will actually get sick. And that "my [insert relative here] died"--shudder at the thought!

Joanie, I used to always make a wish when I turned my necklace. I thought that I was the only one - haha. I don't walk under ladders, I knock on wood, I try avoid black cats crossing my path and I also throw salt over my shoulder if I spill it. I believe in jinxes, too.

I heard about knocking on the unpainted wood to make something you were talking about not happen. if you see a nun, turn yourself around by your left arm three times

Very superstitious

I work in a nursery intensive care unit, and whenever we have a baby born that weighs 666 grams, we always add or subtract a gram. Also, I have been trying for years to get them to remove bed number thirteen in our unit, because we always seem to have the worst patients there!

Living in the South, there's always the thing about eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck in the year ahead. Some people put a silver dime in the pot. Or, eating turnip greens on New Year's Day to bring more money into your life.

I have heard the one about making a wish when you blow an eyelash off your finger. My best friend growing up, when we would meet a car on the road with one headlight out, would kiss the ceiling of the car and make a wish (???). When we were little kids, we would hold our breath going through a tunnel. We only got to do this once a year, because the only tunnel for miles around was going under Mobile Bay while we were on our way to Pensacola Beach for our yearly vacations.

Yeah, Sarah, my husband works in the theatre, so I know all those theatre superstitions. Last year, he was doing "A Christmas Carol", and some punk teenager in the show made it a point to mention the Scottish play before every performance. So, before every performance, they made him go outside, turn around three times, spit, curse, and then knock at the door to be let back in. I think that kid can count on not being cast in this year's show.

Yeah, our teen workshop is doing the Scottish play this fall. I hope it all goes well!

Do they leave a ghost light on? Our theatre won't, and when I'm with Brent and he's locking up, I make him wait for me to go outside before he turns out the lights. I refuse to be in there without a ghost light on! Besides, our theatre is 100 years old and was used back in the vaudeville days, so I'm sure there's some crazy mojo hanging around in there somewhere!

When I was a kid we always held our breath going through tunnels too. And we'd kiss our fingers and touch the ceiling when ever we went through a yellow light.

Oh and I have to say one of the most annoying superstitions of all is chain letters. Back in the days before email I used to get them in the mail, and that was bad enough, but now I have a friend who sends me every single "forward this to fifty friends" email he gets. I hate those. The ones I hate the most are the "if you don't forward this, you are ashamed of God" ones. Puh-leaze.

Ok, I do have my limits! No chain letters here.

So I had to look up what they hay you were talking about with "the Scottish play." I haven't been a part of the theatre in ages and ages, but I don't know that I knew that one. The funny thing is the REAL reason that superstition came to be. I found it here. (For others like me without a clue.)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! "...break wind or spit..."

There are LOTS more theatre superstitions, but the ones I listed are the only ones I really pay attention to.

Beth - your comment about the bed made me think about how hotels never have a floor "13". You go directly from 12 to 14 (in the elevator). Or you have "ground" and then 1-12 (if there are only 13 floors).

I think that's so odd because there IS a 13th floor, it's just not called that. So that makes me wonder by unnaming it "13" how does that remove any curses?

I do prefer the superstitions that require you to do something (like knocking on wood) versus avoiding things (like walking under a ladder).

My grandma had a black cat, so that whole thing never really bothered me. I figured I was already screwed so there wasn't much point in believing it.

Sometimes the 13th floor is called 12A, which I think is rather silly. Meghan, you know how the number 4 in Chinese sounds a lot like the word 'dead', so some buildings have floor 3A instead of 4? I once went to a building whose management apparently believe in both Western and Eastern superstitions cause it has both floor 3A and 12A, LOL.

Oh and Michele, I haven't been standing in any doorways lately, but I forgot to sweep my room yesterday. I thought I'd wait to see if any bearded guys come my way, haha!

Yes, they have a ghost light. I remember going to the theatre with him when we were dating and having all that explained to me. It's kind of freaky.

I know there are lots of other superstitions in the theater. One that comes to mind immediately is that if a scene calls for money to change hands, they don't use real money.

Robbie, I'm glad I'm not the only one that found that hilarious! Still laughing at the idea of it... especially because at first I didn't read the "or" ...hahahaha... so I thought they HAD to break wind ...hahahaha... and I was imagining them standing out there ...HAHAHAHA... trying to force something out ...AAAAAhahaha... and being stuck out there because they'd eaten properly that day, or maybe finally, FINALLY having a tiny little squeak arrive.

Phew. Okay, I can breathe now.


Oh, and Dini, that rocks! I mean, they can ALWAYS shave! Hee!

Yeah, Beth. No real money, no real flowers, no real mirrors on stage. Using real and not imitation is bad luck.

There is a supestition that you mustn't shake someone's hand above the doorstep cause it can cause bad things (including death). maybe because in very old days the dead were buried under the doorstep.

Dini - That's hilarious. I'll have to be on the lookout for that now. Heh

It wasn't until my husband married me that he got a license plate number that didn't contain the number "4" in it. He was very happy about that.

Apparently, some provinces have been trying to combat this "4" phobia as they are running out of license numbers that they can give out that don't contain "4". So they've been giving their police plates with "4"s on it so show there's nothing to be afraid of. It's quite controversial though.

Meghan, that's so funny. They've run out of numbers! LOL

I didn't think I had any superstitions, but then I read this and realized that I knock on wood all the time. Especially working in a hospital, when someone comes around and asks...any problems, or any sick kids, or anyone you're worried about, etc....it's always "not now" then, knock on wood.

I was BORN on a friday the 13th, which pretty much wipes out superstitions for me.

I DO have this belief that I only get one year older when my b-day is on a Friday the 13th (a bit like Frederick in the Pirates of Penzance, but his b-day was on 2/29.)

So that makes me about 7.

Darn. No more mint juleps for me--i'm under age!
;)

I've never exactly been a fan of scruffy guys, but after seeing some the pics in the link below, I don't mind not sweeping the floor once in a while...

http://omg.yahoo.com/hotties-with-fac...

That's hilarious, Dini! How on earth did you stumble onto that page?? That thought alone is making me laugh!

Well, Yahoo always has something to entertain you every once in a while!

Sera, I've known that superstition for a while. About a month ago this bird came to my window. Pecked and pecked for at least 3 days. Well it went away for about a week. Then a fifteenth bird (a cardinal) showed up. Well this month my dog got cancer in his throat and passed last week. Now I take superstitions more seriously. And I hope.this one doesn't happen to you.

Different* not fifteenth. Auto corrected...

Two superstitions I grew up with in the Appalachian mountains: 1) You must enter/exit a home by the same entrance when you are visiting someone. If you go in the front door & out the back supposedly back luck will follow you into the house. 2) Cats should not be allowed in the house at night. They will steal the baby's breath away. Apparently the latter comes from cats crawling into the cradle with a baby bc they smell milk on its breath.

I just came across this thread from a Google search I did.. but a Coworker's family member has had a Cardinal come to her home two previous times before (both 2-3 weeks before getting bad news of another family member).. well it has come back for the last week or so and she has appointment in 2 days because they found a spot of concern on her brain that they believe may be a tumor. being of Cherokee decent though, I believe in such superstitions.