The 8 Superstitions Every Latino Grew Up Believing

Growing up in a Latino household meant that there were a lot of hardcore superstitions running rampant throughout daily life. Superstitious beliefs go together with Hispanic homes in the way that rice and beans and chanclas do. They just fit.

From purses on the floor to itchy palms, we've gathered the top eight superstitions every Latino grew up with, and put them in a list, of course. And here they are.

Listen, you like your money, right? Well you won't have any if you put that purse on the floor. So pick it up, fool. And if there's no where feasible to hang it from, then you'll have to just hold it in your lap while a thousand of your cousins climb all over you, or try to balance it on your knee as your mom lectures you about why you're still single and now broke.

Because you put your purse on the floor, obviously. Itchy Palms Means Dollar Signs

Want to fix that issue you had after you put your purse on the floor? You know, the broke one? Well, you can't if you scratch that itchy palm of yours. If your hands itch -- you knew knew not to scratch. That was bound to get your palm slapped by whatever relative was walking by.

Rather, you were to slip it in your pocket like a normal person, because itching meant money was coming, and where should money go? Your pockets. Everyone knows that.

Or at least tip that kid is walking. You can't cut a child's hair before his first birthday; it will stop them from learning to walk. And then what will you do?!

La Llorona was just about the scariest child-drowning ghost ever. And somehow -- somehow -- the crying ghost who haunts the river happens to be everywhere all at once. She's at every river, every waterway, every anything she can be at, and in every Latino community that ever existed.

Want to make sure your guest leave? Place that broom upside down behind a door, fool! But be careful if you're using it to actually sweep or something; you don't want to run the broom bristles over your single cousin's foot. After all, brushing the foot of a single person will mean that you've destined them to be single forever -- which is a fate worse than death in most Latino households. Just watch the broom. Seriously.

Had a dream that your tooth fell out? Well, someone's gettin' knocked up. Or someone's dying, depending on who you're talking to. Either way, those tooth dreams are pretty darn serious in Latino households, so make sure you pay attention to them.

Feeling bad out of nowhere? Stomachache that won't go away? Eh, it's probably not some bacteria-borne illness. It's just oho. Oh, and you'll need an egg and some old Latino lady who knows what she's doing to remove it.

But don't worry. You get oho by people being envious of you. And stop staring at that pretty girl! You're going to give it to her, too.

Are your ears burning? Oh, it just means someone's talking about you. Better check your friends; they're probably gossiping about whatever you did last week. That's the only reason your ears would burn, you know.

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

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.