Black Cats & April Fools - Origins of Old Wives Tales and Superstitions in Our Daily Lives. Harry Oliver
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word. According to one tradition, whoever says the forbidden word in the dressing room is to leave the dressing room, turn in a circle three times, break wind or spit and then only come back after knocking and asking permission to re-enter. Another commonly cited remedy is to say ‘Angels and ministers of grace defend us!’, a line spoken in Act I, sc. iv of Hamlet right after the appearance of the Ghost.
The play is generally considered to be unlucky on account of the appearances of the witches and the occult content of many of the scenes. At the time when Macbeth was first being performed, belief in witchcraft was still widespread and actors may have been afraid of accidentally unleashing demonic forces or conjuring up evil spirits – which is why the line from Hamlet would be spoken in protection against any such visitation. Some sources point to a more practical origin for the superstition, however. In Victorian times, theatre managers would close unsuccessful plays and replace them with Macbeth, as it was usually a great success due to its violent and bloody scenes and the fact that it could be learned faster than other Shakespeare pieces since it is his shortest tragedy. To hear the word ‘Macbeth’ spoken in the dressing room would thus be an omen of very bad luck for actors who risked finding themselves out of work very soon. It is also possible that the bad statistics for the performance of the play may be explained precisely because it was used so often as a replacement and filler in theatre seasons.
Whistling during a performance brings bad luck
It is considered very unlucky to whistle anywhere near the stage during a performance as this is supposed to curse it and bring doom upon it. One simple explanation for this is that theatre technicians would sometimes be given the signal to raise a prop or send down a backdrop using some form of whistling code. Whistling backstage could inadvertently send the wrong signal and seriously ruin a play.
To see the ghost of Drury Lane
It is a stroke of good fortune for an actor to see the ghost of Drury Lane before a performance as it announces a long and brilliant career. The ghost, known as ‘the man in grey’ (because of the long grey overcoat it is seen wearing), apparently haunts the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane, in London. The ghost is usually seen in the daytime in the auditorium of the theatre, the oldest in London after the reconstructed Globe Theatre. The man in grey also wears a powdered wig, a tricorne hat and carries a sword. Some say the apparition is the ghost of a man murdered in the theatre whose skeleton was found in 1840 in a walled-in room backstage, with a dagger stuck in its ribcage.
There are many other ghost stories surrounding theatres, and Monday night was traditionally considered ‘ghost night’, a time when ghosts were thought to come out to perform their own plays. Apparently, this old belief lies behind the practice, still common today, of not having performances on Monday. The term ‘ghost light’ is also linked to superstitious beliefs about ghosts. Besides helping people find their bearings backstage and avoiding terrible accidents, this kind of backstage lighting that was originally provided by candles was there to scare off the ghosts of past performances thought to haunt the stage and interfere with existing performances.
Never speak a play’s last line during rehearsals
In acting circles it is considered very unlucky to say the last line of a play out loud before the night of the performance, as it tempts fate and may expose the play to evil forces. The play, in fact, is not considered ‘finished’ until it is performed. This superstition resembles the superstition warning a bride against wearing the completed wedding gown before her wedding day, and may be a form of protection against evil spirits or the Devil – they cannot start attacking the wedding or the performance until it is officially ‘ready’ and under way.
Wearing green, yellow or blue at the theatre
These colours are believed to be unlucky when worn at the theatre. The bad luck associated with wearing the colour blue is apparently neutralised if silver is worn with it. The explanation for this superstition lies in the cost of producing blue textiles during the early days of theatre. Back in a time before synthetic dyes were common, the dye that was used to produce blue cloth was extremely expensive: if a company used blue costumes they could be assumed to be going over budget and endangering their finances. If silver was added to the costume, however, this was a clear sign that the theatre company had a very wealthy patron.
The superstitions around wearing green and yellow at the theatre have various interpretations. Some sources say that during Elizabethan times yellow and green were considered the colours of the Devil due to the destructive forces of fire and the savage forces of the forest. These same sources point out that green was also the colour of the fairies and thus a dangerous colour to wear. In fact, there is little evidence of any dislike of the colour green in Elizabethan plays and other texts, and it doesn’t seem to be deemed unlucky until the seventeenth century. Other sources have argued more pragmatically that green and yellow were considered unlucky at the theatre because the lighting that used to be common in the past would make those colours virtually invisible on stage and thus an actor’s performance would be hindered by his or her near invisibility.
It is unlucky to walk under a ladder
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Walking under a ladder
This is one of the most commonly held superstitions, still believed by many people who do not think themselves superstitious. It is considered very unfortunate to walk under a ladder, but there are various interpretations of what is meant to befall those who ignore the custom. Most people believe it will simply bring bad luck, a belief grounded in the possibility of objects or paint falling on the reckless pedestrian from workers on the ladder or above it. Some people believe that distracted passers-by who walk under a ladder could be sure not to get married on the year of the transgression, while other versions of the superstition predicted the gallows for the unlucky walker. The most cited origination of this superstition, however, is that the ladder is seen to form a triangle with the wall and the ground, a triangle suggesting the Holy Trinity: to walk through that triangle would be to call misfortune upon oneself by showing disrespect to the Trinity.
Other recent sources point instead to the negative symbolism of ladders in general, such as the ladder that was used to take Jesus off the cross, or the ladder used to lead inmates to the gallows (this last explanation supporting the idea that walking under a ladder is an omen pointing to a date with the hangman – not something most of us need worry about nowadays!).
Finding money
Oddly, you may think, it was once considered very unlucky to find money on the ground. This belief dates as far back as the sixteenth century. In order to help ensure that they did not have to deal with the misfortune that would result from discovering a few handy coppers lying around, wily individuals took protective measures, the most common being to spit on the found money. If the coins were somehow damaged, they were considered lucky and could be picked up without any danger. The origins of this superstition are unclear but one could imagine that a poor person found in possession of coins might be accused of theft, and a broken or damaged coin would most likely have been discarded by its owner and would thus pose no threat to those who found it. It may also be that the superstition was spread as a general protective measure for the good of the community, to make it more likely that lost money would be returned to its original owner. Nowadays, it would surely take a truly superstitious individual to walk past a few coins glinting at them in the sun …
Stepping on a crack in the pavement
It is considered unlucky to step on cracks in the pavement. Today this belief is often held by children who