Superstitions from the Elizabethan Era
Superstitions
In the Elizabethan Era, the people believed that smallest actions could bring or take away good luck. For example: to stir a pot of food counter-clockwise or "widdershins", was supposed to spoil the food as well as bring bad luck to all who ate from it. Bad luck could also come from spilling salt or pepper, losing hair, leaving a door open behind you, eclipses, keeping peacock feathers, walking under ladders, putting shoes on the table (which could also cause an imminent death) or from almost any encounter with a cat, especially black ones. Good luck came from other places and forms like iron, silver, fire, salt and running water. They were thought to be pure and cleansing, so many good luck charms made in the Elizabethan Era involve these elements. Other charms are more mysterious in origin. For example: it was good luck to touch a man about to die, just as it was lucky to spit into a fire or to be breathed on by a cow.
Some more superstitions in the Elizabethan Era are:
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