13 Superstitions and their Origins Part II

SPILLED SALT: A superstition that accidentally spilling salt is a bad omen.  It's said that it draws it's origins from the Christian tradition due to Judas Iscariot having supposedly spilled salt at the Last Supper shortly before hr betrayed Jesus. Throwing a pinch of salt over your left shoulder brings good luck and wards off evil. 666: Known as the number of the Beast.  It comes from Christianity.  The number is mentioned as being representative of Satan in the Biblical Book of Revelations.  It gained popularity through films.  It was taken seriously by former President Ronald Reagon that when he moved into a private house at the end of his presidency, he had the street number changed from 666 to 668.  In 2005, a group of scholars announced that they discovered evidence that the number was originally supposed to be 616 not 666.  WALKING UNDER LADDERS: Widely held to be a bad luck.  It is quite dangerous to walk under them anyway.  It is just sensible health and safety device.  CHAIN LETTERS: dating back to at least 1888.  The arrival of email and then social networks making it even easier to pass messages along.  It has increased in popularity.  The reasons behind the more superstitious ones are unclear, beyond a simple desire to see how far something will spread.  Letters that ask the recipient to copy them and pass then on, often warning the superstitious that are some terrible fate will await them if they don't(often giving examples of bad things that have happened to people who didn't forward them)  THE BLACK WITCH MOTH is seen as an omen of death and misfortune across the Caribbean, Central and South America.  In Mexico, it is believed the one of the moths flying into the house of someone who is sick means that their death is close. In Jamaica, "dubby bat" is thought to be a lost soul and bring bad luck with it.  Moths of all kinds have been associated with death in Central American cultures.