The Witching Hour Chronicles
My name is Christine and on WHC I will talk all things spiritual!
The Witching Hour Chronicles
Beyond Luck: The Surprising Historical Roots of Everyday Superstitions
What ancient beliefs make us toss salt over our shoulders or avoid black cats on our paths? We've all heard these superstitions, but their origins reveal fascinating glimpses into human history, fear, and the endless quest for control over our fate.
Join Christine and Kacie as they unpack the surprising historical roots of common superstitions. Their conversation takes you from biblical connections behind Friday the 13th to why black cats became symbols of evil after once being revered. You'll discover how the Last Supper with its 13 attendees and subsequent crucifixion on Friday created a perfect storm for superstitious fear.
The journey continues through prehistoric European water worship, where archaeological digs have uncovered thousands of offerings in sacred lakes—revealing how our modern coin-tossing wishes connect to ancient deity worship. You'll learn why salt was so precious throughout history that Romans used it as currency (giving us the word "salary"), making its spillage a true economic disaster rather than just bad luck. And the protective Evil Eye amulet? It spans continents and millennia as humanity's defense against the universal fear of jealousy and malevolent gazes.
These superstitions aren't just quirky behaviors—they're windows into our collective past, connecting us to ancient Rome, medieval witch hunts, and prehistoric worship practices. Whether you're superstitious yourself or simply curious about these persistent beliefs, this episode reveals how deeply these traditions have shaped our cultural psychology.
What superstitions do you follow without knowing why? Listen now and discover the surprising history behind the little rituals that still influence our modern lives.
Source: The Origins of 10 Ancient Superstitions We Still Follow Today - History Collection
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Welcome to the Witching Hour Chronicles. I'm your host, Christine, so I told you last week I was going to have Casey on and she's here, Hi guys, and we are going to talk about superstitions mm-hmm we each picked a few that we're gonna teach you about, like the kind of history behind them. We have an audience, so if you hear somebody in the background, she'll only be here for a little say hi Kimberly, hi everybody. You better listen to this episode okay, I will, so I'm gonna start.
Speaker 1:The first one I did was it's Friday the 13th. It's bad luck. It's but it kind of stems from a lot of biblical kind of.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So, according to the Bible, like biblical tradition, 13 guests attended the last supper, so there's the 13. So it was Jesus and his 12 apostles, one of whom was Judas, who betrayed him.
Speaker 2:The next day was Good.
Speaker 1:Friday was the day of Jesus's crucifixion. But yeah, the 13th guest was Judas, so Okay, there's that yeah. Also, Friday was also said to be the day that Eve gave Adam the apple from the Tree of Knowledge.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. And as well as that's the same day that kane killed his brother evil, so it all stems back to the bible okay friday the 13th all right, I would have not guessed that if you didn't tell me that I feel like a lot of I think I've read other superstitions that kind of stem back from biblical stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess that makes sense because you know I definitely believe that things in the bible are meant to scare people. So right there you go, do you?
Speaker 2:have one for us. Yes, I did black cats. Um, I'll try not to read all my notes because I have a lot.
Speaker 1:You can make it as long as you want.
Speaker 2:Okay, they link back to the supernatural as far back as the 13th century, so quite a while.
Speaker 1:There's the number 13 again.
Speaker 2:Yep and a church document from 1233. I don't know if there's a better way to say that time that's good. They stated that black cats were declared an incarnation of Satan, so it was designed to stop Luciferians, luciferians.
Speaker 1:How do you say that? I'll just say Satanists, would it be?
Speaker 2:Satanists yeah, in Germany. But they viewed Satan as like a savior, like someone who was enlightenment and self-empowerment nothing like evil, you know, like we all think that's interesting, right, god?
Speaker 1:I had a thought in my head. I'm watching her.
Speaker 2:Sorry, it was cool, I got chills.
Speaker 1:It was cool. I got chills. It was cool. Does it have? Do they ever talk about? You know, probably. Maybe have this in your notes about it being a witch's familiar.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, yep, yep. And so, like Christians and witches were a part of the same church once upon a time, but then the Christians just thought, like the witches were kind of taking over so they wanted to separate from witches, and witches often were friends with animals and stuff like that and had cats. So then they like linked the cats, black cats, specifically to witches, who, yeah, they thought was they're familiar, Interesting, and yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 1:God, people are assholes.
Speaker 2:Yes, they are. That is true Makes me want to get a cat even more. Like cats, like women, were accused and fought to like disrespect, authority, so they thought they were bad things in the world. And once again, people are assholes. Yep, no real reason why, just like people are assholes. Yep, sorry.
Speaker 1:I'm glad I have you actually talking to me.
Speaker 2:Oh, some people thought black cats are just cats in general spread the bupon bupon buponic plague, so they would kill the cats, but then the cats weren't there to like kill the rodents which then spread the bubonic plague.
Speaker 1:I was going to say don't people realize it's the rodents that have the plague, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 2:So yeah, but crossing your path might be a mission from a witch, according to what they believed back then in like Europe and stuff. Like europe and stuff could be the devil in disguise, and the fear continued into the renaissance and, um, peasants would go to like their church or their priest and be like I crossed about a cat. Can you rid me of this?
Speaker 1:I do have to say, though, cats can pick up on things that people don't see. So I mean, have you ever, have you ever seen a cat like going crazy, trying to attack something that's not there? I mean shit my dog's stupid.
Speaker 2:Dogs are stupid, people are stupid. People are assholes, animals smart.
Speaker 1:Animals, smart Animals. Good, that's Kimberly by the way.
Speaker 2:Sorry my guys. Yeah, so it was very interesting reading more up on that, Because I always knew like it was a bad omen to pass a black cat, but never really knew why.
Speaker 1:Interesting. I don't find it to be bad luck.
Speaker 2:Yeah me either.
Speaker 1:It's only bad luck. If you like, believe it and put your energy into that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, put some beautiful black yeah in my life.
Speaker 1:yeah, they were wonderful thank you, yeah, all right, so my next one is wishing wands. So, dating all the way back to like prehistoric europe, people believed that bogs, lakes and springs were sacred places and a place where you could easily communicate with gods. So people would bring offerings. It definitely spread from Europe to everywhere. People would bring material things, not just coins. They would bring anything that's sentimental stuff and offer it up. A lot of things were often metallic, like coins or something made with purpose.
Speaker 1:There's a lake in Switzerland. During the Iron Age, the population made numerous offerings to deities and this was like between 450 and 500 BC. Things that have been found in this particular lake include 166 swords, 2,500 different objects, all made specifically as offerings. Let's see. There's also a place in Wales where similar things were left as offerings, and at this place in Wales, archaeologists have found 138 different objects consisting of weapons, currency, a chariot, horse fittings all of these like in the lake.
Speaker 2:Dang.
Speaker 1:There is a sacred spring in Bath, which is in I believe England.
Speaker 1:Okay, and it's a source it's a place where Romans like where they would build their you know, the Roman bathhouses. So yes, southern England. There's a place where they would have rituals in the center for the Celtic goddess Sul. S-u-l is how you would pronounce that. It's a spring and it maintains a lot of significance during the Roman period and people still bring offerings there. People bring coins, mostly coins and jewelry. Archaeologists have found 17 Iron Age coins. 13,000 Roman coins have been found in the spring and they are offered to the goddess for her healing powers.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's wild. I like it. It's crazy, it's cool. They can find all that stuff yeah.
Speaker 1:These kind of offerings continued into the Christian era and, of course, it turned into saints instead of like pagan offerings. But yeah, that's how, why people now will throw coins into wells and make a wish it's an offering to the gods.
Speaker 2:All right, that makes I think that's pretty cool. That is pretty cool. I didn't think it went back like yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I've never really thought about where do these superstitions come from?
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, you just hear about them and you're like, okay, okay.
Speaker 1:Whatever, that's a superstition.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, that's so interesting. Heck, yeah, I like that one. What's the next one? Next one I have is the evil eye. Um, for lots of thousands of years in the mediterranean, in the middle east and south asia, it's common belief if that you had too much success or too much power, you would invite envy from the gods, and then the gods would place a damning, damaging effect on a person with a reversal of their fortune. Or if somebody just like didn't like you for the success you had or your power, it would like give you the evil eye. I know it's interesting. Yeah, me either. So, with that fear in mind, people would start wearing amulets and beads with the I didn't realize that came from Asia. I know it's interesting, yeah Me either. So, with that fear in mind, people would start wearing amulets and beads with the evil eye on it to ward off evil eye.
Speaker 1:I have a couple bracelets that I don't wear.
Speaker 2:Yeah, might as well. Keep it away, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is often the evil eye amulet is referred to. As I'm probably saying this wrong Nazar, nazar, okay, yeah, words are hard. Yes, they are.
Speaker 1:Should have looked up how to pronounce this word. There's a Google where you can get on Google how to pronounce this and then you can like listen to how it's pronounced.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's nice, I've done that. It's still hard. That's what I got on that one, but I found that interesting. That is interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I knew the evil eye was to like ward off bad energies and stuff, but yeah, that is interesting because I've always heard like you don't be jealous of someone because you could like be putting an evil eye on them. Yeah, or someone's jealous of you or that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, someone's jealous of you or that kind of stuff. Interesting, no doubt. All right. So I have one. My last one I have is on spilled salt. So do you ever throw salt over your left shoulder after you've spilled it? I always do it, but I never knew why I did it.
Speaker 1:Because it's just like I've always been told throw it over your shoulder. So throughout the earliest times, salt has been like a valuable commodity. It's vital for your health, it's good for preservation. It's also like back in ancient Egypt it was vital for the mummification process. And it also preserves food and it doesn't like it stays like at an even kind of value. It doesn't really like inflate in price, it doesn't it kind of value, it doesn't really inflate in price, it kind of just stays.
Speaker 1:It started out to get salt. They would have to mine for it in salt deposits or extract it from seawater or extract it from seawater. Romans used to use salt to pay their workers, which is how I'll take that pay. The word solarium I think I'm pronouncing that right is how Romans would say, how we would say salary. So, okay, right. So because it was such a vital commodity, people had a hard time they. They couldn't afford to waste it, so they would try everything they could to preserve it. So it is said that if you would spill salt it would bring bad fortune, because you're wasting it.
Speaker 1:It's also been known as a symbol of prosperity. People would gift it to newlyweds or those moving into a new home to ensure wealth, and it was also considered a really generous gift okay, I mean I'm getting married soon.
Speaker 2:If y'all want to give me some salt salt shake it full of salt.
Speaker 1:We have time to plan. Everybody. Give her a cool salt shake or fill the salt for her wedding. That would be cool, where was? I. I think casey has some salt lamps at her house. That would be cool. That would be. Where was I.
Speaker 2:I think Casey has some salt lamps at her house. We do.
Speaker 1:I have some salt like little candle holders. Yeah yeah, I think Casey gifted me a salt candle holder at the Orkart in Estes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, good stuff.
Speaker 1:Let's see, those who worked mining in salt often saw a lot of wealth, and it was good luck for them. So there's a city in Bulgaria which is one of the earliest cities in Europe. It was established 1,500 years before the beginning of the Greek civilization. So those who know their history would understand that, whatever, and it rose and fell based on its salt production.
Speaker 1:So that's crazy to have a whole empire just collapse because they couldn't mine salt through. Wow, right Right At its peak, people were buried with salt. Bury me with salt. Right A little salt shaker. That's so funny. That was the ice machine.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was. It's so funny, that was the ice machine. Yes, it was.
Speaker 1:It's not, bruce, let's see. So eventually the production of salt failed and the town became very impoverished and ended up dying out. People had to move away out. People had to move away. Salt had also a very distinct like. It would definitely transform different properties because it dissolved in water and then, when it dried out, it would become whole again once the water evaporated. It had a lot of preservative properties, which I know. I've already mentioned that Ancient societies used salt as a way to purify things. The Christian church inherited the tradition from the Greeks, romans, jews, using salt and holy water, and it's something that's still practiced in the Catholic church today. I had no idea you used that holy water.
Speaker 1:I thought a priest just blessed the water.
Speaker 2:There you go, they have a whole mixture. It's just fucking tap water. Right there you go. Interesting they have a whole mixture.
Speaker 1:They pray over it so in though. In like the christian church, if you spill salt it it creates a kink in the spiritual armor and leaves somebody open to evil influence. I spill salt almost every time I clean a table at work. I almost always knock it.
Speaker 2:Do you throw salt over your shoulder? I do. There's nobody behind me, sorry, guys.
Speaker 1:If you want salt, on your biscuits and gravy.
Speaker 2:So as a countermeasure of misfortune.
Speaker 1:That's where throwing salt over the left shoulder happened, is another thing from the Christian church, Another biblical thing. I guess, yeah is a custom stemmed from the common belief that evil spirits lurked around a person's left hand or sinister side.
Speaker 2:is that why people like back in the day, if a kid started using their left hand, they would make them start using their right hand I wouldn't have to look into that that's interesting, because, like why yeah, you'll have to let us know I'm gonna look into it because that's interesting.
Speaker 1:um, christians in particular thought that the devil loitered here, which was the belief that had adopted from near middle eastern nations, which believed a good angel lingered about the right shoulder while the angel of evil haunted the left. By casting some of the wasted salt over the left shoulder, the idea was to hint that the devil demon, like you, were hitting it in their eye and it would make them leave. Okay, interesting, that is stupid.
Speaker 2:Oh my god, we all throw it over each shoulder, because I know people who throw it over both shoulders. Because I know people who throw it over both shoulders when they spill it, so they're getting rid of all the angels.
Speaker 1:Maybe they just don't know what shoulder. Maybe I don't know how many times I've even asked am I supposed to throw it over the left side?
Speaker 2:just throw it over your head he's like you think he's over there, but actually he's on your right side, oh gotcha that's too funny.
Speaker 1:I wish we were doing a video. All right, what's your last one?
Speaker 2:my last one is the sweeping of feet. So if you're like sweeping and then you pretend to sweep up somebody's feet, in South America it's believed if your feet are swept over by a broom you will remain single for the rest of your life, you'll never get married. Yeah, maybe that's not such a bad thing. Yeah, maybe not. That's true. You're like oh, thank you, but if you immediately spit on the broom, it breaks the curse. Just a hook to it, that's all it takes. Yeah, immediately, immediately, immediately. That's a good excuse to spit.
Speaker 2:I guess, I should have looked up more about that one, but I really didn't find too much. I know somebody told me about this superstition. I can't remember who. I wish I could remember who. I don't know. If I was like sweeping one day and somebody told me about it because I was like let me get your feet. I heard you.
Speaker 1:I had people tell me that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, there are so many superstitions out there.
Speaker 1:We could do multiple episodes on this topic, no doubt. It is fun. You're going to listen, it is fun Okay. I will, now that you're on it. Hi, we didn't plan on having a third.
Speaker 2:I didn't plan on being here but, it worked out.
Speaker 1:I'll bring an extra set of headphones for you next time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that'd be fun, I love it.
Speaker 1:We're going to have to tell everyone that you were on a podcast.
Speaker 2:I was on a podcast.
Speaker 1:Anyways, I think that's all we have. So I'm going to do my usual spiel. Follow me on social media Facebook, instagram. I don't normally do Twitter, but I do have a Twitter. I did just start an ex, quite honestly, for the podcast, even though I've never posted. If you have an idea for the show, you can contact me on social media. You can email me at witchy334 at gmailcom. If you want to support the podcast, you can go to thewitchinghour at buzzsproutcom and click on the support tab and subscribe for as little as $3 a month, yeah, but I think that's all I have. Yeah, bye, have a good time, bye, bye, bye, bye.
Speaker 2:Bye. Thanks for watching.