Superstitious beliefs around the world on Christmas

(Note: On this page and the next are featured some of the most touching Christmas cards Funfare has received during the season. They portray family togetherness and concern for the environment.)

Here are superstitious beliefs around the world on Christmas, collected by Funfare contributor Leo Udtohan:

• A child born on Christmas Day will have a special fortune.

• The weather on each of the 12 days of Christmas signifies what the weather will be on the appropriate month of the coming year.

• Snow on Christmas Day means Easter will be green.

• A blowing wind on Christmas Day brings good luck.

• Wearing new shoes on Christmas Day will bring bad luck.

• Place shoes by your side on Christmas Eve to prevent a family quarrel.

• To have good health throughout the next year, eat an apple on Christmas Eve.

Louie Heredia and his bosom buddy

• A clear star-filled sky on Christmas Eve will bring good crops in the summer.

• On Christmas Eve all animals can speak. However, it is bad luck to test this superstition.

• If you refuse a mince pie at Christmas dinner, you will have bad luck.

• Good luck will come to the home where a fire is kept burning throughout the Christmas season.

• In Greece, some people burn their old shoes during the Christmas Season to prevent misfortunes in the coming year.

• In Devonshire, England, a girl raps at the henhouse door on Christmas Eve. If a rooster crows, she will marry within the year.

• At midnight on Christmas Eve, all water turns to wine, cattle kneel facing toward the east, horses kneel and blow as if to warm the manger, animals can speak but it is bad for a human to hear them, and the bees hum the Hundredth Psalm.

• It is considered very lucky to be born on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day in most countries. However, in Greece the child is feared to be a Kallikantzaroi or a wandering spirit. In Poland, the child may turn out to be a werewolf.

• There is a game in Germany where they blindfold a goose. The girls make a circle around the goose and whoever it touches first will be the first to get married.

• Place a branch of a cherry tree in water at the beginning of advent. It will bring luck if it wears flowers by Christmas.

• A loaf of bread left on the table after Christmas Eve dinner will ensure no lack of bread in the next year.

• Tie wet bands of straw around fruit trees to make them fruitful, or tie a stone to a branch on Christmas Eve.

• Nothing sown on Christmas Eve will perish, even if the seed is sown in the snow.

• In the Netherlands, they take a fir stick and thrust it into the fire and let it burn partially. They put it under the bed. This serves as lightning protection.

• Never launder a Christmas present before giving it to its recipient as this takes out the good luck.

• Eat plum pudding on Christmas and avoid losing a friend before next Christmas.

• In Ireland, it is believed that the gates of Heaven open at midnight on Christmas Eve. Those who die then go straight to Heaven.

• If you eat a raw egg before eating anything else on Christmas morning, you will be able to carry heavy weights. Shout “Christmas Gift”’ to the first person knocking on your door on Christmas Day and expect to receive a gift from the visitor.

(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com) - FUNFARE By Ricardo F. Lo (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)