These are some of the craziest superstitions around the world!
Why exactly DO some guys have super long mole hairs on PURPOSE?!
9 - Chinese New Year
New year's resolutions generally mean that we're expecting new and positive things for
the year.
But, that’s for most Americans.
In Asia, it’s a bit different.
In fact, celebrating the new year is at a whole different time.
Celebrating Chinese New Year typically means celebrating in late January or early February.
It really depends on the year.
And instead of doing things, Chinese New Year requires a lot of AVOIDING doing certain things
just to be able to have good luck for the year!
There’s plenty of things across the board.
For example.
You would THINK washing your hair is a good thing to start a New Year.
Not for Chinese New year!
According to Chinese tradition, washing your hair during the first couple days of the lunar
new year means you're washing away your good fortune.
And that’s the same thing for taking out the trash and sweeping.
You’re not supposed to take out the trash on the first day!
And you’re not supposed to wash clothes either.
Another superstition is wearing black and white, two colors you’re supposed to avoid.
Wearing black and white is associated with unhappy times, so you’re supposed to wear
bright colors, especially red.
What's also interesting is that you also have to make sure people around you behave properly,
so you have good luck.
This means you need to make sure any babies around aren't crying.
And definitely don’t cry yourself!
Because this would definitely bring bad luck for the entire family.
There’s plenty of other things that you’re not supposed to, such as avoiding eating porridge,
since that’s for poor people, and definitely DON’T go outside on the third day of the
new year!
Because that’s Scarlet Dog Day, which is an unlucky day.
The Scarlet Dog was the God of Anger, and whoever met him would have bad luck to start
the year!
8 - Tuesday the 13th We all know the bad reputation the number
13 has had throughout history.
Many cultures all over the world consider the number 13 an unlucky one.
Some airlines don’t include it in their aisle numbers.
Some hotels don’t have a 13th floor.
And everyone knows about the bad luck of Friday the 13th.
But why stop on Friday?!
How about Tuesday the 13th?!
It’s supposed to be the unluckiest day in Spain!
Apparently, Spain has had a pretty rocky relationship with the number 13 for a very particular reason.
The days in Spanish are named after characters from Roman mythology and the planets.
Tuesday in particular, or Martes, in Spanish, stems from the planet Mars.
If you didn’t know it, Mars is the god of war.
So, Spaniards believe Tuesdays are a representation of everything destructive.
And that's not all.
It turns out that Tuesday isn’t a good day for Spanish history.
The siege of Constantinople was on Tuesday, April 13 1204.
And its fall to the Ottomans was on a Tuesday in 1453.
So, it's quite understandable why they're so weary of any Tuesday that turns out to
be the 13th day of the month!
There’s even a Spanish saying that roughly translates to, don’t get married, go on
a boat, or leave your house on a Tuesday!
7 - Magpie go away If you see someone saying something under
their breath in Britain….well, it may be because they saw a magpie!
British people hate magpies, because it almost has a Pavlov’s dog affect on them!
Magpies are known in ancient British folklore as a bearer of bad omens.
And that’s why this black and white bird is probably the most hated bird in all of
the UK!
Magpies are described as challenging and arrogant.
And that's the description by people who like them!
Interestingly enough, not all people feel this way.
For example, the magpie is the national bird of Korea.
Over there it's seen as a bird of great good fortune, of sturdy spirit, AND a provider
of prosperity and development.
But that’s definitely not in the UK.
The negative connotations attached to magpies can be traced as far back to Shakespeare's
time.
Even back then people complained about the magpie’s "chattering".
Although these birds are simply existing and living their best life, people in the UK still
perform certain rituals in order to be quote unquote, safe around them.
Basically, they have to talk to the magpie.
Some people would see a magpie, salute it and then say: "I salute you Mr Magpie”.
However, other variations exist!
Supposedly some people would go as far as turning around three times and saying, "Hello
Mr Magpie, how are you today, where's your wife, your child and your family?"
Really?!
All that for a bird?!
6 - Toasting in Germany If you’re in Germany and you’re about
to toast someone, you better look them in the eye!
The biggest faux-pas in German drinking etiquette is failing to make eye contact as you clinked
your glasses together.
According to an ancient German tradition, if you don't look people in the eye when you're
toasting or saying cheers with a drink, you're in for seven years of bad uh…..times in
bed!
What?!
History is actually somewhat unclear as to where and when exactly this happened.
There are some theories that try to explain how this became a persistent tradition.
As you’d expect, most of them date back to medieval times.
Of course, back during those times, being a king was dangerous.
The king would cheer with a drink at hand and then clink his glass with someone else.
He’d typically do this with enough force so his drink would spill over the other person's
drink.
So if his drink was poisoned, the other person’s drink would be poisoned too!
At the same time, the king would be seeing if the person he was toasting was staring
him in the eye or at his drink.
If the person was in fact trying to poison the king, they would be double checking to
see if the king’s drink had spilled into theirs!
How much genuine historical evidence is there for this theory?
Not much at all, but hey, don’t let that stop you from looking your German friend in
the eye!
5 - Four What How is the number 4 extremely unlucky?
The number 4 is extremely bad luck because its pronunciation is very similar to the word
for 'death' in Chinese.
Everyone goes out of their way to avoid it!
Even on their license plate!
For example, China’s capital, Beijing, has a vehicle plate restriction program.
It’s intended to decrease congestion and air pollution around the city center.
On weekdays, private cars with license plates ending in two digits, zero to nine, can’t
drive inside Beijing’s 5th Ring Road from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
So if the pairing for a particular day is 4 and 9, for instance, then drivers with those
tail numbers have to find another way to get home.
This all sounds great, except for the fact that Chinese drivers avoid the number 4 like
it’s their job!
The percentage of people who avoided getting a plate ending in 4 is extremely high.
Only 2% of cars have a license plate ending in 4!
That means that on the days when the number 4 is banned from driving in that part of the
city, there’s virtually no decrease in traffic.
A study was performed and it turns out that on these days, traffic actually increases.
But what about lucky numbers?
Well, the number 8 is considered lucky, and it’s an overrepresented number in the system.
But why?
4 - Eight Eight Eight The number 8 is easily the luckiest number
in Asian culture.
And it’s because the pronunciation of the number 8 sounds very similar to the pronunciation
for the word wealth in chinese!
And just when you think Asian culture is excessively worried about bad luck, it turns out that
the culture is equally obsessed with fortune and good luck.
Maybe sometimes to an unhealthy extent!
Apparently, everyone in Asia got the memo, because anytime the number 8 can be used in
something, it WILL be used!
Whenever someone wants to set a date for an important event, their first option is always
8.
When someone picks their license plate, they want it to start or end in 8.
Or better yet, just make it all 8s!
When the Beijing Olympics happened, they started –you guessed it– on the 8th day of the
8th month of 2008.
You guys see how important the number 8 is yet?
There are numerous examples of the lengths people and even companies go for the number
8!
The minivans that GM makes for the Chinese market is called the Buick GL8.
In other countries, other similar minivans go by other numbers.
In 2003, the phone number "+86 28 8888 8888" was sold to Sichuan Airlines for approximately
$280,000 thousand dollars!
Probably the craziest case has to be a license plate with just the number 28 in Hong Kong.
That particular license plate was bought for $2.3 million dollars because the number 28
sounds like the words that mean easy and prosper in cantonese!
Sounds like this number was bought by some crazy millionaire playboy in Hong Kong!
And Asia is filled with them!
Find out more about Millionaire Playboys with the most insane lifestyles in this video!
3 - No time Whatever you do, don’t give a watch or a
clock as a gift in Asia!
Do you see a pattern here yet?
You should realize by now that Asian culture is filled with superstitions!
There’s a lot to navigate through!
The clock ITSELF isn’t bad luck in Asian culture.
It’s only the act of giving it.
This taboo arises from the fact that the phrases "giving you a clock" and "attending your funeral"
both sound exactly the same in Chinese.
That’s why it’s seen as a very negative thing in Asia to receive a clock or a watch
as a gift.
Many cultural taboos in Asia commonly arise from words that sound the same.
Probably the most well known example of this is with the number 4.
No matter how old the taboo is, people still seem to forget to not do it!
For example, back in 2015, Susan Kramer, a UK politician, gave a watch as a present to
the Mayor of Taipei, Wen-je Ko.
It was seen as saying his time was running out for his position in office!
Although he brushed it off as no big deal, Ko later jokingly said that he would sell
the watch to a scrap dealer!
For what it’s worth, Ko did win reelection as Taiwanese mayor back in 2018!
2 - Three on a match Have you ever heard of the superstition 3
on a match?
This superstition is most likely not followed anymore, but that doesn’t make it any less
interesting.
Superstitions are as ancient as you can imagine, and they can come up from anything.
This is especially true during wars, when soldiers at the front lines want to find peace
in any minuscule action they perform.
And that's how this interesting superstition was born.
No three people should ever light a cigarette with the same match.
You might think this would be a logical way of saving matches, but for many people back
then, it was a sign of bad luck.
It generally that meant the third person to light a cigarette would be extremely unlucky.
It’s a pretty logical explanation how this superstition happened.
Any soldier who lit a cigarette at night would instantly become visible to the enemy.
The second soldier who lit the cigarette would then allow the enemy soldier to aim, and the
third soldier would be the unlucky one taken out!
However, the origin to this story isn’t, surprise surprise, exactly clear!
This superstition became extremely popular around the early 1900s.
There are many theories on how this superstition was born.
For example, the 3 on a match superstition was popularly linked to Swedish match tycoon
Ivar Kreuger in an attempt to get people to use more matches.
However, it seems that he was just making the superstition popular.
Whatever the origin, for anyone that’s trying to hide in the middle of the night, it’s
good advice anyways!
1 - Hairy moles How on earth is a hairy mole an extremely
lucky thing?!
If you’re in Asia, you may just find someone with extremely long hairs coming out of a
mole.
The rest of the world almost always find big moles, especially super hairy ones, to be
either annoying or just plain unattractive.
However, not in Asia!
Hairy moles actually have a positive reputation!
Having a hairy mole is looked upon as something that’s extremely lucky because it represents
wealth.
You’re never supposed to pluck it or cut it because you wouldn’t want to cut any
luck off!
The longer the hairs on the mole, the more hairs the mole has, the better!
It's not unusual to see men have moles with hairs as long as the mole can grow!
However, WHERE the mole is is just as important.
Because if you have a mole in an unlucky spot, you’re definitely supposed to get the mole
removed.
Here are some quick examples.
A mole that’s red in color on the chest is a good mole.
That’s supposed to mean that the person has passion, generosity, and love.
And oh yeah, they’re supposed to be good with kids!
A mole on the back indicates a person with outgoing personality with strong communication
skills.
A mole on the lower leg means that the person works hard and is a responsible person.
However, the toughest to decipher is easily on the face.
There are some places that are good, and some places that are bad.
But in general, it’s a good thing to have a hairy mole on the face!
Even if it WOULD bring good luck, what would you rather have?
Have Extremely good luck or Have extremely hairy moles?!
Watch this next video to find out more about Millionaire Playboys with the most insane
lifestyles!