Superstitions

For many superstitious people in the world "Friday, the 13th" stands for unlucky business, a break-up with a girlfriend, a car accident or a brick falling down on your head and so on. We would like to offer you a list of superstitions people of Baku believe in. Most of them originate from the beliefs of Azerbaijani, Russian, Jewish and other nations that live in Baku and whose cultures melted together to develop one, original and diverse.

• A cat crossing your way means bad in today's business.
• Salt and cutting things should not be given as gifts. You must not take them without paying a symbolic sum for them. Otherwise, it will bring bad fortune.
• Salt accidentally spilled in a home means a quarrel.
• Do not leave a scissors with opened blades; it can bring misfortune and even death.
• Do not give knifes as a present.
• Do not give eggs.
• Do not give sprouts as a present, the plant the sprouts are taken from can die.
• Do not return from midway.
• A person with empty buckets on your way means misfortune.
• Do not hurry to a funeral ceremony.
• Do not cross the way the funeral train goes along.
• If the first person you met after you set off for business is a male, you are lucky today.
• Jaduh - a form of witchery characteristic for Azerbaijan and the neighboring oriental countries. On the whole it does not much differ from the western types of witchcraft and uses the similar forms of cursing, paternoster, hoodoo, and like those. The Jaduh has many believers in the country where, as they say, 124000 saints are buried.
• Throw a bowl of water in the wake of a person that set off for a business or a long trip. It will bring him luck and help to return home safe and sound.

Many of these superstitions have much in common with ones the Westerners believe in. So, are we that different?