“Superstition is the Poetry of Life……
……both build an imaginary world.” Who would know better than Johann Wolfgang Goethe? – Russians do! Their amount, creativity and variety of superstitions is second to none. They have numerous beliefs and customs which you should know about while spending time in Russia. I would like to tell you about the ones I experienced to be taken very seriously and I already got confronted with:
First of all bad news for everyone who likes to whistle while cleaning up or cooking: Whistling inside the house will make you poor and causes financial bad luck. Of course foreigners claim to not take it seriously but for some reason everybody stops as soon as they hear about it – I guess whistling is just not worth the risk. 😉
If you are staying in an old building it is very likely you already noticed a mirror in the corridor. That is because of another widely spread superstition: Do not turn back to the house when you realize you forgot something on the way- as soon as you go out you should not return for some item. Actually it is a relieving feeling when you remember that you forgot something and there is enough time to still get it, right? But not for Russians, because you change the original plan of god for your day. Some would even call a relative or friend to go back to their house but if there’s no other option than going back by themselves they would look in the mirror before leaving again, otherwise the journey will be bad.
Another belief which is essential for all men: Every Russian women appreciates flowers, but only if they have the right color and number. It is very important to always give uneven numbers of flowers. Even numbers are thought to bring bad luck and are only suitable for funerals. White and red flowers are the most popular ones, while yellow bouquets stand for unfaithfulness and goodbye.
Some might seem a bit unusual, but the power of those traditions and omens is that they get passed on from generation to generation and are able to affect to mood negatively or positively. If you want to know more about Russian superstitions and their origin check out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_traditions_and_superstitions
