God Bless You.
During the sixth century, it was customary to congratulate people who sneezed because they were expelling evil from their bodies. But when a great plague took hold of Europe, people began sneezing violently when inflicted with the disease. Because sneezing meant a person was going to die from the plague, the Pope passed a law requiring people to bless the sneezer.
It’s bad luck to walk under a ladder.
A leaning ladder forms a triangle with the wall and ground. Early Christians believed a person must never violate the Holy Trinity by walking through a triangle, lest you be considered in league with the devil.
Beware of Friday the Thirteenth.
Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden on a Friday, Noah’s flood started on a Friday, and Christ was crucified on a Friday. There were 13 people (Jesus and 12 disciples including the evil Judas) at the Last Supper. Christians also noted that twelve witches plus one devil are present at Satanic ceremonies so Friday and 13 make a deadly combination.
Don’t spill the salt.
Although some people believe that Judas spilt salt during the last supper, this claim can’t be proven. Salt was a very precious expensive commodity in the middle ages. It was also used for medicinal purposes. If you spilled any, you must immediately throw it over your left shoulder to strike the nasty spirits in the eye, thus preventing sickness.
Black cats are evil.
In ancient Egypt, the Goddess Bast was a black female cat. Christian priests wanted to wipe out all traces of other religions and also associated black cats with witches and sorcery. As a result, early Christians believed black cats contained evil demons. Countless black cats were destroyed because of this crazy superstition.
The Virgin Mary uses ladybugs to help farmers.
In the Middle Ages aphids were destroying everyone’s crops. So farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary for help. A while later farmers started to notice cute little bugs eating the aphids and saving their crops. So they called them Lady Bugs (after “Our Lady” Mary).
Skin of your teeth.
This saying means to barely escape from a harrowing situation. It comes from Job 19:20, where God inflicts all sorts of terrible things on one of those who love him. Poor Job had all his animals stolen, his children die, his house collapse and his body covered with sores. Job said; “I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth.”
To make a scapegoat.
The innocent scapegoat gets the punishment for everyone else’s mistakes. God condoned this cruelty to animals in Leviticus 16:7-10, “And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other for the scapegoat.” The scapegoat carried the tribe’s sins into the wilderness to be eaten by animals instead of being offered alive as a sacrifice for the Lord.
The Roman Catholic Eucharist.
When communion is taken during Mass, the consecrated bread and wine actually turn into human blood and human flesh as a person ingests them. Yummy. But the real miracle is when a person vomits after taking the Eucharist, the flesh and blood magically turns back into bread and wine.
Baptism.
A person pours tap water on your head while uttering a special chant and you are miraculously cleansed of original sin and become a part of God’s family. Just sprinkle a little H2O in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and POOF! your one of God’s kids.
This is a very small sampling of the strange superstitions that have evolved from or within Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church is so full of superstition and ritualistic traditions, list would be a mile long.
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