According to an age old custom, carrying a dead shrew in your pocket wards off rheumatism!
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Amber beads, worn as a necklace, can protect against illness or cure colds.
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Opening an umbrella indoors is said to result in 21 days of bad luck. Some traditions hold that it is only bad luck if the umbrella is placed over the head of someone while indoors.
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Breaking a mirror is said to bring bad luck for 7 years. To "undo" this, take the shards of glass and bury them underneath the moonlight. In ancient times, the mirror was said to be a window to the viewer's soul. If that mirror were to break, it would
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Placing a hat on the bed is, apparently, bad luck. (South Carolina)
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Pirates believed that piercing the ears with such precious metals as silver and gold improved one's eyesight.
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In Asia, the digit 4 never appears in any Nokia handset model number, because 4 is considered unlucky in many parts of Southeast/East Asia.
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A single magpie is considered a sign of bad luck. A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar recites an old proverb concerning the incidence of bad weather when magpies forage alone and a possible scientific explanation for this.
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