You’ve dodged black cats, skipped around ladders, not spilled a grain of salt… But what unlucky omens might your interior décor be inviting into your home?
A stopped clock foretells the time of an impending death! (queue sudden clap of thunder and scary laughter).
They look stylish and can help take moisture from the air, but very bad for fengshui apparently.
If you sleep alone, unused pillows on the other side of the bed are thought to be an open invitation for ghosts to join you (“I wouldn’t have minded so much, but he was no looker… And he’d been dead 200 years!”).
Forget the New Year’s Day hangover, get that calendar off the kitchen wall toot-sweet, or risk starting the year on the wrong foot.
Some consider displaying taxidermy to bring bad luck. It was certainly unlucky for the poor mongoose, stuck on the mantelpiece for perpetuity.
Pagans believed a horseshoe pointing up would catch luck in the home, others believed pointing it up would make a cradle for the devil. Then again, upside down would mean the luck would fall out… what to do?!?
According to Christian doctrines, St Dunstan was a blacksmith who attached a horseshoe to the Devil’s foot, from then on, the Devil feared entering any home with a horseshoe on it (this tale also has pagan roots).
Russians advise against whistling indoors for fear of upsetting the dormovoi, pesky house goblins.
Indians consider it bad karma to have a picture of the Taj Mahal in your home.
Our first entry with a touch of science! In the 1800s, green rooms were considered to do the inhabitants harm. At the time, green paint was often made using arsenic, which when it became damp could release toxins, causing illness and sometimes death.
Opening an umbrella indoors is also considered a fast track to bad vibes.
In Vietnam, you shouldn’t clean the house New Years Day, as you’ll clean away the good luck. Or you could just consider every day to be New Year’s Day! (“I’m not messy, I’m just very superstitious.”).
Another karma-killer is putting shoes on a table, which will invite misfortune into the home.
Killing a spider is a no-go in Sweden, as it will cause rain to fall the next day.
In France, a bird looking in through your window is a warning of forthcoming bad times.
If you manage to kill a house plant (yet again), remove it immediately or go toe-to-toe with bad ju-ju.
An invitation to chaos and disharmony… Or just laziness??
