Women...

Welcome to the always sunny and extremely superstitious Turkey. This country is famous not only for its crystal clear waters and white sands, handsome and rich men, but also for their perception of a woman. With flow of history, the role of women in Turkey was constantly changing and developing; as a result, a lot of superstitions appeared where woman is the main character, usually negative one.

 If you are planning to visit Turkey one day, just remember a few most interesting beliefs:

•   If you are walking along the street, never walk in between two women as you will lose your beard very soon (unless you are the woman with beard and want to get rid of it);
•   If a woman passes in front of a man, it is for bad luck;
•   If a woman passes in front of a hunter, the hunt will be unsuccessful;
•   If a woman drinks only the half of her cup of tea, she will become a widow very soon;
•   If a young woman wears or simply tries on the ring of a married man, her marriage will be unhappy;
•   If a woman eats eggs while being pregnant, her future child will be very naughty;
•   If a pregnant woman is asking for something, her baby will resemble the man who helps her;
•   If a woman walks in between two men, she will become non-fertile;
•   A relative of a woman who sees penis in her dream will die;
•  A person who sees a girl child in his/her dream receives bad news.

I think you have already understood it is better not to pass in front of men, walk in between 2 people of the same gender, try somebody's rings and tell about your dreams. And always remember to drink your tea till the end.

I hope you found something new for you. See you next week in China.

Cheers!

Hallo. Today we are going to get a bit closer to German drinking superstitions as alcohol is a major part of the German culture. The German laws regulating alcohol use and sale are some of the least restrictive ones in the world. Its legislation is not designed to keep young people away from alcohol completely, but rather to teach them an appropriate way of alcohol consumption.

If you are going to drink with Germans, instead of waving, knock on the table. According to the legend, the table was traditionally made of Oak tree. Since the devil is unable to touch Oak, this lets the others know that you are not the devil. This makes the people feel like they are in a safe environment.

Once you proved, you are not the devil, remember one simple rule: NEVER, ever say "cheers," or "Prost," with water in Germany. Even if it was meant to be a joke, you are literally wishing death on all your drinking partners. It means you want your friends to be dead. If it is not what you want, drink your water silently.

 If you want to attract good luck, drink three or more drinks with the groom immediately before the wedding. To do it, you can even steal a bride to make the wedding more interesting. 

Our drunk journey is coming to the end. Drink healthy and see you next week in Turkey!

TSOK-TSOK THE EGG

Today we are going to Ukraine to taste some exotic superstitions. Many of them came to my culture from ancient times together with the pysankarstvo. A pysanka is a Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk ornaments using a wax-resist method. 

It is believed that the fate of the world depends upon the pysanka. As long as the pysankarstvo lives, the world will exist and abandoned evil – a horrible serpent forever chained to a cliff – will not break free.

You must be very careful as a witch can steal your pysanka and use its shell to gather dew to dry up a cow's milk or to poke people and sicken them. The egg shell had to be ground up carefully or broken into pieces and tossed into a running stream. 

Did you know? 

• Blessed pysanky are still used to find demons hidden in the dark corners of a house;

•      The older people should be given pysanky with dark colors and rich ornaments as they have already lived long and filled life;

•      The young people should be given predominantly white pysanky because their life only started;

•      A girl should never give her boyfriend a pysanka without an ornament on the top and at the bottom of an egg as the boyfriend would soon lose his hair;

•      Everybody who tramples on a pysanka will be punished by God with a variety of diseases.

 I hope you found something interesting for you. Keep an eye on your eggs and see you next week in Germany. 

Check out this link about pysankarstvo in Canada.

Welcome to 13 Black Cats in a Broken Mirror

Although we live in a highly developed world and can’t imagine our lives without modern technology, our old beliefs and cultural peculiarities are not going to give up and retreat. Superstitions are still around us. They are in our blood, in every breath and sometimes they become the main trigger of our actions. People are still afraid of the unknown and believe in magic and luck. It doesn’t matter whether you think about them or not, you are still trying to avoid black cats or looking into broken mirrors or doing something important on Fridays the 13th. They are deep in our consciousness as trying to protect us from potential danger or showing that everything is going to be great. Here the main question appears: to believe or not to believe?

Everything depends only on you. To tell the truth, I am very superstitious person as it was an integral part of my everyday life in the area where I grew up. If they work for you, use them but be objective. Something that used to be treated as evil and negative can bring you luck and become your lucky charm. Therefore, I decided to tell you about the most interesting world superstitions in more details to give you a chance to see them under different angle and make them work for you. Here the journey begins.