Many of the Mexican superstitions can be traced back to ancient Spain or Old Mexico. They have elements of ancient numerology, astrology, and folklores. Most of these Mexican superstitions can sound hilarious but they definitely picture a slice of life. Mysticurious lists out some famous Mexican superstitions.
Mexicans are very particular about “limpia de huevo” or “cleansing by egg”. This egg cleansing ritual is supposed to cure a number of maladies including “mal de ojo” or evil eye mostly caused to children by jealous strangers.
While facing physical ailments Mexican Americans frequently turn to ‘curanderos’ or folk cure. Mal de ojo or an evil eye is most common and occurs when a weak person, or an infant or a child, is intently gazed by a jealous person. The stare is said to make the victim’s spirit sick and cause headaches, high fever, irritability, and in the case of young children, crying and a refusal to eat or sleep. These symptoms are cured by a ‘curandera’ or native healer who performs the egg cleansing rite during which a raw egg is rolled over the victim to absorb the negative energy. It is then cracked into a glass of water, and the egg is sometimes put under the bed of the victim for one night. There are certain signs in the egg that suggest this treatment has been successful, for e.g. if the cracked egg curdles it means the person has been cured of the evil eye.
General Superstitions
If you put your purse on the floor, you are pretty much asking to be poor.
If your palm itches, you are probably going to get rich, BUT if you scratch the itch the money will NOT get to you.
Never gift someone scissors or knives or you will sever ties with them.
If you sweep dirt out your front door, you are sweeping out good luck as well. Don’t do it!
If your ears are buzzing or ringing, you better believe someone is gossiping about you.
If someone sweeps your feet and you are single, you will never get married.
Dealing with unwanted guests? Just leave an upside down broom standing behind your door to shoo them away.
Breaking a mirror will get you seven years of bad luck!
You think seashells look beautiful? Too bad! Decorating your house with them will also bring you bad luck.
Keep a full glass of water on top of the fridge or even behind a door. This supposedly absorbs any negative energy or bad spirits you might have wandering in your home.
Keeping a hat on the bed brings bad luck!
Never walk beneath a ladder.
Tuesday is unlucky; never start a journey or anything important on this day.
Funny Superstitions
If you iron clothes and then go and wash your hands, you will get arthritis.
Going outside into sudden cold can turn you blind.
If you go outside after eating too much you can get facial paralysis.
Eat chocolate if you get stung by a scorpion. Delicious!
If you drop a tortilla, you will have lots of company!
Stick a piece of fresh bread behind the door to ward off negative people!
If you sleep with a dog or cat you’ll become infertile.
It is bad luck to pass a salt shaker from hand to hand. Instead place it on the table and let the other person grab it.
If you ever dare stare at a dog while it poops, you will get a pimple on your eye.
If you step with your left foot first when you get out of bed, you’ll have a very unlucky day.
Don’t point at a rainbow or you’ll get a pimple on your nose.
Pregnancy Superstitions
If you’re a pregnant woman and there’s an eclipse, have a safety pin tied near your belly.
If your belly is pointy, the baby will be a boy, and if it spreads out to the sides, the baby will be a girl.
If your face looks rounder, the baby will be a girl, and if you gain weight on your rear end, the baby will be a boy.
If you lift your hands above your head, your baby could be strangled by the umbilical cord.
If you see something ugly when you’re pregnant, your baby will be ugly, too.
If you watch a lunar eclipse during your pregnancy, your baby will be born with a cleft lip.
You can’t take a bath during pregnancy because the dirty water will reach your baby.
If you don’t satisfy an expectant mom’s cravings, you’ll get a dark mark on your nose.
If you have heartburn, your baby will be very hairy.
Babies who don’t listen to music during pregnancy end up being deaf.
If a woman craves a certain food a lot when she is pregnant and she eats a lot of it, her baby will look like her craving.
A pregnant woman is not to cut or dye her hair. It is said that by doing so would be like cutting the umbilical cord or causing harm to her unborn child.
It is compulsory to wear a waist girdle for six weeks after giving birth.
Superstitions related to Babies
If you smile at a baby, you better touch it or you’ll make the baby sick.
A child must receive a token gift when they are baptized or they will fart a lot.
If you cut a baby’s fingernails before their first birthday, the child will have impaired eyesight.
Don’t let anyone stare or touch your newborn too much because they might curse them with the Evil Eye or Mal de Ojo.
Apparently cutting your baby’s hair before they learn to walk could delay them from walking. Or if you cut their hair before they reach one, they’ll never learn how to talk.
New Year Superstitions
Consume 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight, one grape at each stroke of the clock, one for every month of the year. With each grape consumed you make a wish.
Decorate your home in different colors with a particular goal in mind – yellow for blessings on work, white for better health, red for an overall improvement in lifestyle and love, or green for better financial circumstances in the coming year.
Wear a particular color of underwear for whatever you wish to attain in the upcoming year e.g. if you want love, wear red underwear; wear yellow for money.
To ensure safe travel and luck pack a suitcase and walk around the block during New Year’s eve.
Throwing a bucket of water out the window helps you clean out the old year and brings good fortune for the new.
Superstitions regarding Dreams & Death
Don’t ever go to the river at night or the La Llorona will get you.
You better lock up all your farm animals at night or El Chupacabras will slaughter them.
Make sure you tell someone about your nightmares or they will come true.
Stepping on a grave will summon the spirit and it will haunt you.
When dogs howl, it usually means death is near.
If an owl visits you at home that means there is someone trying to do you harm.
If you misbehave the Cucuy will come after you at night.
Don’t have the foot of your bed point toward the door or you’ll welcome in death.
If you dream about losing your teeth then your death is apparent.
When you hear the rooster crowing in the middle of the night, it’s an indication that the angel of death is over the house. It can be the foretelling of a death in the family.
The crowing of a cock indicates that there are brujas (witches) in the area.
Putting a piece of bread on the ceiling or behind the door wards of evil spirits.
Seeing black cats means danger or death.
These Hispanic superstitions have been communicated orally from generation to generation. No matter how individuals perceive these, it cannot be denied that these beliefs have become a significant part of the Hispanic culture that cannot be wiped out.