A black cat crossed the road, looked into a broken mirror, loaned money after sunset, said hello through the threshold - these and other beliefs are familiar to all people, and many try not to do what they say. But where did such signs come from and is it really worth it to be afraid of? For example, why can’t you say hello over the threshold? This will be discussed in the article.
Signs of other countries
Before you begin to reflect on the veracity of a particular belief, it is worth paying attention to that a sign that promises something bad in one country may have a completely different meaning in another place, and even the opposite. This applies to lucky numbers, the same black cats and much more. Therefore, this fact alone can indicate that beliefs are beliefs, but blindly believe in them and begin to worry each time if something like this happens, it’s completely not worth it.
Where did the superstitions come from?
It is quite obvious that most of the beliefs will take from a long time ago, when our ancestors walked the earth. At that time, magic was more important, and there were much more inexplicable things, so events that did not have a banal or logical explanation gave some kind of mystical interpretation. It was then that the so-called sympathetic magic, or the magic of likeness, was born. At that time, it was believed that this gave birth to the like, so the warriors wore carved figures of their prey, sorcerers painted the death of enemies and believed that something similar would actually happen to them. Similar magic takes place today. It is most widely practiced in voodoo magic, where the enemy’s doll is pierced, burned, drowned, torn off parts of the body, and the prototype of the doll must at the same time experience real pain from these bullying.
Many superstitions came from simple observations. For example, an ancient man went hunting, and before that he looked at something that preceded the current mirrors. The hunt was unsuccessful, and the mirror is to blame. By the way, people have long been afraid of him, since it is believed that a mirror is a passage to another world, and you can’t joke with him in any way.
Why can't you say hello across the threshold?
This sign is quite ancient. In the same way as with the story of a broken mirror and passage to another world, the situation is with the doors to the living room. The house has always been considered a fortress, and native walls should protect both from real enemies and from fictional ones. At least that was thought in ancient times. Even now, a modern person feels safe at home, although of course we are not talking about spirits. In ancient times, the front door was considered the boundary of two worlds, namely the world of nature, where the spirits live, and the world of the house. It is simply impossible to overcome this border, therefore evil cannot enter the house, however if a person greets through the threshold, he thereby opens the passage, and all evil can enter the house. That is why you can not say hello over the threshold. It is believed that it is necessary to cross the border of the house. Similarly, nothing can be transmitted over the threshold.
Doors and Vampires
Why can’t you shake hands over the threshold? Today, few people believe in otherworldly forces or vampires, but sometimes in books or films you can find information that a vampire can cross the borders of a house only at the invitation of the owner of the house. This is also due to the fact that the door delimits the worlds. Perhaps greeting over the threshold is also forbidden due to fear of letting these creatures into the house.
First landlord
There is another explanation of the belief that you can not say hello over the threshold by the hand. Foretell what is this action? What will it lead to? In the old days it was considered the norm to bury the first owner of the house, and sometimes the one who built the house, right below the threshold. It was believed that the spirit of a dead man would protect the home from evil forces, while having said hello through the threshold, the first owner could be angry and thereby disturb his peace, which would entail various troubles. Now there is no such rule, therefore the explanation of the reason has disappeared by itself, but no one cancels the veracity of this version.
Muslim version of the signs
Many Muslim countries also believe in this sign. Why can't you say hello across the threshold? According to Muslims, genies live on the doorstep, and this way of greeting the owners of the house can wake the spirits, which will cause their discontent. An interesting point is the fact that Muslims are generally strictly forbidden to do anything on the doorstep - to shoe, undress, sit on it, step on and take any other actions.
Brownie
The Slavs version is quite similar. Why can't you say hello across the threshold? Because they still believe in brownies to this day. It is believed that this is a small landlord who maintains order in it. He can live in a closet, somewhere behind the stove, or he can hide under the threshold. And shaking hands through him is a concern for the protector.
The threshold of other nations
In general, superstitions associated with a threshold exist not only among Slavs or Muslims. It was believed that among the ancient Mongols, greeting over the threshold meant practically desecrating housing. In ancient Rome, the threshold was considered the abode of the goddess of chastity Vesta.
But the Americans have no such signs, and once there was a funny story in space. The Russian crew welcomed the American astronauts aboard the ISS, and when the shuttle docked with the newly arrived astronauts to the station, the Russians did not respond to the handshake of their foreign colleagues, as this happened at the docking site. Of course, then we sorted out the situation, but on the video from the surveillance cameras it looked very strange and ugly.
Obviously, this sign only applies to those who greet people with a handshake, and it is quite possible to just say hello through the door in verbal form.