During the Second World War, German tank drivers would drive their vehicles over camel droppings, thinking it would bring them good luck.
100 Mind-Blowing Luck Facts
May 29th is “National Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day.” It is celebrated in Europe & USA to bring luck & wealth to the household.
In the Philippines, it is considered good luck if a coconut is cleanly split open without jagged edges.
William McKinley was shot right after giving away his good-luck charm. President McKinley always wore a red carnation for good luck but sometimes gave it out as a memento. When greeting the crowd in 1901, he handed a 12-year-old girl, Myrtle, his the bloom off his lapel, saying “I must give this flower to another little flower.” Minutes later, he was fatally shot by a man in the crowd.
In Japan, letting a sumo wrestler make your baby cry is considered good luck. One of the coolest fun facts about Japan: they have a ritual where sumo wrestlers make babies cry. Sounds like a dream for me, but a nightmare for my parents. However, the ritual is said to bring good luck. The Naki Sumo is a 400-year-old Japanese ritual where babies engage in a baby-cry sumo: two sumo wrestlers face each other carrying a baby each. The sumo wrestlers will try to make the babies cry, and the child that cries first or the loudest wins.
Black cats are good luck in Britain and Japan. Black cats may have been universally seen as bad luck, but that isn’t the case for Great Britain and Japan. New brides are given black cats to bless their marriage in the English Midlands. In Japan, black cats are a symbol of good luck for single women.
Sailors consider black cats good luck. Some sailors use black cats as the ship’s cat in hopes of a safe voyage. Some fishermen’s wives would even keep a black cat at home as well in hopes of their husband’s safe return.
May 29th is Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day. This odd holiday dates back to the early 1900s when families would place a piece of cloth on top of their larders. This is regularly celebrated in Europe and the U.S. to bring luck and wealth.
Sumo wrestlers often make babies cry for good luck. This is based on the Japanese belief that if a sumo wrestler can make a baby cry, then that person will lead a healthy life.
In England, a newborn’s head is washed in rum for good luck. This was a common occurrence in certain parts of Europe. To wish a child great fortune in the future, butter and sugar would be given to the infant.
Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a “Friday the 13th”. Friday the 13th may just be another day for you, but some cultures are very wary of this number for its supposed bad luck.
The longest ear hair in the world may be longer than your actual hair. At 25 cm, the world record for the longest ear hair in the world belongs to Radhakant Bajpai of India. His wife highly disapproves of the hair, but he believes it brings him good luck and refuses to get rid of it.
In some cultures, left-handedness was considered unlucky or associated with superstitions. For example, it was believed that using your left hand for tasks could bring bad luck.
In Peru, it’s considered good luck to wear yellow underwear on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
‘Blackening the bride’. In rural parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, a tradition known as ‘blackening the bride’ was practised in the 18th and 19th centuries. Just before a wedding, friends and family would cover the bride and groom with all sorts of messy substances, such as soot, mud and feathers. This custom was believed to ward off evil spirits and bring good luck to the couple.
There Are 1.4 Billion $2 Bills Still in Circulation: The first $2 bills were printed in 1862. Although they originally featured Alexander Hamilton, they were later redesigned to feature Thomas Jefferson. The bills are still in circulation – 1.4 billion of them in fact – and are considered to be the rarest currency denomination in the U.S. Some people believed $2 bills were bad luck and would rip off the corners of the bill to “reverse the curse,” making them unusable.