Punxsutawney Phil and Americanisms

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Any others?

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I've seen dudes nearly get in a fistfight for closing a pocket knife that someone else opened

Hanging a dead snake on a fence to get rain.

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I've seen dudes nearly get in a fistfight for closing a pocket knife that someone else opened

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I'm not going to get into a fight over that, but I'm damn sure going to say something.

A lot of that isn’t American origin. Broken mirrors goes back to the Romans because they thought mirrors reflected your soul and life renews every 7 years so breaking one breaks your soul.

Black cat superstition goes back to Europe and the thought that witches could take the form of a black cat.

Wishing Wells was a Celtic/pagan thing.

Groundhog Day is a blend of ancient European weather lore and the Christian holiday Candlemas. Immigrants switched the European hedgehog for the American groundhog


Almost all American superstitions and Christian holiday traditions are rooted in ancient pagan beliefs and rituals. It’s fascinating to learn about and realize just how long that stuff has survived and most don’t even know the origin or real reason it was done in the first place.

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Finding a penny on the ground,

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Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck.

I hadn’t heard the pocket knife one either, or the snake on the fence.

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Groundhog Day is one of the last tethers connecting us to a world and culture that is actively being erased.

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Holy shite that guy needs to get off the internet

I feel like opening an umbrella indoors is a well known superstition.

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Hanging a dead snake on a fence to get rain.

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My granny, born in 1910 did this

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Black cats, broken mirrors, walking under a ladder, etc are bad luck - You should rush home after seeing the same rabbit twice (??) - tossing a coin into a fountain for luck

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All these have centuries old origins are in no way American