LUCK AND SUPERSTITION

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 December 1934, Page 4

LUCK AND SUPERSTITION

. QUEER BELIEFS. Old superstitions remain and new one are added. When winners in the > Irish Sweep were asked to say to what they attribute their good luck, a heavy I percentage replied that they had a “lucky number” to thank. (The number J. 3 was considered both lucky and unlucky), says the “New York Times.” Others attributed their good fortune to spiders, “money spiders” particularly, and one individual believed he won because he. had carried a piece of coal about with him since the dawn of 1933. One gave the credit to a fall of oak leaves upon him, and another wrote: “Last year was the first time that swallows built on my property, and my wife said iminediataely, ‘Oh, don’t disturb them, swallows bring good luck.’ ” . In England, superstition is not confined to the countryside; it is to be found even in the centre of business London. No member of the Rothschild family, for instance, will shake hands with a customer in his own bank or place of business. The Rothschilds consider it unlucky to do so. Again, London’s Bush House has eight of its pillars ornamented and one plain. The idea, derived from the ancient Greeks, is that God alone can achieve perfection and that man therefore should not attempt it. Practically every member of the London Stock Exchange carries a mascot. One especially favoured is a crooked coin, a sixpence for choice. But for the crooked coin to bring luck it must have been given to you. You must not have received it in change. For the last seventy years, a wellknown diamond merchant asserts, the fortunes of his firm have been influenced by a large and beautiful sapphire. This merchant is K. D. Parikh, of Antwerp and Bombay, and the sapphire, which came from the Kashmir Mines, was bought by his grandfather forty years ago. - The gem is named “Shani,” which means “Luck Bringer.” It is kept in a special safe and is taken out only once a year, on New Year’s Day. Once it was sold and immediately misfortunes befell the firm. It was bought back, and all- went well. “Shani,” which originally cost 10,000 dollars, has gained so remarkable a reputation that 60,000 dollars was offered for it not long ago. The offer was rejected.