Romanian Superstitions EXPLAINED

One thing you need to know about Romanian people is that we are… somewhat superstitious. From a young age we are taught, or let me clarify that actually: we are told why we should do or not do certain things because something may or may not happen. Furthermore, we do not know the starting point of the superstition. We only know that „It’s said that you should not to that” „Doing this will cause this other thing to happen” and so on and so forth.

 I do not consider myself to be a superstitious person, but I gotta admit that something does gets triggered in my brain when it comes to this. Doing something that technically I am „not supposed to be doing” gives me a little bit of anxiety. It’s like that „Oh, no!” feeling you get every time you accidentally do something wrong.

In this article I will speak about a few Romanian superstitions and what they mean to us. So here they are:

When a black cat crosses your path and cuts your way

When this happens it usually means bad luck and you need to expect for things to go badly. Do not panic, because Romanians have found a way out of this. When a black cat cuts your way, you need to take 10 steps back and with that the bad luck will just go away.

Small price, am I right?

After we leave the house we don’t turn around if we forgot something

Picture this: you’re all set, you leave the house and getting down the stairs or elevator you realize „Wait, where are my headphones?” or with a blank and scared expression you search for the wallet and „Where is it? In my other jacket.”. What do you do? You move on that’s what. You do not go back for anything.

This is by far a big „No, no” for us. If you go back it’s considered bad luck and things will not go well.

This is all a silly superstition of course, but are you willing to risk it?

True meaning of the hiccups

We all know what the hiccups are. Medically it’s a quick, involuntary inhalation that follows a spasm of the diaphragm and is suddenly checked by closure of the glottis, producing a short, relatively sharp sound.

But do you think Romanians were satisfied with that explanation? Well of course not. So for us the hiccups says that someone out there is bad-mouthing you. I know what you are thinking. „How can I figure out who that person is?”.

That is a very good question and we have a „bullet proof method” actually: you hold your breath (like the usual trick we all know) but while you are doing so, you need to say in your mind the names of the people you might think there’re saying bad stuff about you. If the hiccups stop then that person is the one who was saying mean things about you.

Seems legit, am I right?

Dropping salt or pepper controversy

Now this is a tricky one. Because this may seem like a silly thing that should not mean anything really. How many of us have done this already? Did it ever cross your mind that this might mean something deeper? Well, to us dropping salt or pepper means that you might have a fight coming your way.

And to answer your next questions: no, we cannot predict with whom that fight will be and yes, there is something you can do about it. You need to gather the salt or pepper you dropped and actually throw it over your shoulder. That way the fight will be avoided.

Twitching of the eye

This can only mean that something bad will happen in the near future. We do not know exactly how or when, but the twitching of the eye’s muscle is bad news.

The story behind an itchy nose

Admit it. You never thought that an itchy nose may have a deeper meaning. Well, for us it does. When that happens, it means that you will receive a beating from someone. Again, this will happen in the near future, and unfortunately there is no way of telling from whom.

The power of the „evil eye” or how we call it in Romanian „deochi”

I am gonna be honest here, we cannot translate the word to be 100% accurate, but I am going to explain everything about it. Did your head ever started hurting suddenly, you are constantly yawning, without feeling tired and generally having a bad state physically? Well, this happens when someone looks at you with too much admiration or envy and it’s what we call „deochi” or „evil eye”.  

And there is a remedy. You say a prayer while you hold hands with the person that is having trouble and after that they should feel better.

There are many other superstitions of course, but these I believe that are the most relatable to Romanian people and the ones that we „follow” the most.

I am sure you guys have in your own country interesting superstitions. Please feel free to use the comment section down below.