Superstitions in Our Life Sabina Kostoreva Zaozernaya School 16 Tomsk

Are you superstitious ? 11 Only sometimes 24 yes 32 no

You always sit silently beside your suitcase for a minute with your friends or family before a trip. If somebody praises you or your childrens appearance and success you always know on wood or spit three times over your left shoulder. You give only odd numbers of flowers to people; you take even numbers to funerals and for the dead. You never shake hands or kiss over a threshold: you always step inside first. If you forget something and have to return for it, you look in the mirror and smile or stick out your tongue. You never give sharp objects, handkerchiefs or mirrors as gift. If you whistle indoors you lose all your money. You never celebrate a birthday or anniversary early.

You always try to pay off all your debts by the years end to avoid getting into debt the following year. Flowers with five petals are lucky and you sometimes eat them. Bus tickets with the sum of the left three numbers equal the sum of the right three numbers are lucky, so you always eat them. Its bad luck to walk under a ladder. If you spill salt you may get sick or quarrel with somebody. To avoid both you must immediately throw some salt over your left shoulder to strike evil spirits in the eye. Black cats are evil and can bring misfortune when they cross the road in front of you. You consider Friday 13th unlucky. Breaking mirrors bring 7 years of bad luck. You never open an umbrella in the house because doing so would cause a death in the family or fire in the house. After analyzing the results of the test I came to conclusion that all the people were really superstitious but they were ashamed of admitting it, even in front of themselves.

There are some old superstitions connected with number 13 One of them says that if 13 people sit down at a table to eat, one of them will die before the year is over. If you ever find yourself with 13 guests, invite one of them to leave the room so there are only 12 people. Alternatively, just poison one of the guests. According to another superstition, never organise or do anything on Friday 13th as its unlucky. This is the day that Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Its also the day that Noahs flood started and the day on which Christ was crucified. Number 13 is also unlucky because 12 witches plus one devil are present at satanic ceremonies-and those thirteen make a deadly combination!

Do you know anything about the origin of any superstitions? Yes – 6 No - 61

David Backham wears a new pair of boots for every match! The famous New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks, perform an ancient Maori dance called the Haka before each match. Its very dramatic sight, and even if it doesnt help the All Blacks to win, itll definitely frighten the opposing team!

Michael Schumacher always gets into his car in the same way before a race. For him the left-hand side of the car is the lucky side but that is not enough: he makes certain that he puts his right foot into the car first! Michael Jordan always wears blue shorts under his uniform to bring him luck The famous tennis player Goran Ivanisevic has a strict pre-game ritual. When in London, he books the same table of the same restaurant and orders the same feast of fish soap, lamb and ice cream with chocolate sause. British number one, Tim Henman, has a favourite shower cubicle at Wimbledon, which he uses before and after his matches. He refuses to use any other shower cubicle.

I did a survey to get to know if modern teenagers are superstitious. 67 teens took part in the survey. I asked them such questions as: Do you believe in superstitions? Do you believe that things can bring good or bad luck? Do you have your own superstitions? Which one? What do you usually do to have good luck at any important event, for example, a test or exam? Do you know anything about the origin of any superstitions? Do you know superstitions of other countries? Are they similar or different?

Do you believe that things can bring good or bad luck? Yes – 39 No - 28

Bibliography: K. Gude, M. Duckworth Matrix Pre- Intermediate Students Book, Oxford University Press, Oxford Hot English Magazine 2/ Дневник Сибирской девчонки – ИД РИФ-плюс, Новосибирск