Description: The definitive dictionary of omens and superstitions, this has been a popular resource for over 40 years. Containing over 500 entries the 'Dictionary of Omens and Superstitions' traces the origins of superstitions from all over the world, discusses the rich symbolic context in which they survive and suggesting how they are a guide to help us exploit good luck and avoid bad luck. Folk beliefs affect every aspect of our lives and link us to a distant magical past when chance happenings and natural phenomena could be portents. However, the modern world has forgotten the meanings of many of these portents, though the superstitions persist and this engagingly written book is a guide to their continuing significance. 'A Dictionary of Omens and Superstitions' reveals the secrets held within hundreds of years of tradition and custom. Do you know: what it means when a cat sits and washes itself in your doorway, why women should have their hair cut when the moon is waxing, why Thursdays are regarded as the unluckiest day in Germany and why it is universally believed that walking under ladders is unlucky?

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