Hands up whoever has heard the word "jella"!
It more or less means "jinx" or "bad luck", though it's pronounced with a y-sound and is not just an abstract term for us Italians.
In fact, we consider such bad luck to be more like an entity. As you might have heard, we are quite the superstitious bunch and thus believe in magic, monster and fairies of all kinds. This is especially true for southerners.
If bad luck were a person it would probably look like this:
Well, maybe not. I suppose it should look gaunt and emaciated, almost like a corpse, but my brother was the only one willing to pose for me and I must say the result is not exactly as I had imagined. Oh, well.
But how do you behave when confronted with bad luck, exactly? What is it that you're supposed to do?
The answer is simple: nothing. You don't do anything except shut yourself inside the house and pray for it to go away.
It's not all bad, though - there are countless tips and tricks we as a people have devised to ward off this fella over the years. Here are the most popular examples:
1- Never walk underneath stairs or ladders!
2- Looks like it's going to rain?
Then make sure to never open your umbrella inside your house, or else your whole family will suffer the consequences!
You've doomed us all!
3- Now here's a strange one: Never, ever, EVER leave bread upside-down on a table!
It will bring death in the house. And you don't want that.
As you can see, we didn't dare tempt fate, not even for the sake of this article.
4- If a black cat crosses the street in front of you, stop! Change direction or wait for someone else to cross first.
Once it happened while a friend was driving me home, so we simply stopped in the middle of the street.
For 15 minutes.
And then, as nobody else passed by, we went into reverse to take a different route.
It took half an hour to make a trip that usually takes us less than 5 minutes, but at least we reached our destination, safe and sound.
Yesterday my mother's partner told me that if said cat happens to cross the street in front of you from left to right it is even more dangerous!
He's a bit of an expert on the matter. I'm glad he informed me about it, as even I didn't know.
Man, it gets trickier and trickier to stay alive nowadays!
I realize this isn't exactly a black cat, or an actual cat at all, but you know - limited budget.
5- A classic: Don't break mirrors! Otherwise you'll get seven years of bad luck.
I've always wondered if it's cumulative.
I mean, what if I broke three mirrors in a row?
Perhaps I should run some tests, one day, or have my brother do it for me. But on the other hand... no, nevermind.
6- Whenever someone is sweeping the floor nearby, take all the necessary precautions to ensure they don't sweep your feet as well!
You'll never get married otherwise.
I never really fancied marriage, personally, but I think it would be better not to tempt my fate.
7- So, where to even start? It's salt. And oil.
Salt is almost as valuable as money to us, so be very carefully not to pour it around for it would mean kissing your hard-earned savings goodbye.
Now throwing salt behind your back is a different matter altogether. It's a gesture of good luck around these parts, and a way to defend yourself against our spirit.
Throw it as much and as often as you like, just... be wary of any potential bystanders.
If you happen to mistakenly pour some oil, either on the floor or on the table, make sure to immediately cover it with a tiny bit of salt.
Apparently pouring oil can have the same effect as pouring salt, while salt has the power to reverse the effect of oil.
Doesn't really make a lot of sense, I know, but we're talking about magic and stuff here.
8- There are a few propitious events as well, though the only one I can recall at present is this:
Breaking a glass or chalice means you're going to get some sweet, sweet money!
It needs to happen by mistake, of course, and the glass must be of a decent enough quality. Smashing your average bottle of Heineken won't net you anything except shards and disappointment.
Can't ever be too easy, right?
God, I so hope things were this easy.
We have many, many other do's and don'ts in our culture. So many, in fact, that not even the oldest among us can remember them all!
But enough of this! I'm afraid all this talk about spirits and bad luck might lead me to catch a bad case of the jella's.
What about you? Have you ever heard of any particular superstitions in your country?
If so, I would love to know about them.
Wish you a very lucky day,
The creepyturtle
(and her creepy brother)
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