One of the unexpected joys of living in Portugal as a Filipina is discovering that many of the things my grandmother warned me about are alive and well on the other side of the world.
Don’t open an umbrella indoors. Don’t put your handbag on the floor. Don’t walk under a ladder.
Growing up, these warnings felt like uniquely Filipino quirks handed down from one generation to the next. Then I started hearing the same advice from Portuguese friends. A little digging revealed that Spain was in on it too.
The funny part is that none of these beliefs felt particularly foreign to me because I grew up in Mexico, where many of the same superstitions exist as well. Thanks to centuries of Spanish influence, warnings about umbrellas, ladders, mirrors, money, and luck crossed oceans and took root throughout Latin America.
Apparently, four countries separated by oceans, languages, and continents somehow ended up with remarkably similar ways of tempting fate. Perhaps this should not be surprising. Portugal, Spain, the Philippines, and Mexico were all connected through centuries of trade, exploration, religion, and cultural exchange. Add Chinese merchants into the mix and suddenly the world’s grandmothers had an international distribution network.
Whether these beliefs arrived by ship, church, marketplace, trading post, or sheer human stubbornness, one thing is certain: the aunties remain undefeated.
Never Open an Umbrella Indoors
This may be the most universal warning of them all. The official superstition is that opening an umbrella inside the house brings bad luck.
The practical explanation is much less mysterious. Early umbrellas were heavy, awkward contraptions with metal ribs capable of knocking over furniture, breaking ornaments, or poking unsuspecting relatives in the eye. Over time, a sensible safety precaution became a superstition.
Portugal and Spain generally stop at a simple warning about bad luck. The Philippines, however, decided the story needed a little more drama.
Growing up, I was told that opening an umbrella indoors would cause the butiki—those tiny house geckos clinging to walls and ceilings—to fall down. Now, I have no scientific evidence that umbrellas trigger gecko avalanches. What I do know is that the possibility of a lizard landing on your head is a far more effective deterrent than a vague promise of future bad luck.
The superstition became the source of endless jokes during my college years in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Back then, spiked hair loaded with industrial quantities of hair gel was very much in fashion. One of my classmates was particularly proud of his spectacularly pointy hairstyle, which appeared capable of deflecting small aircraft.
We used to warn him never to open an umbrella indoors. Not because of the bad luck, of course. Our concern was entirely for the butiki. If a gecko happened to fall from the ceiling and landed on those gel-coated spikes, we were convinced it would suffer a tragic and painfully sticky demise. The poor creature would spend its final moments suspended upside down in a monument to early-1990s hair fashion.
To this day, whenever someone mentions the umbrella superstition, I don’t think about bad luck. I think about that unfortunate hypothetical gecko and the occupational hazards of excessive hair gel.
Never Put Your Handbag on the Floor
This is one of those rules that many people still follow without even realizing it. Place your handbag, purse, or wallet on the floor and your money will disappear.
In Portugal, the warning is simple: your money will go away. In the Philippines, the message is exactly the same. Mexico agrees, which suggests that money everywhere has a strong aversion to floor tiles.
What makes this belief fascinating is that it may have multiple origins. European traditions often associated the floor with dirt, poverty, and loss. Valuable possessions belonged on tables, shelves, or elevated surfaces.
Then there is the Feng Shui connection. Modern Feng Shui teaches that wealth is a form of energy and placing your wallet or handbag on the floor symbolizes disrespect for prosperity. Considering that Portugal traded extensively through Macau, Spain connected Asia and the Americas through Manila, and the Philippines had centuries of interaction with Chinese merchants, it is entirely possible that these ideas crossed paths somewhere along the way.
Or perhaps people everywhere simply agreed that throwing your valuables on the floor was a terrible financial strategy.
Either way, grandmothers across multiple continents arrived at the same conclusion: pick up your bag. Money is trying to escape.
Never Walk Under a Ladder
This belief has ancient roots. The traditional explanation traces back to the sacred triangle. A ladder leaning against a wall creates a triangular shape, and walking through it was considered disrespectful to divine forces. Christian traditions later connected this symbolism to the Holy Trinity.
Personally, I suspect someone eventually noticed that objects have an unfortunate tendency to fall from ladders. Paint cans, tools, and occasionally people all have a habit of obeying gravity. The practical risks seem fairly self-explanatory, yet somehow “you might get hit by a hammer” evolved into “you will suffer mysterious misfortune.” Humanity has always had a flair for marketing.
Breaking a Mirror Brings Seven Years of Bad Luck
If you’ve ever broken a mirror, you probably remember the immediate feeling of dread. Not because of the shattered glass, but because of the seven years.
The superstition originated with the ancient Romans, who believed mirrors reflected not just your appearance but also your soul. They also believed life renewed itself every seven years. Damage the reflection and your soul would need an entire cycle to recover.
That is a wonderfully dramatic explanation. My theory is much simpler. Mirrors used to be expensive. If you broke one, seven years of regret probably followed naturally.
Start with the Right Foot
Across Portugal, Spain, the Philippines, and much of Latin America, beginning something with the right foot is considered good luck. A new home, a new journey, or a new year should all begin with the right foot leading the way.
The right side has long been associated with blessing, favor, and prosperity. The left side, unfortunately, has spent centuries dealing with a terrible public relations campaign. Even the word “sinister” comes from the Latin word for “left.”
As a left-handed person, I would like to formally protest on behalf of lefties everywhere. We have suffered enough.
Knock on Wood
This custom remains surprisingly common. You say something hopeful, make a prediction, or mention how well everything is going. Then, almost automatically, you knock on wood.
The belief likely comes from ancient traditions that viewed trees as sacred and inhabited by protective spirits. Touching wood was thought to invoke their protection or prevent jealous forces from interfering. Thousands of years later, people continue doing it automatically. The logic may have faded, but the reflex remains.
The truth is that folklore rarely follows a straight line. Some beliefs may have traveled from Europe to Asia. Others may have traveled from Asia to Europe. Some likely emerged independently because people everywhere worried about money, safety, health, and luck.
Trade routes connected Portugal, Spain, the Philippines, Mexico, China, and countless other cultures for centuries. Ideas traveled alongside spices, silk, porcelain, silver, and stories. Stories are often the most portable cargo of all.
What fascinates me most is how the same warnings can be heard in Lisbon, Madrid, Manila, Mexico City, and countless towns and villages in between. The words may change, the accents may differ, and occasionally a falling gecko gets added to the story, yet the message remains remarkably consistent.
Many of these customs probably began as perfectly sensible advice. Don’t wave sharp metal objects around the living room. Don’t leave valuables on the floor. Don’t walk under unstable equipment. Don’t break expensive household items. Start new ventures confidently. Respect nature.
Somewhere along the journey, practical wisdom picked up a dramatic backstory. Humans apparently cannot simply say, “This is a bad idea.” We must add curses, luck, divine intervention, wandering spirits, offended ancestors, or falling geckos. Especially falling geckos.
Whether these customs originated in ancient Rome, medieval Europe, Chinese trading communities, Catholic traditions, or the imaginations of particularly persuasive grandmothers is almost beside the point. What matters is that four countries separated by half the world can still recognize the same warning when they hear it.
Empires rise and fall, trade routes shift, and languages evolve. The aunties, it seems, remain undefeated.
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