SUPERSTITIONS : Opening An Umbrella In The House Brings Bad Luck LORE & SOURCES Few people today would risk the opening of an umbrella inside the house, but still fewer would know why. The umbrella (umbra in Latin, meaning shade) was originally used by African and Eastern royalty purely as a sunshade. Because of this connection with the sun and also because its shape symbolises the solar wheel, it became sacrilegious to open it in any shaded area out of the sun. The superstition was probably greatly re-enforced by the fact that the clergy were the first to use umbrellas in burial services long before the general public adopted them for daily use under the rain, though their use by the church did not have any particular religious purpose - only to protect the good father from the elements! On the same subject there are other variations, such as never giving an umbrella as a gift or putting one on a table or bed, and dropping one signifies the imminent loss of the mind. There may be some connection here between the umbrella and the sword carried for centuries as a weapon of defence, even in the ordinary streets of the city. Dropping the sword could potentially result in danger to the wearer if there were villains about, and to give a sword as a gift would be an act of aggression.... BACK TO TOP

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