Customs and superstitions...

around Christmas—does anyone know things like this?
When I became a new mom 51 years ago, my grandma told me that you shouldn’t wash or hang up laundry during the so-called “Rauhnächte” (the twelve nights between Christmas and Epiphany), because that’s when you’d be hanging up your burial shroud. I told my grandma, “I can’t just leave the diapers lying around for two weeks—they’re getting washed, period,” and oh boy, that really made her mad. I washed my diapers anyway—and other things too—but Grandma didn’t speak to me until after Three Kings Day :- )

Yeah, I’ve heard that too—from my grandma—and back then I still took it seriously. But who still believes in that stuff these days? After all, young people aren’t even taught these customs and superstitions anymore.

I’m familiar with this custom from my grandma, too, and I still follow it today—even though I’m a grandma myself now (even if I don’t know the little one).

There are a few other things, like “you’re not supposed to put shoes on the table,” “spilling salt brings bad luck,” “a man shouldn’t give his wife shoes as a gift”… and so on…
That’s just what I learned from my grandma.

We’re not superstitious, but somehow you still end up sticking to some of these beliefs.
I’ve heard that one, too—you’re not supposed to leave laundry hanging between New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, because you’d be carrying the “old, bad” stuff into the New Year, or someone might hang themselves. It sounds kind of creepy, but I really don’t hang any laundry out then.

A boyfriend I had back then once gave me a pair of shoes, and… we’re not together anymore.

My ex-mother-in-law once said that if it rains on the bride’s veil, the marriage won’t last—and that’s exactly what happened to me. It rained that day, and we got divorced.
It’s crazy.

Maybe it was just a coincidence that it happened to me.

I’ve heard those sayings about laundry from my grandma, too, but I do my laundry anyway :), though there’s one thing I still don’t do to this day: putting new shoes on the table. 

Shoes generally don’t belong on the table, because that means arguments and fights.
Where we live, people also say that on Ash Wednesday you have to wash your wallet in the Main so it’s clean again for new money :-)

The younger generations actually know about this laundry superstition, too.
I read a lot on baby forums and such, and I’d say the majority of people stick to it.
I’m not superstitious at all, though, so I don’t really care ;)