Expanding Lexicon

Expanding Lexicon

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Episode 7

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Opening an Umbrella Indoors

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             Welcome to Expanding Lexicon the story behind the things we say. Today’s episode is about a superstition.

             Let’s begin with what a superstition is. According to Webster’s dictionary a superstition is “a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic, chance, or a false conception of causation (Merriam-Webster).”  Superstitious beliefs have been separated from religious beliefs since the Romans Author Lamont Brown defined it as “Superstition is a belief, or system of beliefs, by which almost religious veneration is attached to things mostly secular; a parody of religious faith in which there is belief in an occult or magic connection (Emery)." Basically a superstition is an irrational belief in cause and effect. Often passed from one generation to the next with little to no understanding or its origin and meaning but held to and performed with exactitude.

              What is today’s topic? Opening an umbrella inside. The first superstition surrounding the use of umbrella’s can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptians believed that the sky was the body of the goddess Nut. Her torso was a great umbrella that made up the sky while her toes and fingertips kept her grounded to the earth (Panati). Egyptian nobility both religious and royal used umbrellas modeled after Nut. They were made using peacock feathers and papyrus (Dove). Because the umbrellas were modeled after the goddess their shade was considered sacred and only for the nobility. Any commoner who the shade fell upon would be struck by bad luck (Dove). The Babylonians reversed this superstition and it was considered an honor to walk in the shadow cast by the king’s umbrella (psychic library).

              While these beliefs deal with umbrellas they are unrelated to the superstition of opening an umbrella inside. Our modern day rain-gear superstition can only be traced back to Victorian England (Wolchhover). In eighteenth century London Metal spoked waterproof umbrellas were a relatively new invention. The umbrellas were opening by releasing a stiff spring mechanism. This meant that the umbrella burst from open to close violently (Dove). The how stuff works article describes it as “They were either tightly closed or sprung into action (Dove).”

             It didn’t take long to recognize that opening the umbrellas inside was dangerous for anyone and anything in the vicinity. In “Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things” the act of opening an umbrella inside is described as follows “opening suddenly in a small room, could seriously injure an adult or a child, or shatter a fragile object. Even a minor accident could provoke unpleasant words or a serious quarrel, themselves strokes of bad luck in a family or among friends (Panati).”    Many argue that the danger of opening the new rigidly spoked and spring mechanized umbrellas was what originated the superstition as a deterrent to opening them indoors (Wolchover).                    

            While this is the most likely origin for the superstition there are a few other umbrella superstitions that are useful to note. In china there is a superstition that opening an umbrella indoors invites ghosts into your home. Since ghosts love dark places they hide inside umbrellas. Thus opening an umbrella inside allows them to come into your house (Wong).  Another umbrella superstition is that umbrellas protect you against the storms outside so opening an umbrella indoors insults the guardian spirits inside your home (Davis). They may cause misfortune to rain down upon those living in the home (Dove) or simply leave the home unprotected (Davis).

              A more recent umbrella superstition is that if rain is forecast and you bring an umbrella it probably won’t rain, but if you forget your umbrella it definitely will rain (Psychic Library). Some other superstitious beliefs to consider about umbrellas are that bad luck is associated with black umbrellas more than other colors as it is reminiscent of mourners at a funeral (Speeli). It is also unlucky to receive an umbrella as a gift, a new umbrella is unlucky as is one opened on a ship or dropped on the floor. It is however important to note that if you open your umbrella outside and then keeping it open bring it in to dry this seems to keep the bad luck away(Psychic Library).

Why do we still follow superstitions? It’s all about control. Humans like to be in control and we can use superstitions to accomplish some form of it. By not opening an umbrella indoors we can rest assured that we avoided some bad luck (Speeli). Umbrella superstitions have survived the Egyptian’s, Babylonians, Victorian England and are still prevalent today. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode.

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Works Cited

Davis, Kathleen. “Origins of 13 Common Superstitions.” Woman's Day, Woman's Day, 23 Jan. 2018, www.womansday.com/life/a1093/origins-of-13-common-superstitions-100353/

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Dove, Laurie L. “Why Are People Afraid to Open an Umbrella Indoors?” HowStuffWorks, HowStuffWorks, 2 Apr. 2015, people.howstuffworks.com/open-umbrella-indoors.htm.

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Emery, David. “What Is Superstition and How Does It Differ from Religion?” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 27 Dec. 2018, www.thoughtco.com/what-is-superstition-3298230.

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Panati, Charles. “Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things.” Google Books, Harper Collins, books.google.com/books?id=hI9Weq6q9dEC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=%22rabbit%27s%2Bfoot%22%2Bceltic&source=bl&ots=6kPvXXwYBi&sig=KQCJoDpIVIE0yk-8QFSd0MNHMpA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pywQUJKIHIfX0QH_9IGIBw#v=onepage&q=umbrella&f=false.

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“Superstition.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/superstition.

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“Umbrella Superstition.” Psychic Library ~ Beyond Books, 22 July 2013, psychiclibrary.com/beyondBooks/umbrella-superstition/.

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“Why Is Opening an Umbrella Indoors Considered Bad Luck.” Speeli, www.speeli.com/articles/view/Why-is-opening-an-Umbrella-indoors-considered-bad-luck.

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Wolchover, Natalie. “The Surprising Origins of 9 Common Superstitions.” LiveScience, Purch, 19 Sept. 2011, www.livescience.com/33507-origins-of-superstitions.html.

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Wong, Katy. “10 Superstitions From Around the World.” Ethnic Seattle, 24 May 2018, ethnicseattle.com/2015/10/21/10-superstitions-from-around-the-world/.