Norma García Pettit

We all know about the bad luck that walking under a ladder or a black cat crossing your path can supposedly bring. What about breaking a mirror and having seven years of bad luck as a consequence? I remember being at the home of my friend Laurie when I was about twelve and accidentally breaking a mirror. I was devastated to think that I would have bad luck until I turned nineteen. That seemed like forever!

                Growing up in our house in San Francisco, if someone dropped a fork, my sister would immediately quip (almost joyfully), “Company’s coming!” She was the extrovert in the family and the thought of company coming excited her. I am an introvert, so I was always dismayed about dropping a piece of silverware. Who would be coming over? Would it be a relative or would it be one of mom’s Spanish speaking friends? Would I be forced to play the piano for the guest? I would stew and fret about that for hours.

                An itchy right palm meant you were going to receive money and an itchy left palm meant you were going to spend money. That one wasn’t bad, but receiving a set of kitchen knives as a wedding present foreboded a divorce. That one proved to be true for me with my failed first marriage.

                In my first book, Luisa, I wrote about “mal de ojo” – evil eye, and I wrote a blog article about it for my website.  Now, while writing my third book which will be titled Pilar, I am bringing up a few more Puerto Rican superstitions. Here are a couple of excerpts from this work in progress:

                “Oh!” exclaimed Dionicia. “Ignacia has the hiccups. Does anyone have a thread I can use?”

                Everyone in the group examined their clothes until someone found a loose thread and handed it to Dionicia.  She promptly put it on her baby’s forehead.

                “There. That should take care of it,” she stated, confidently. No one verbally questioned the veracity of the belief, but Pilar inwardly wondered how a thread on the baby’s forehead could cure her hiccups.

***

                Pilar came out to the porch with the broom and began sweeping. “Lo siento, Papá,” she apologized. “I will sweep carefully so as not to choke you in a cloud of dust, but yesterday being a day of rest, the porch has not been swept in two days.”

                “No hay problema, Mija,” Ricardo answered good-naturedly.

                “Toño, move your feet, please,” Pilar said. “If I sweep your feet, you won’t get married.”

                “Is that what happened to you?” Vicenta couldn’t help asking from inside the house. “Did someone sweep your feet?” The open doors and windows and the dividing walls that didn’t go all the way up to the tin roof permitted conversations to be easily heard throughout the home. Pilar could hear her younger sisters snickering and giggling. Mina and Monín poked their heads out to gauge Pilar’s reaction.

                Pilar stopped sweeping, rolled her eyes, and blew a loose strand of hair off of her forehead with a forceful breath. Ricardo chuckled.

                “Superstitions can be funny,” commented Toño, “but just in case…”  He put his feet up on the rung of the chair to get them out of the way of the broom.

                How about you? Did you grow up being fed superstitious beliefs? I can’t say that I believe them anymore, but as a child I found them very impressionable.  Throughout my life, I have walked under many a ladder and so far nothing bad has happened to me as a consequence…knock on wood!!