Most believers agree you should toss the salt over your shoulder to counteract bad luck. If you’re curious about this superstition, read on to learn why people throw salt over their shoulder, which shoulder to throw salt over, and where this belief comes from!
Why is throwing salt over your shoulder good luck?
Superstition holds that pouring salt is unlucky and invites bad luck. Evil spirits are thought to lurk behind your left shoulder in many cultures and faiths. To blind the spirits and keep them from hurting you, throw salt over your left shoulder with your right hand.
According to the belief, the bad spirits can enter and exploit you while you are preoccupied with cleaning up the salt spill.
People have come to identify the left side of the body with evil and wrongness since the Latin word for “left” is ominous.
According to Christian beliefs, while your left side is associated with the devil and evil, your right side is associated with goodness and angels.
In Buddhist tradition, it’s customary to throw salt over your shoulder after a funeral to keep away bad spirits.
Note: there are various ways to interpret this belief. While some people think it is best to toss salt over your right shoulder, others think it is better to toss salt over both. Whichever shoulder you think is best is the right one in the end!
In terms of energy, the left side of the body is the “receiving” side and is regarded as the feminine side. Energy enters from the left and exits from the right. The feminine or left side of the body, which is the receiving side, makes sense if you think about how evil spirits or energy are said to physically be able to take over or enter the body (possession).
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Origins of Throwing Salt Over Your Shoulder
Spilling salt was considered unlucky in the past since it was valuable.
Salt has been valued for its capacity to season and preserve food for thousands of years. Salt was rare and very precious at first since it was difficult to create. People began throwing salt over their shoulder to ward off bad luck since spilling salt was seen to be virtually sacrilegious or caused by evil.
– Salt was such a hot commodity that battles were fought over controlling salt mines.
– Many cities developed near salt mines to capitalize on the salt trade, such as Salzburg, Austria. Interestingly, Salzburg means “Salt castle” in German!
– Salt may have been used as currency in ancient Rome and other cities. “Salary” comes from the Latin word Salarium which derives from Sal, or “Salt.” While there are no official records, historians believe Roman soldiers used their money to buy salt or were given salt as their compensation.
– Salt’s importance and value also shows up in phrases like, “Salt of the earth” and “They’re not worth their salt.”
In Christian beliefs, spilling salt is associated with evil and betrayal.
Salt is a biblical symbol for grace, integrity, purity, and God’s covenant. Thus, it was believed that the devil was responsible for the evil of salt spilling. The traitor Judas is shown spilling salt on the table in Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece The Last Supper, which reflects this.
This concept is also based on the tale of Lot’s wife, who was transformed into a salt pillar after disobeying the angels’ admonition not to look back at Sodom. Her downfall resulted from her betrayal of the angels and her surrender to the devil.
So, Christians started tossing salt over their left shoulder after they spilled salt to disable the devil and prevent him from causing evil