Walking under ladders:

Believe it or not, this was once considered a good omen, but the puritans decided to associate it with bad luck. The ladder was a symbol of our Lord’s passion, and therefore to walk under it was a sign of redemption, because of the resurrection.

Touch Wood:

This is a saying, which has remained popular. It originated form the touching of the wood of the cross. Many a true catholic would venerate such a relic before beginning a hazardous task, nowadays; most people are satisfied with any wood as a substitute.

Spilling Salt:

This was considered unlucky, as it was believed that the devil was influencing you. Hence salt would be thrown over the left shoulder with the right hand to put salt on “the tail” of the devil. Salt is used in baptism to symbolically cast out evil as it is seen as an emblem of purity

Hocus-pocus and Abracadabra:

Hocus-pocus is actually a parody of the Latin form of the Consecration Hoc est corpus.

Abracadabra was originally taken from a charm to cure toothache, it was made from the initial letters of the words abba (father), Ben (son) and Ruach (spirit) it would be written out and hung from the neck

More soon