10 weird Spanish superstitions: What is considered lucky and unlucky in Spain?

This is what you should do and not do in order to have good luck, according to Spanish customs

1. Cats have 7 lives, not 9: It is a common trope in many countries that cats have multiple lives due to their uncanny ability to always land on their feet and getting out of sticky scrapes, but in Spain cats only have seven lives and not nine like in the Anglo-Saxon world. There’s even a nursery rhyme, ‘Señor Don Gato’, which explains why cats have seven lives and which any Spanish person will know if you ask them.
2. Brushing someone’s feet means they won’t get married: One ancient superstition in Spain says that if you accidentally brush the feet of a single person while sweeping the floor, it means they will never get married.
3. Eat 12 grapes at New Year’s for good luck: One well known tradition in Spain is that of eating 12 grapes when the clock strikes 12 at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Spanish people do this to bring them luck and prosperity in the year ahead, and some people also wear red underwear on this day of the year to bring extra luck.
4. “A lot of shit”: In order to wish someone good luck in Spain, you actually have to wish them bad luck. The Spanish say “Mucha mierda” as a way of saying good luck. It literally translates to “A lot of shit”, but it’s the equivalent of the English “Break a leg!”.
5. The colour yellow is bad luck: The colour yellow represents sulphur, and thus the Devil, according to Spanish superstitions. That’s the reason why you should never buy yellow clothes as a gift, nor wear yellow if you have to sit an exam or have a job interview.
6. Don’t buy someone scissors for their birthday: As well as yellow clothes, giving the gift of a knife, scissors or anything else that’s sharp is a no-no as it means that the relationship will be broken.
7. Putting a bag on the floor will lose you all your money: Sometimes Spaniards will tell you that if you leave your handbag on the floor it will mean you will lose all your money. In fact, if you’re out and about in a popular tourist area such as the centre of Barcelona, that could very well be true as there are a lot of pickpockets around!
8. Cacti against evil: Another folklore belief in Spain is that the cactus plants can ward away evil, which may explain why so many of them are placed on window sills in Spain. Or maybe it’s just because they grow well in the dry climate.
9. Never place your hat on the bed: The Spanish believe that putting a hat on a bed brings bad luck. It is said that this superstition comes from the when people used to think that evil spirits lived in your hair, so they could cling onto your hat and then crawl into your bed, waiting to come at you in the night.
10. When you enter a room, step with your right foot: Spanish people say that misfortune enters a room with its left foot, which is why you should step into a new room with your right foot. As you can imagine, this is a very tough rule to be aware of, and most people never take any notice of it. If you do accidentally walk into a room with your left, though, and you’re self-aware enough to realise it, then you can just make the sign of the cross three times to counteract the bad luck.

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