With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, love is on everyone’s minds. Some nations and cultures have really odd beliefs about what can attract love - from age gaps, to staying away from brooms, let’s take a look at some of the strangest love spells from around the world:
1. Haiti – brooms are bad
Single Haitian women avoid people sweeping with a broom at all costs. In Haiti, it’s believed that if a broom’s bristles come near their shoes, they will never experience the sensation of being swept off their feet by the man of their dreams.
2. China – age gaps
The Chinese believe that marriages consisting of three or six-year age gaps between spouses will result in an unhealthy and unlucky marriage. Instead, they aim to have four or five-year age gaps between spouses to ward off the curse.
3. Sweden – add coins to shoes
Swedes don’t concern themselves with something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue when it comes to marriage. Instead, the parents of the bride are expected to place good luck charms in her shoes to signal a successful and loving union. The right shoe should contain a gold coin from mom, and the left shoe should contain a silver one from dad.
4. Armenia – salted bread, please
Single-and-looking ladies in Armenia are advised to eat salted bread to celebrate the feast of St. Sargis. This is because it’s believed that doing so will induce a psychic dream, mentally introducing them to the man they’ll marry. They’ll be able to identify him in the dream because he’ll offer them water to rehydrate themselves from the sodium in the bread!
5. Russia – flowers given in odd numbers
In Russia, giving an odd number of flowers to the one you want to be with is thought be a sign of respect and admiration. On the other hand, giving an even amount of flowers is customary at Russian funerals, so it has connotations of being a bad, unlucky move.
6. Sweden – watch your step
The Swedish word for sewage starts with an A—avloppsvatten—while “K” indicates clean water—kallvatten. Although you might immediately associate them with waste or bad smells versus cleanliness, the Swedish associate them with love and heartbreak. As a result, stepping on a letter K will make you golden, but stepping on a letter A might mean that you’ll be out of luck in love.
7. India – get married to a banana tree
“Manglik” women are born with Saturn and Mars under the seventh house of marriage, love and relationships are believed to be unlucky and may even carry a curse. To ward off bad spirits, these women must marry a banana tree. Once the vows are peeled away, the tree is cut down, ridding her of her curse and allowing her to have a successful marriage to a man.
8. Russia – sit in the middle
If you’re single, the last thing that you want to do is sit in between loved-up couples around a dinner table, but in Russia, people believe that you really must do so. This is because it’s believed that you won’t marry for seven years if you sit out in the corner.
9. India – take a closer look at your henna tattoo
Indian brides always have incredibly intricate henna tattoos drawn onto their hands during their weddings, but what many don’t actually know is that the groom’s initials are usually hidden somewhere in the design, so that he has to find them. If he manages to find them, then they will have a happy marriage, but if he doesn’t, he’ll just have to buy his bride a gift to make up for it.
10. Fiji – give your father-in-law a gift
A Fijian marriage proposal is expected to be complemented by the offering of a gift to the bride’s father, and a very specific one at that. The groom-to-be is expected to give his soon-to-be father-in-law a whale tooth, of all things. Extending this favor will guarantee a married Fijian couple a blessed marriage for many years to come.
Images by Deposit Photos.
