Spilling water for luck is a folk custom in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and other nearby countries.[1][2][3] According to folk belief, spilling water behind the person who goes on a journey, or to do a job, will bring good luck, and is done so that the travel or the job will end happily. It is also practiced when going to school, on an exam,[3] for a job interview, going into the army and the like.[1][3]

In the ethnology of the Balkan Peninsula countries, it is considered that spilled or running water symbolizes mobility and ease of movement,[2] since it does not stop or get stuck, and so spilling of water is done so that the job someone started would go as smoothly as the spilled water.[1] At the very act of spilling water in some areas it is said: "Let him go clean and clear as water."[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Одговор.Но 1: Зашто проливамо воду за срећу? (in Serbian). Radio-Television of Republika Srpska. 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
  2. ^ a b c Žarko Trebješanin (2009). Антологија српске књижевности: Представа о детету у српској култури (docx) (in Serbian). Учитељски факултет Универзитета у Београду. p. 32. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
  3. ^ a b c Milorad Radunović (April 22–26, 2010). Зборник радова конференције "Развој астрономије код Срба VI": Одрази космичких сила на духовни живот српског народа у Метохији: Обичаји и веровања, стр. 901 (PDF) (in Serbian). Публ. Астр. друш. „Руђер Бошковић“ бр. 10, 2011, 889-904. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
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