Superstitions

A Handbook of Folklore, Myths, and Legends from around the World

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Pub Date May 26 2020 | Archive Date Mar 23 2020

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Description

Across all cultures and spanning centuries, superstitions rooted in cultural legends and myths have formed and influenced daily life. Superstitions: A Handbook of Folklore, Myths, and Legends from around the World​ explains how and why these legends and the associated behaviors behind them developed, accompanied by beautiful illustrations.

In this definitive reference, you’ll learn the fascinating and often bizarre histories of a comprehensive range of superstitions from around the world. For example, the belief that one will have seven years' bad luck if you break a mirror is said to come from the Romans, who were the first to create glass mirrors. And in Japanese culture, cutting your nails at night is thought to lead to a quick death because the two phrases sound similar.

You’ll also find out why some superstitions vary from culture to culture. For instance, the “unlucky” number 13 is considered a bad omen in some countries, like the US, and “lucky” in other countries, like Italy—where the number 17 is considered unlucky. The information is organized by country, so you can easily investigate the popular superstitions linked to your own or other specific ethnic heritage or cultural identity.

Satisfy your burning curiosity with this complete guide to superstitions, folklore, and myths.

The Mystical Handbook series from Wellfleet takes you on a magical journey through the wonderful world of spellcraft and spellcasting. Explore a new practice with each volume and learn how to incorporate spells, rituals, blessings, and cleansings into your daily routine. These portable companions feature beautiful foil-detail covers and color-saturated interiors on a premium paper blend.

Other titles in the series include: Witchcraft, Love Spells, Moon Magic, Knot Magic, and House Magic.
 
Across all cultures and spanning centuries, superstitions rooted in cultural legends and myths have formed and influenced daily life. Superstitions: A Handbook of Folklore, Myths, and Legends from...

Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781577151913
PRICE $19.99 (USD)
PAGES 192

Average rating from 45 members


Featured Reviews

One could say that I a biased because I am always curious reading about this topic but I loved this book regardless!!!
Apart from the variety and diversity of folklore tales and superstitions, the design is impeccably done and I just wanted more of everything!

I would definitely recommend this one and I hope to read more of it by author D.R. McElroy!

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I can't wait to buy this book it was so amazing addition to the library that I work the amazing like stories from around the world was just unbelievable to read

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Another of my favorite subjects/genre.
Caught my eye. Love weird stuff. Sadly my devices cant download it at all.

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I have to admit I requested this book mainly because of the adorable mystic cover. Yes, I judge a book by the cover and I usually get disillusioned but this was not the case for this one despite the disappointment created by the misleading title. This book encapsulates some beautiful drawings and illustrations BUT it contains too little information when it comes to superstitions and their origins. The content mainly revolves around gods, goddesses, monsters and myths of various cultures prevailed on all seven continents. It is a very well-thought and researched book and I throughly enjoyed it even though it was not what I expected at first glance. I was also quite surprised to learn that even the most distant cultures have common superstitions, shared customs and mythical creatures. Overall an intriguing and reading experience for those fond of myths, legends and superstitions and their origins.

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A brilliant collection of myths, legends, superstitions, god/goddesses, spirits and fairies.
I particularly enjoyed reading the English origins like Friday the 13th and the term "bless you".

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A decent collection of monsters, superstitions, gods and goddesses! I enjoyed skimming through this and looking at other cultures' takes on mythological concepts: the variety is fascinating to behold. Loved the little illustrations and the occasional stabs of humour scattered throughout.

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Really enjoyable and interesting read. I liked that the author was respectful but also had a sense of humour. If she can now write more in depth books on the different mythology and superstitions in cultures that would be great!

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I absolutely love this book!
It's gorgeous and filled with folklore and mythology from all around the world.
I'm so excited to keep learning from this, such a big fan of the illustrations as well!

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This book is a fantastic introduction to a wide variety of myths and legends from around the world. I truly enjoyed the short, yet satisfying descriptions of the various dieties and mythological creatures. Although it would have been impossible to fit a full analysis of the origins of each diety/creature into one book, I appreciate that the author did separate the book by regions and provide some cultural context.

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I loved this!!! I loved how the author went into detail about the different places around the world and went through all the different superstitions. I rather liked going though the Egyptian Gods and superstitions that was really neat! I definitely recommend this book! This author really knows his stuff and I loved it will definitely look into more by this author

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I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Firstly, not being available as a kindle download made things extremely difficult as I was unable to read it like other books I have reviewed. The content was good however, I like how it was broken up by regions. and included local unknown and well known myths. This def gives a new perspective to certain tales in different areas of the world. Overall very good!

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I have learned some cool superstitions from this book. Don't worry about black cat crossing the street, worry about mirror breaking or interesting other tales from various countries.
Interestingly enough one bad superstition might mean luck in another country.
This book was fairly easy to read. I just wish it was available in Kindle format.

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I found it very entertaining to learn about different superstitions from all over the world. It was an interesting journey and it's making me wanna dig up more and learn about superstitions from other countries.

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Ahead of anything else, this is aesthetically very pleasing. The book travels the world for information about fables, myths and legends. Each page is beautifully laid out and though you could pick it up and start on any page, I read it end to end. It's accessible, fresh and hugely interesting for anyone who likes to think about the stories that make us who and what we are.

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The synopsis of this book says it explains legends and the behaviors around them from all over the world, but it is really more of an encyclopedic list of gods and monsters. It groups by continent and is really interesting, but doesn't really explain superstitions. I really liked it and learned a lot.

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A helpful book in my research library for all things superstitions, witchcraft and folklore, "Superstitions" is a great read. Not only does it cover a more global view than most books, it keeps it clear and simple for those who are not as deeply enmeshed in said beliefs.

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This book isn't as focused in superstitions as I thought, it's more mythology and gods, but there's interesting superstitions from around the world which really appealed to me. I like that it tries to get a sense of different cultures and mythologies, not focusing on only the more famous ones.

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I'm in love with this book! It has myths, gods and superstitions from every corner of the worlds. Very insightful and curious read. I'm definitely gonna reread it soon.

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This book describes different myths and legends across different cultures and continents. It talks about where certain things like tossing salt over your shoulder cane to be. I found it very fascinating and interesting. I read a lot of different types of fiction books that reference some of the folklore listed in this book, which is why I found it fascinating. It goes in depth on Asian, Egyptian, Irish and other cultural folklore. If you've ever been curious about legends and superstitions, then you should read this book. The illustrations are great.
I received this arc for my honest review. #Superstitions #NetGalley

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This book felt more like a collection of folklore and mythical beings from various cultures than a book about superstitions. Did I enjoy nonetheless? Yes. It just really wasn't what I was expecting.

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Superstitions: A Handbook of Folklore, Myths, and Legends from around the World
By D.R. McElroy
To be published May 26, 2020

Superstitions: A Handbook of Folklore, Myths, and Legends from around the World explains how and why these legends and the associated behaviors behind them developed. This is very well researched and encompasses every part of the world. It covers each continent and country and their beliefs, going way back to very early history. Their gods, goddesses, idols, creatures, monsters, totems, folklore, myths, legends, fables, parables, urban legends/urban myths, and of course, superstitions are all covered in this book. It gives a brief outline of each one and the basic belief behind them. There are pictures of some of them, and I would have loved to see even more pictures because they were fascinating.

My favorite part about this book were the superstitions from each part of the world. I thought it was interesting and fun to see the differences between the countries.

Also, to be able to learn about some of the other beliefs from history pertaining to each country and their gods, legends, folklore and myths were interesting as well. I also have to give a special nod to some of the more well-known creatures and monsters that we all know, such as Bigfoot, different types of werewolves, chupacabra, ghost ships, vampires, giants and leprechauns, etc. They and so many others can all be found here.

I enjoyed this book and if you are interested in this subject matter, I would recommend it.

I would like to thank the Quarto Publishing Group, Wellfleet Press and the author for this advanced digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

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