Left handed and left side superstitions are everywhere and are deeply imbedded in the world’s cultures. Lefties are an unusual bunch and only make up about 10 percent of the population. It is generally believed that we are born this way and that our brains are wired differently than righties. Since we are such oddballs, history has not been very kind to us.
Left Handed Baby
The first time you dress your baby, pay attention to which arm you dress first. If you put the baby’s right arm in the outfit first, the child will be a right hander. Left first, left hander.
Dice
When telling your fortune by tossing three dice, it must be done with your left hand. The left hand is considered to be magical, shady, and supernatural.
Good Luck
In Mexico, it was believed that possessing the left hand of a woman who died in child birth was extremely fortunate and it would bring the owner nothing but good luck.
The Ultimate Good Luck Talisman
It was believed in the United States that if you found a dime on the ground, took it to a blue eyed, left handed engraver, and had the symbol of the snake swallowing its own tale engraved on the dime, you would have the greatest of good luck and fortune for as long as you possessed the lucky dime.
Left is Evil
Medieval Christians believed that all things left were female, evil, and belonged to the devil, while all things right were male, righteous, and in the domain of God.
Moon Goddess
Among the Inca in South America, the left was devoted to the Moon Goddess. The right, the Sun God.
Three
The Bambara people in West Africa gave the number three to all things left.
Honorable
Among the Chinese, the left is honorable, masculine, and represents the Heavens.
Sinister
The Latin word for left is sinister (sinistra).
Writing
When I started elementary school in the late 1970s, I had a teacher throw a fit because I wrote with my left hand. Even in the early 1980s, when I was still in elementary school, I had a teacher bemoan the fact that she could not break me of writing with my left hand. To this day, there are some parents and teachers who attempt to persuade children to write with their right hands because of the long standing superstition that all things left are bad.
