Key Takeaways
Although you ’ve spent hour saunter through London ’s National Gallery , you ’re not ready for the aspiration to end . You head to the gift shop . As you spin the postcard display near the windows , you see it ’s rain down . It ’s not really a surprise ( it is London in January ) , but you ’re still take aback . You leave your umbrella at rest home .
Just then , you spot a case shot of umbrellas , including some inspired by your favorite Monet painting , " adult female with a Parasol . " You rush over and deploy one of the umbrellas . The shop hold up placid . You wonder , " Is open up an umbrella inside bad luck ? " Superstition says it is . But why ?
Opening Umbrellas Indoors Was Bad Luck in the Victorian Era
The modern superstition about opening an umbrella indoors most likely staunch from the19th centurywhen umbrellas as we know them were invented by Samuel Fox . Although the design was similar to modernistic umbrellas , these early iterations were clunky and sometimes dangerous to deal . The frame of the umbrella relied on hard metal radius that would resile open at the command of stiff natural spring triggers . So , this popularsuperstitionmay stem from warning hoi polloi about the safety business concern of using an umbrella in the house .
There was no in - between when opening umbrellas : They were either tightly closed or reverberate into activity , often with such force that they could put out an eye . Anyone resist nearby was in risk of getting smack by a rigidly spoked umbrella . And any frangible physical object like an heirloom vase ? well tumble to the floor by deploy the spring mechanism inwardly . Because give an umbrella indoors often resulted in negative upshot and harm , it ’s possible this superstition arose to encourage multitude to open their personal canopy outdoors .
In Ancient Times, People Didn’t Want To Anger the Sun God
Some even consider the origin date back further than the square-toed era . Ancient Egyptians are said to have believed the act of orifice umbrellas indoors was awless to the sun god . That ’s because the umbrellas in ancient Egypt were designed toprotect people from the Dominicus , not the rainfall , and the sun ’s natural rays were n’t inner .
That ’s not the only umbrella superstitious notion with ascendant in ancient Egyptian culture . For instance , it was considered bad hazard for non - royal stag to use umbrellas . Egyptiannobility were protect from the sun with umbrella made of papyrus and peacock feathers .
Because the umbrella were contrive to mime the goddess who formed the sky , their shade was view sacred . Anyone who allow the shade of a royal umbrella to fall upon them had to be royal line . Otherwise , they were conceive to be a bearer of tough chance .
Opening an Umbrella Indoors May Bring Bad Luck in Other Ways
Another school of thoughtcontends that afford an umbrella indoors will knock over a nursing home ’s in force spirit . These unseen guardians , who are otherwise protective , will do bad luck to rain down upon your family if an umbrella is opened in their bearing . Others consider in a more narrow-minded version of the superstitious notion where a person should n’t open certain types of umbrellas indoors , includingblack umbrella .