Spilling salt

For it makes substances more compact and preserves them for a long time: hence it was usually presented to guests before other food, to signify the abiding strength of friendship.

[2] According to Charles Nodier, among "savages", the "action of spilling salt ... indicates among them the refusal of protection and hospitality from such strangers as they may have reason to suspect are thieves and murderers.

[7][8] The idea is so widely held and has been for so long that the etymology of the word salary comes from the Latin salarium was originally salt money (Lat.

The most common contemporary belief requires you to toss a pinch of the spilt salt over your left shoulder, into the face of the Devil who lurks there.

[12] Though generally disregarded as an ineffectual superstition, Professor Jane Risen of the University of Chicago has published research that shows such "jinx avoidance behavior" can have a positive effect on people's actions after a perceived bad luck event.