Popular Superstitions: Spilling the salt (colour litho)

Spilling the salt. In olden time salt, perhaps because of its lasting and preserving qualities, was regarded as incorruptible, and became the symbol of the abiding nature of friendship. Consequently, overturning of a salt cellar betokened the breaking of friendship. We are told that the spiller of salt may avert the threatened misfortune by taking a pinch of the salt between finger and thumb, and casting it over the left shoulder. Tradition has it that this will appease the evil spirits which always stand at the left shoulder, and there is still a custom in Siam of beginning a meal by throwing a small portion of food over the left shoulder. Illustration for one of a set of 25 cigarette cards on the subject of Popular Superstitions issued by Godfrey Phillips in 1930.