Call it superstition, an old wives' tale, or childhood playground rules, but on the rare occasion that your left palm gets itchy, chances are your mind immediately thinks "money might be coming my way!" And for most people that certainly seems to be true.
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00:00Call it superstition, an old wives' tale, or childhood playground rules,
00:04but on the rare occasion that your left palm gets itchy, chances are your mind immediately thinks,
00:09money might be coming my way. And for most people, that certainly seems to be true.
00:13According to a 2019 survey, a whopping 52 percent of Americans put a whole lot of faith
00:17in superstitions and signs, compared to the only 22 percent that think these beliefs are
00:22all just silly. And for those that believe, it's the magic surrounding good luck and fortune that
00:26they put the most weight in. Turns out, a little bit of hope in the unbelievable
00:30might not be such a bad thing. Take Mary Shamus of Brooklyn, New York.
00:33According to CBS, back in 2010, the 73-year-old grandma was riding the bus when her left palm
00:39started getting itchy. That's when she remembered,
00:41And it's an old superstition I have in my head that means good luck is coming in.
00:47So she decided to get off at the next stop, bought a lottery ticket,
00:50and won $64 million. Was it simply a coincidence? Maybe. But had it not been for the itch which
00:55she described as,
00:56One I've never had before, she may not have taken a chance on that very day.
01:00There's only one problem with the theory, however. The location of the itch, and what it means,
01:04seems to vary greatly. And that's because superstitions, for the most part,
01:07get passed down by word of mouth. Much like the telephone game, just one slip of the tongue,
01:11or in this case, a confusion of left or right, can change the premonition completely.
01:15For instance, it's a good thing Mary Shamus didn't know about the Farmer's Almanac.
01:19Because, according to that book,
01:20It's an itchy right palm that signifies money is coming in.
01:23An itchy left palm means you're going to be, unfortunately, paying money out.
01:27And in India, the mythology focuses on the right hand being the lucky side
01:30because it's the hand associated with Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune.
01:33As a culture, money is always exchanged through the right hand,
01:36because it signifies good luck and wealth in the future.
01:39The superstition in India completely changes based on gender, though. When a woman's right
01:43palm itches, it alludes to bad luck with finances. But an itchy left palm on a woman means only one
01:48thing — money is coming your way. As with all superstitions, it's not so much about which palm
01:52is itchy, but more so the credence you place in the belief itself that matters. A 2009 article
01:57published in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry explains,
02:00Our beliefs provide the script to write or rewrite the code of our reality.
02:03Think of it like the placebo effect. If the brain believes what you are doing
02:06creates a particular result, it becomes real. While an occasional itch on the palm,
02:10right or left, can be tied to whichever superstition you believe,
02:13a persistent itch could also be the sign of a medical condition.
02:16Incessant itchy palms could be an indication of a chronic skin condition like eczema or psoriasis,
02:21or an allergy to something you've touched. More often than not, however,
02:25dry winter skin or excessive hand-washing without proper moisturization afterwards
02:29is the main culprit for annoyingly itchy palms. If the addition of hand cream to
02:33your daily routine doesn't improve the condition, or if you develop a rash,
02:36cracked skin, or painful blistering, you should definitely have it checked out.
02:40Whether you believe in superstitions or not, there's something to be said for
02:43these universal beliefs. As a general life rule, it's certainly wise not to walk under ladders.
02:47Finding a penny or any form of money is a windfall because it's free,
02:51and beginner's luck might actually be real, since you are less inhibited and more likely to take
02:55risks when you first try something, because you aren't concerned with winning. Ultimately,
02:59you decide which colored cat is the unluckiest, if you think any are, which shoulder to throw
03:03spilled salt over, and most importantly, which hand's itch foretells wealth in the future.
03:07After all, who's to say an itchy palm isn't worthy of acknowledgement?
03:11It's certainly work for Mary Shamus.