There are so many superstitions about keeping things out, in, affecting luck and changing family fortunes by simply hanging various grocery items above one of your doors. Aside from making your house smell nice, things like lemon, fennel, mint, and chili were meant to also protect your house in various ways. Feel free to experiment yourself … but remember, brass, copper and iron are a lot more durable, and don’t go rotten so quickly

Fennel

Fennel is meant to guard against witches – you are supposed to stuff it in your keyhole. I am not sure where you are meant to put your keys while you are guarding against witches though.

Cactus

Putting cactus near the door is a Greek superstition – it is supposed to ward off the evil eye. However, if your cactus is grown from a cutting, it must be a stolen one! Otherwise it won’t root. You just have to surreptitiously bring a knife with you to your friend’s place, chop a bit off and put it in your pocket.

Lemon and chili

Oh, but not just any lemon and chili. Well, okay .. maybe any lemon and chili, but there must be a string pushed through the lemon (not around it), and then through the chili also. Tie it, only at one end, to a nail hanging above the door. This keeps evil spirits out of your house. Unless, of course, you do something silly like bringing in clothes from the washing line at night.

Horseshoes

These are definitely more durable, but can be just as smelly as rotten vegetables if they are not washed! Horseshoes above doors in traditional homes were such a common sight though that they are pretty much part of any good traditional redecoration.

Holly

Not just pretty-coloured … holly also protects against witches AND lightning. What a multi-purpose plant – even better than aloe vera.

Mirrors

Having a mirror above the door is a particularly Latvian superstition (not necessarily exclusively, though!). Many cultures believe it is bad luck to return to the house immediately after you left it, for example, if you forgot something. This must be the source of all my bad luck … I forget something pretty much every morning! Latvians believe that if you hang a mirror above the door, and stick your tongue out while looking into it on your way back out, the bad luck can be averted. Of course!

We just hope you have some room left on your door for all the beautiful hardware we have to adorn it :-)

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