Hungarian Superstitions — A Local Guide
By Kata | katabudapest.com | Updated April 2026
On one of my first tours of the season, a guest watched a Hungarian woman on the street stop, turn around, and walk back the way she had come — apparently for no reason at all. The guest asked me what had happened.
A black cat had crossed her path. The woman had turned back to break the bad luck.
My guest laughed. Then she asked me what other superstitions Hungarians hold onto. We spent the next twenty minutes talking about folk beliefs instead of architecture, and it was one of the best conversations of that tour.
This post is the written version of that conversation.
Why Hungarian Superstitions Are Worth Knowing
Hungarian folk beliefs are not relics. They are not museum pieces or academic curiosities. They are alive — observed with varying degrees of seriousness by ordinary Hungarians in ordinary daily life, mixed into the culture so thoroughly that many people follow them without thinking of them as superstitions at all.
Understanding them will change how you see the city. You will notice things you would otherwise miss — the odd number of flowers at a market stall, the way a Hungarian pauses before drinking, the particular significance of certain dates and certain objects. And if you mention any of them to a Hungarian you meet, the conversation that follows will be one of the best you have on your trip.
The Big Ones — Superstitions Every Hungarian Knows
Never toast with water
In Hungary, toasting with water brings bad luck — specifically, it is said to bring death. The origin is disputed but one version traces it to the same 1849 Austrian generals who clinked beer glasses over the execution of Hungarian revolutionaries. Whatever the origin, the belief is widespread and genuine. If you are at a table with Hungarians and you want to join a toast, pick up your wine glass or your pálinka glass. If you are not drinking alcohol, simply raise your glass without clinking, or skip the gesture entirely. Toasting with water will be noticed and will make your Hungarian companions quietly uncomfortable.
Never clink beer glasses
I have written about this before in my post on things Hungarians do that confuse tourists, but it belongs here too because it is both a social convention and, for many Hungarians, something that carries genuine superstitious weight. The story — Austrian generals clinking beer to celebrate the execution of Hungarian revolutionaries in 1849 — gave the gesture a darkness that Hungarians absorbed into their cultural memory. One hundred and seventy-seven years later, many Hungarians still will not do it. Respect this. It costs nothing and it means something.
An odd number of flowers — always
Even numbers of flowers are for funerals in Hungarian tradition. Bringing an even number to a living person is considered deeply unlucky — an unconscious wish of death upon them, which is not the impression you want to make when visiting someone's home. Always bring an odd number. Three, five, seven, nine — the specific number doesn't matter. The oddness does. This is not a minor point of etiquette. It is a folk belief with genuine emotional weight, particularly for older Hungarians.
A black cat crossing your path
The woman I described at the beginning of this post was doing what many Hungarians do when a black cat crosses their path — turning back and finding a different route, or waiting for someone else to cross the path first, breaking the bad luck before you walk through it. Not every Hungarian follows this strictly. Many younger Hungarians laugh at it while quietly taking a different route anyway. That combination — amusement at the belief alongside the instinct to follow it — is very Hungarian, and very human.
Tuesday the 13th, not Friday
In most of the Western world, Friday the 13th carries the bad luck. In Hungary, it is Tuesday the 13th — kedd tizenharmadika — that is considered the unlucky date. The Hungarian word for Tuesday, kedd, has old associations with misfortune in Hungarian folk tradition, and the combination with 13 — itself an unlucky number across many cultures — produces a date that Hungarians treat with the same wariness that Americans or British people reserve for Friday the 13th. If you are in Budapest on a Tuesday the 13th, mention it to a Hungarian. Watch their expression.
Don't sit on the corner of a table
If you sit at the corner of a dining table in Hungary, you will not get married. This belief is specific, widely known, and treated with the particular mix of amusement and mild anxiety that characterises the best folk superstitions — the ones that people don't quite believe but don't quite want to test either. Young Hungarians at a crowded dinner table will occasionally notice someone sitting at a corner and mention it, laughing. The person at the corner will usually shift their chair slightly. Just in case.
Itchy palms mean money is coming — or going
In Hungarian folk belief, an itchy right palm means money is coming to you. An itchy left palm means money is leaving. The logic of which direction represents which varies slightly by region and by family, but the basic belief — that your palms communicate financial information through itching — is widespread across Hungary and across much of Central and Eastern Europe. If a Hungarian scratches their palm thoughtfully and says something, now you know what they are thinking about.
Folk Beliefs Around the Home
Never put your handbag on the floor
In Hungarian folk belief, putting your handbag or purse on the floor means your money will disappear — you will become poor. The belief is common across much of Central Europe and is taken seriously by many Hungarian women of all ages. In restaurants, homes, and offices, you will notice Hungarian women hanging their bags on chair backs, placing them on their laps, or setting them on a spare chair — anywhere but the floor. If you put your bag on the floor in front of an older Hungarian woman, she may quietly move it for you, or simply wince. She is not being controlling. She is protecting your finances.
Whistling indoors brings poverty
Whistling inside the house is considered bad luck in Hungarian tradition — it invites poverty in through the door. The belief is less strictly observed today than a generation ago, but mentioning it to a Hungarian of a certain age will produce immediate recognition and, usually, a family story attached to it. Every Hungarian family has a grandmother who enforced this rule without explanation. The explanation was simply that everyone already knew.
Don't shake hands across a threshold
Shaking hands across a doorway — one person inside, one outside — brings bad luck in Hungarian belief. When greeting someone at a door, both people should be fully inside or fully outside before hands are extended. This one is observed fairly consistently even by Hungarians who consider themselves entirely unsuperstitious. The threshold in folk tradition carries significant symbolic weight across Central and Eastern European cultures — it is a boundary between spaces, and crossing it with a gesture of connection creates a dangerous ambiguity.
A spider in the morning brings sorrow, in the evening brings luck
Hungarian folk tradition distinguishes carefully between morning and evening spiders. A spider seen in the morning is an omen of sadness or difficulty. A spider seen in the evening brings good fortune. The same creature, the same house — the time of day changes everything. This kind of temporal specificity is characteristic of Hungarian folk belief, which tends to be precise where other traditions are vague.
Folk Beliefs Around Food and Drink
New Year's lentils bring wealth
On New Year's Day, Hungarians eat lentil soup — lencsefőzelék — because lentils are round and small like coins, and eating them at the start of the year is believed to bring financial prosperity through the months that follow. The tradition is taken seriously enough that Hungarian supermarkets see a significant spike in lentil sales every December. The soup is made carefully, eaten properly, and the belief — even among Hungarians who describe themselves as rational and modern — tends to be honoured. Why risk it?
Don't stir your coffee counter-clockwise
Stirring coffee or tea counter-clockwise — the wrong direction — is considered bad luck in some Hungarian households. The belief is regional and family-specific rather than universal, but it surfaces often enough to be worth knowing. If you are stirring coffee at a Hungarian table and someone gently redirects your spoon, you have encountered this belief in its living form.
Eating chicken on New Year's brings bad luck
While lentils are encouraged on New Year's Day, chicken is avoided. The reasoning is agricultural and poetic — chickens scratch backward when they feed, and eating chicken on New Year's Day means your luck and prosperity will go backward through the year. Pork, by contrast, is encouraged — pigs root forward, and their energy carries your year in the right direction. The New Year's table in a traditional Hungarian home is planned around this logic.
Spilling wine means happiness is coming
In many cultures, spilling is simply an accident. In Hungarian folk belief, spilling wine — specifically wine — is a good omen. Happiness and good fortune are on their way. This makes Hungarian dinner parties slightly more relaxed than you might expect. A knocked glass is not a disaster. It is, potentially, a blessing. Clean it up, pour another, and consider yourself lucky.
Experience Hungarian Culture With a Local
The best way to understand Hungarians, culture, and tradition is not to read about it — it is to walk through the city with someone who grew up inside it. On my private tours, we talk about the history you can see and the culture you can feel — the stories behind the buildings, the beliefs behind the habits, the city the way locals actually know it.
Browse my signature tours — private, personalised, and built entirely around you.
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— Kata
