Spilling Salt.
In Scotland there exists a common belief that it is unlucky to spill salt at table, but that the luck can be changed by taking up a pinch of the spilled salt and throwing it over the left shoulder. To spill salt on Friday is considered especially unlucky.
"Help me to salt,
Help me to sorrow,"
Is a saying among the Highlanders, and they always decline salt with a wave of the hand. The popular superstition of this accident being unlucky is said to have originated in the celebrated picture of The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci, in which Judas Iscariot is represented as overturning the salt. Among the Italians, to spill oil at table is regarded as an omen of the worst import.