Yesterday I was on the UCLA campus and walked by this iconic, at least for Bruins, fountain. It’s official name is the Inverted Fountain, but it’s often referred to as the toilet bowl fountain because, well, it looks like a toilet bowl.
What does this have to do with superstition? The story told to incoming freshmen is that you can touch the fountain twice–once when you become a Bruin and again when you graduate. Doing so anytime in between will delay your graduation by an extra quarter.
While I like to say I’m not superstitious…Open umbrellas indoors, no problem! Sure, I’ll walk under that ladder! That black cat that just crossed in front of me, so cute! But ask me if I touched the water in that fountain before graduation. No way! A lot of good that avoidance did me. I still graduated an extra quarter late.
Another UCLA myth is that Edward Janss was buried under the sixth step of Janss (now Tongva) Steps and it’s bad luck to step on it. Ask me if I’ve ever stepped on that sixth step. No, I have not. (Although, now that I know more about the history of the Janss brothers, maybe I should go and step on it next time I’m on campus.)
If you add all the superstitions I follow for Lunar New Year, I might actually be very superstitious.
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