old russian tradition

nozh2002 said:
This is not tradition, but superstition - you should not present any sharp things like knife, hatchet, scissors etc. The superstition is that it make your friend your enemy. I do not know roots of this, but it is defenetly not about layobility - lawers were really rare in Russia.

2 Mongo
Fireplaces never were in use in Russia, it is too cold to waste heat like this, so it is usually Pechka which is quite different from fireplace - it absorbs all heat from wood and release it out all knite heating entier house.

And I never saw anybody wasing glasses like this, only Russian doing this are from Holliwood movies. It is unreasonabe - you can not drink any more if you break your glass. Glass is very important - only way to share bottle you bought together evenly and fair.

Thanks, Vassili.
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Hi Vassili, I'm sure that most Russians do not do what I was describing. I happened to witness this event and it stuck with me. I thought it a terrible waste of glasses myself. The men were all speaking russian so I didn't understand what they were saying, but it sounded like toasts. They would drink after a toast and then tossed their glasses into their fireplace. This happened in Milwaukee Wisconsin, but all the guys were native russians that had emigrated. I tried to ask questions about what they were doing, but my grandma didn't seem too pleased with them.
 
fruitbat said:
The only one I've heard was that it is bad luck to close a knife that you didn't open. Has anyone else heard that one before?
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I HAVE heard that and I have known people that lived by it.
 
1. I heart in Caucasus you should not give knife to other person from hand to hand. It must be put on the table and then other person may take it from there.
2. Battle kukhry when taken out of sheath with intention to fight must taste blood before you put it back, ether enememy's blood or yours.
3. Possible indian tradition - little hole near the tip make blade able to see and it will never cut owner.
4. Other Russian tradition - you should not eat from the knife (use it as fork etc.)
5. One guy in Russia from Russian Blade Forum told that he personaly give new knife something to drink - beer ususlly, to please it and make it friend.

I start similat thread on Russion forums - let see what else people know.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
6. In Finland guys fight with knife holding it by blade not handle, to not to kill your opponent just cut a little bit.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
kapt kopter said:
LOL I like this thread, I have a friend in the knife business who when he gives away a free knife to someone always insists that the recipiant give him back a coin of some sort.
When I asked him why he did that, he wasn't sure but it said its something he's always done and was taught to him by someone else in the industry many years ago.......I always wondered where that came from.

Kap
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The way I understand it is......if you give someone a knife.....always give them a coin to go with it..otherwise it's bad luck. It matters not where you come from, Superstitions vary according to where you are and who passes them along. It's like that old game with 10 people sitting in a row and each one whispers the same thing into the ear of the person next to them. By the time it gets to the last person.....the result is so funny it puts everyone on the floor. That's what makes superstitions fun!!! :D
 
I really like this thread!!!!!!!! I'm not a superstitious person, but I like to do thing like I am just for fun. I have a friend who is VERY superstitious. It's unbelivable the things he does in a day so that he doesn't break a superstition. :eek:
 
Whats odd is that this appears to be a nearly global tradition/superstition. There really arent many of those.
 
The tradition (superstition) of giving a coin back when one get a knife as gift is alive in Norway too. I think this is a tradition found many places over the world. I think Golok made a thread about this earlier.
nozh2002
The tradition of not eating with a knife is valid in Norway too, as in eating with your knife is bad table manners :) .

Tor
 
This knife and coin exchange was portrayed in the movie, "The Edge" with Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin and the lovely supermodel Elle Macpherson. In case you haven't seen the movie I won't give much away, except to say some friend Alec Baldwin's character turned out to be! :mad:

It is a great movie and boy does that knife come in handy! :)
 
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