Does cutting your nails in the evening bring bad luck?

Introduction

Cutting your nails is certainly one of those highly healthy practices that, on the one hand, allow you to avoid the accumulation of germs and/or bacteria under them, and on the other, represent an aesthetic treatment that is good to pursue with periodic regularity for a whole series of benefits.

And in the 21st century, it certainly cannot be said that a manicure is no longer something within everyone's reach, whether you do it yourself or prefer to turn to professionals in the beauty sector.

Precisely for this reason it makes you smile, but also think, to know how there are different beliefs related to cutting nails all over the world, but how did they originate and how much truth is there in them?

Let's find out.

Nails and popular beliefs: The genesis of a phenomenon

Many of the aesthetic and cosmetic procedures that we now undergo with great naturalness practically every day until not so long ago were not as obvious as one might think. Without going too far back in time, just think of many beliefs that have survived to this day that were the norm for our grandparents.

Among the superstitions or supposed superstitions regarding health, nails certainly had a significant importance.

But why?

First of all, it must be established that in the occult sciences of a purely popular nature, nail cutting has always been an activity that could open the door to mysteries capable of literally changing a man's life.

For example, it was believed that a certain methodology of approach to cutting could be the viaticum to influence the destiny of the person who underwent this practice, this is because the nails were essentially some of the vital points responsible for regulating internal energy flows.

It therefore appears evident that consciously modifying the conformation or nature of these vital points was the simplest way to influence an entire existence for better or worse.

The calendar also had its own importance and, for example, nails cut during the waxing moon phase had the ability to grow back much faster, while those cut during the waning moon phase would inevitably grow back stronger and more robust.

Beliefs and traditions from times gone by, perhaps, but which up until 100 years ago were something more than simple superstitions, rather they were dogmas that could be configured as an expression of popular knowledge strongly rooted in its own social and cultural fabric.

Evening Haircut Unlucky Haircut? Looking for an Answer

That nails could therefore be considered vital points through which one's vital flow could flow in or out and that as such they required extreme attention is something that is ultimately understandable given the premises, but what about the question of evening/night?

To try to give a comprehensive answer, we must first consider that specific time window that is called evening or night in light of what has just been said.

So, the darkness, and therefore also the evening that hosts it, has always been considered a place where evil and dangerous forces act and move, after all the fear of the dark in many cases arises precisely from such considerations.

It is therefore obvious that a person who decided to cut his nails in the evening would be putting his spirit in direct contact with the impurity and wickedness of the spirits and this would irreparably damage his inner life force.

Nail Clipping and Superstitions: A Journey Through History

In light of what has been expressed, it would be relatively simple to classify such beliefs as superstitions belonging to times gone by and now forgotten, times in which knowledge, for obvious reasons, was not comparable to that possessed today.

It would be simple, but also highly limiting, because, as Frazer teaches us in his The Golden Bough, every tradition, however absurd it may seem in the eyes of modernity, rests on a cultural/social/anthropological basis and knowing it can certainly be classified as spiritual enrichment.

To begin this journey through history, we could, for example, start with the ancient Romans. Although we are therefore talking about a civilization on which the world we know today is based, they also had taboos regarding nail cutting.

It was absolutely forbidden to cut one's nails once one had boarded a ship and the day had been completely clear, it could be a bad omen and the explanation for this, although still debated, seems to be found in the extreme danger that sea crossings had at that time.

It is therefore obvious that damaging vital points just when one found oneself in a situation where the risk of putting one's life at risk was quite high, was not the wisest thing to do.

Continuing on, you can meet the Egyptians. They believed that it was very bad luck to cut your nails in the evening and on Fridays; indeed, just touching them during these periods of time would condemn the offender to suffer illnesses and misfortunes of various kinds.

The priests themselves forbade mothers to even touch the nails of their children, even if they were newborns, to avoid any possible misfortune.

Today, beliefs related to nails and the taboo of cutting them at night survive mainly in Eastern culture, however they are also widespread in Macedonian and Albanian culture.

In India, for example, it is strictly forbidden to cut one's nails at night, especially on Tuesdays and Saturdays, any transgression in this regard will result in the loss of a family member within a very short time for the person responsible.

Where does this very precise temporal indication come from? From the fact that in Vedic astrology Shani, or Saturn, venerated by the ancient Hindus, had Saturday as a sacred day and dedicating oneself to the aesthetics of the body was therefore considered an offense to his name.

Japan is another country where the topic of nail clipping is deeply rooted. Particularly cutting nails in the evening would be a bad omen, because it would somehow prevent the offender from witnessing the day of their parents' death.

Currently this belief is understood in two ways: according to the first one, one simply incurs a very rapid death that precedes that of one's loved ones; according to the second, however, one will find oneself unable to physically go to the celebration due to impediments or misfortunes of various kinds.

Needless to say, the most extremist wing of popular tradition pushes clearly more in favor of the first hypothesis.

Cutting Your Nails in the Evening: Science's Answer

The answer from science on this matter is decidedly lapidary: Yes, you can cut your nails in the evening and whenever you want without having to fear repercussions, dire omens or various problems.

All the superstitions that exist and have existed are precisely such and scientifically speaking there is absolutely nothing to fear.

That said, dust off your nail clipper kit and…happy cutting!