Others believe that lighting three or more cigarettes on the same match will bring on bad luck.
This started in World War I as a basic safety precaution. Some soldiers sitting in the dark on either side of the front decide to have a smoke. When the first one lights his cigarette, the enemy across the field sees the match light. While the second man lights his smoke, the enemy grabs their rifle and takes aim. When the third man lights his, the enemy fires.
Wouldn’t he aim and shoot the second (or first) one he can see. Instead of following the match to where the third is? The third could be either side of the first or second.
The belief was that when the first soldier lit his cigarette, the enemy would see the light; when the second soldier lit his cigarette from the same match, the enemy would take aim at the target; and when the third soldier lit his cigarette from the match, the enemy would fire, and that soldier would be shot.
This started in World War I as a basic safety precaution. Some soldiers sitting in the dark on either side of the front decide to have a smoke. When the first one lights his cigarette, the enemy across the field sees the match light. While the second man lights his smoke, the enemy grabs their rifle and takes aim. When the third man lights his, the enemy fires.
What if the first soldier has all three cigarettes in his mouth and lights them all at the same time? Haha checkmate, Athiests!
Fascinating. Thanks for the share. Lessons in everything.
Wouldn’t he aim and shoot the second (or first) one he can see. Instead of following the match to where the third is? The third could be either side of the first or second.
I can’t speak to the mindset of people who are superstitious. I’m just repeating what the alleged basis for the superstition was.
I could be missing something, but not getting shot sounds to me more like good than bad luck.
It’s being the third person on the match who gets shot, thus why three on a match is bad luck.