Going back home for something forgotten
Going back home for something forgotten spoils the day in family traditions with Romanian, Irish and Indiana roots, folklore students were told; in some, sitting down for a moment before leaving again undoes it.
What it may mean
What stands out in this belief is the fix. Going back for the sunglasses or the phone is said to spoil the day, but in several versions the harm can be undone by sitting down inside before you leave again. A grandmother with Irish parents sat and counted to ten; a family from Indiana simply sat for a moment. The student who recorded the Irish version saw some sense in it: if you forgot something, you were probably moving too fast, and sitting down slows the morning. The pause turns a second departure into a fresh start rather than a frantic continuation of the first. The walk back through your own door can be treated as a chance to begin the day over, a little slower.
Depending on how you saw it
Refusing to go back at all
A woman born in Bucharest and living in Los Angeles would rather walk on without her sunglasses than step back over the threshold, since setting foot inside again would spoil her day. Which small loss do you accept to avoid undoing a decision?
Sitting down before a trip
In one Russian family, everyone leaving on a trip sits down together in the house for about ten seconds, at the table or on their suitcases, for a safe journey. What do you do to mark the start of a journey?
Walking into a room and forgetting why
Psychologists at the University of Notre Dame found that people forgot more after walking through a doorway than after covering the same distance inside one room, as if the doorway closed one episode and opened another. Where does your day have doorways that wipe the slate clean?
Why it happens in nature
Forgetting at the door is common because leaving packs many small tasks into one moment, while attention has already moved on to the trip. A 2011 Notre Dame study also found that a doorway acts as an event boundary in memory: people recalled less after passing through one than after crossing the same distance inside a room.
What folk beliefs say
Romania (family custom)
A woman born in Bucharest in 1935, who left Romania in 1972 and lives in Los Angeles, said that if you come back and set foot over the threshold for something you forgot, the whole day will go badly. Her mother lived by the same rule.
Source: Jeremy Bradford (collector), Don't Reenter Home If You Forget Something (USC Digital Folklore Archive) (2015), folklore.usc.edu. View the page
Irish family (Wales)
A grandmother born in Wales to Irish parents said that if you go back into the house for something you forgot, you must sit down and count to ten before leaving again, or the day will go badly. She traced it to her Irish roots.
Source: mcgeagh (collector), Forgetfulness Superstition – Irish Tradition (USC Digital Folklore Archive) (2016), folklore.usc.edu. View the page
Indiana (United States)
In a family from Indiana, someone who left for school and had to go back home for something forgotten would sit down before leaving again, for good fortune.
Source: Hayden Duncan (collector), Forgetful Superstition (USC Digital Folklore Archive) (2017), folklore.usc.edu. View the page
Russia (family custom)
A Russian family custom has everyone who is leaving on a trip sit down in the house together for about ten seconds, at the table or on their suitcases, so that the trip will be safe.
Source: Claudia Hydorn (collector), Sit before the Journey (USC Digital Folklore Archive) (2025), folklore.usc.edu. View the page
To reflect on
What helps you start over when a morning gets off on the wrong foot?