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Folklore & Superstition

Why Spilling Salt Is Bad Luck

By The Salt AlmanacPublished November 8, 2026

Short answer: Because salt stood for friendship and trust, spilling it was seen as a sign of a broken bond or coming quarrel. The belief is centuries old in Europe.

Leonardo da Vinci's mural The Last Supper, showing Jesus and the twelve apostles at a long table
Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper (1495–1498). The red box marks where Judas's arm rests on the table beside the overturned salt cellar.Leonardo da Vinci. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · Image source
Close-up of The Last Supper showing Judas, Peter and John, with a red box around Judas's hand and the table where the salt cellar lies
Close-up: Judas (in blue and green, leaning back) clutches a small bag in his right hand. The salt cellar lies tipped over on the table inside the red box. The mural is badly faded here, so it is easier to see in person than in photographs.Leonardo da Vinci. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · Image source

Salt keeps food from spoiling, so for a long time it symbolized lasting friendship, and it was expensive enough that wasting it mattered. In 1556, the Italian scholar Piero Valeriano wrote that salt stood for friendship, which made spilling it an ill omen; a German proverb warned that whoever spills salt stirs up enmity.

A popular story says the superstition began with Judas, who is shown knocking over a salt cellar in Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. It's a striking detail, but historians doubt it's the origin, because spilling salt was already considered unlucky before Leonardo painted it.

Related traditions

Why We Throw Salt Over the Left ShoulderThe Covenant of Salt

All salt traditions

Cite this page

For school projects and reports. Teachers often prefer the original sources too: see the list below.

The Salt Almanac. (2026, November 8). Why spilling salt is bad luck. https://saltalmanac.com/folklore/spilling-salt

Original sources

  1. Wikipedia. Spilling salt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spilling_salt