What people say
Good luck; the number of spots predicts months of luck or a wish granted.Animals · 390 searches a month
Ladybug superstitions
Good luck; the number of spots predicts months of luck or a wish granted.
When it actually starts
How old is this one
First recorded
Medieval Europe; the name refers to the Virgin Mary
That makes it
about 726 years old
Rank by age
17 oldest of 40 dated here
Category
Animals
Searched
390 a month
Farmers noticed that ladybirds appearing on crops coincided with aphid damage stopping, and credited divine help — the "lady" in the name is Mary. The causation was real, the attribution was not.
Why it stuck. One ladybird eats up to 5 000 aphids in its life, so the crop really was saved. This is a superstition built on a correct observation with the wrong explanation.
What is going on
Spot count indicates species, not fortune — the seven-spot is simply the most common European one.Where it applies. Positive across Europe and North America, which is unusual: almost every other animal omen reverses somewhere.
Recorded around the same time
Ladybug superstitions is the 17th oldest of the 40 dated superstitions here. Of those, 6 are younger than a century and 5 predate the common era.
First-recorded dates are the earliest documented appearance in written sources, not the earliest possible origin — an unrecorded practice can be older. How the dating works and where it is uncertain →