Source: http://www.smosh.com/smosh-pit/articles/souvenirs-are-supposedly-bad-luck-tourists-take-home
Q. Do you usually buy souvenir for your friends, family, or youself?
Q. What's your most/least liked souvenir?
Q. When you buy/get a souvenir, will the local legend or belief affect your choice / how you treat it?
Q. How would you handle the souvenir you don't like?
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"It's not the destination, but the journey" is a great philosophy about the virtues of travel, but it's also something you don’t want to hear your airline pilot say over the intercom as you're headed to Hawaii. As it turns out, it often is the destination that people are interested in, and that's why the souvenir was invented. That shirt with the airbrushed boobs on it is meant to remind you of your week in Cancun.
But not all trinkets from travels are just filled with nostalgia. Some souvenirs are said to be filled with dark spirits that cause terrible luck for travelers who pick them up and bring them back. Here are some bad luck items you don’t want to give to your friends.
Lava Rocks (Hawaii, USA)
Apparently removing one of the cool-looking black lava rocks from Hawaii really pisses off Pele, the Hawaiian Goddess of fire and volcanoes. People from all over the world have pocketed rocks either by accident or on purpose and then blamed their life going to sh*t on the stones, because ancient Hawaiian Park Ranger Legend says that Pele believes the rocks are her children and will curse anyone who takes them away from her. So I would suggest all those couples on their honeymoons in Hawaii think twice before getting their rocks off — could really be bad luck.
Uluru Rocks (Australia)
Similar to the cursed lava rocks of Hawaii, the famous Ayers Rock in Australia has dozen of stones returned to it every year by people hoping that it was the rocks they stole from the sacred Aboriginal site that made their lives awful. The bad luck incurred by the people who have brought rocks back have varied in extremity, from illness to break-ups to death. If true, that means the Ayers Rock should be arrested for murder. Don’t move Ayers Rock! Reach for the sky! Get on the ground! Remain silent. Wow. This rock formation is extremely cooperative.
Mini Taj Mahal (India)
Maybe it’s because the Taj Mahal is an ancient mausoleum that some locals in the city of Agra say it's bad luck to buy tiny replicas of the site. I mean, it makes sense from a faux pas stand point — it would be weird if you went to Arlington Cemetery and brought a Lego replica of The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier too.
Dzi Beads (Tibet)
The mystic Dzi Beads of Tibet are extremely rare stones used by Tibetans in necklaces and bracelets. Their eye-like formations are said to ward off evil, and the beads' origins are still a mystery to this day. Because of the beads' importance in protecting from evil, losing one is considered to be very bad luck. So don't take one if you come across it — you might be protected, but you will cause someone else bad luck, and that’s just a dick move.
Japanese Dolls (Japan)
Be wary of picking up random dolls at shrines in Japan. People leave the tiny figures at temples and shrines across Japan for all sorts of rites and rituals. In Japan, dolls with human form at treated as with special importance in Japan, and there is a belief that simply throwing away a doll can have spiritual repercussions. That means taking a doll being used in some type of spiritual practice is a big no-no. Also, it's just stealing. That ain’t your doll. You have money to travel to Japan, you got money for a doll. Don’t steal a doll. Also don’t do drugs and stay in school while you're at it. I feel like I shouldn’t even really have to be saying all this.
Romanian Logs (Romania)
The Hoia Forest in Romania is said to be the center of much paranormal phenomena. It also happens to be in Transylvania, home to Dracula, the most prolific ghoul in the world. While the forest itself isn’t particularly close to Dracula’s Castle, it is still believed to be bad luck to take any type of wood from the forest. It may contain dark powers, you see, and that was the reason wooden spikes were thought to kill vampires. The logic of this superstition doesn’t exactly pan out, seeing as you would want a thing that can kill a vampire with you, but maybe it's because the dark mystic power embedded in the wood is even more sinister then a vampire? If that's the case, we have done pop-culture entirely wrong for the last 700 years and should have been fearing sticks this entire time instead of undead monsters. Someone get our top screenwriters working of a Twigs of Terror screenplay ASAP!
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