Do you pester chimney sweeps and bury dogs under doorsteps? No, you're not having a nervous breakdown, you're just a very superstitious German. This special Friday 13th Local List collects some of Germany's best old wives' tales.

Of course, only those who don't live here think of Germans as calm, rational people. Anyone with a passing acquaintance with the fascinating culture knows that the German psyche is a surreal labyrinth of myths, folk-tales, half-remembered statistics brought up at dinner parties, and blind faith in homeopathy.

So what better way to celebrate Friday the 13th than to list the more absurd beliefs that Germans have dreamt up to make their lives a bit more inconvenient?

We've dug up superstitions both medieval and modern, though we've tried to eschew simple hypochondriac ideas. Thinking burnt toast and candles give you cancer is not superstitious - it's just deranged.

Click here for the best German superstitions!

The Local/bk