the collection [link]

blue doors

a blue door or gate is an effective talisman against evil - much like a horseshoe hung above the door.

Many folk magic traditions and customs maintain that a witch cannot cross a blue threshold. "


red doors

In China, it's tradition to paint the front door red before the new year, to invite good luck and happiness.

In Catholicism, the red door on a chapel symbolized the blood of Christ, and other martyrs, to signify that the ground beyond the door (inside the church) was holy, and a sanctuary from physical and spiritual evils.

In Ireland, front doors are painted red to ward-off ghosts and evil spirits.


green doors

To return to your home after closing the door and departing (eg. if you have forgotten something) is a bad luck omen. If you must return to pick up something important (like your passport!) you must look in a mirror before you depart the second time. By doing so, your luck will not leave you during your trip.


yellow doors

The new bride must enter her home by the main door, and must not trip or fall - hence the custom of carrying the bride over the threshold.



black doors

At times, a horseshoe may be found above doorways. When positioned like a regular 'U' it supposedly collects luck. However, when it is positioned like an upside-down 'U' the luck supposedly drains.


stone doors

On the morning of November 1st a silver coin was thrown through the front door of the house. The coin had to remain where it had fallen in order to bring financial luck.


random doors


Never greet, or say good-bye to someone in a doorway. That includes hugs, kisses, shaking hands, or passing/accepting gifts through the doorway. The threshold divides people, and in traditional Russian folklore, the house spirit resides here, so this superstition says that your greetings and gifts will not bring fortune or good luck.




cellar doors


Cellar door is a combination of words in the English language once characterized by J. R. R. Tolkien to have an especially beautiful sound. In his 1955 essay "English and Welsh", commenting on his affection for the Welsh language, Tolkien wrote:
"Most English-speaking people...will admit that cellar door is 'beautiful', especially if dissociated from its sense (and from its spelling). More beautiful than, say, sky, and far more beautiful than beautiful. Well then, in Welsh for me cellar doors are extraordinarily frequent, and moving to the higher dimension, the words in which there is pleasure in the contemplation of the association of form and sense are abundant."


Tolkien also once used the phrase to illustrate a point about his writing process during an interview: "Supposing you say some quite ordinary words to me - 'cellar door', say. From that, I might think of a name, 'Selador', and from that a character, a situation begins to grow."Tolkien's discourse is the most likely origin of this concept and the only documented one.
Further insights into why Tolkien found the word cellar-door aesthetically pleasing can be found in considering texts in his constructed language of Quenya. The poem Namárië opens with the words:

Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen,
yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron!
Yéni ve lintë yuldar avánier
mi oromardi lissë-miruvóreva.