I45C. It is forbidden to count stars. 11.16.27.-.29.46.48.52.
Misfortunes and ailments await the counting stars.
Tsonga, French (Vosges), Hungarians, Ukrainians, Poles, Luzhitans, Czechs, Kalmyks, Adygs, Ingush, Tabasarans, Georgians, Armenians, Nisenan, Tubatulabal, Arapaho, Otomi, Tsotsil, Tseltal .
Bantu-speaking Africa. Tsonga []: Junod 1927:308
Western Europe. The French (Vosges) [you can't count stars - you count yours and die; if you count stars by pointing your finger at them, warts will appear]: Sébillot 1902:82.
The Balkans. Hungarians in Romania [a star counting will have freckles or warts]: Zsigmond 2003:429; Macedonians [it's a sin to point your finger at a shooting star - this can prevent a sinful person run to a place for the righteous]: Plotnikova 2004a: 294; Macedonians, Serbs [a person who counts stars may have as many warts, freckles, chiryas as he counts stars]: Plotnikova 2004a: 294.
Central Europe. Slavs in general [prohibitions on counting stars and pointing fingers at them are known to all Slavs and are associated with the belief that in this case a person can stumble upon his own star: it will fall ( Poles, Czechs), extinct (Slovaks) and a person will die; Luzhitans and Poles: pointing his finger at the stars, the month, the sun, a person can gouge out God's eyes; Poles: if you count stars, fingers will fester]: Plotnikova 2004a: 294; Ukrainians: Boryak 2006 [stars can't be counted, otherwise you'll go blind]: 13; Fedorovich 2014 [Stars can't be counted. Violation of this prohibition may cause chiryas, lichens, or blindness]: 133.
Caucasus - Asia Minor. Kalmyks [it was considered a sin to count stars and point fingers at them]: Basayev 2004:10; Ingush [bear is the personification of ugliness; if you count 1000 stars, you will become a bear; this happened to one girl who turned into the constellation Ursa Major]: Semenov 1963:120; Adygs [if you count the stars, there will be as many warts on her body as there are stars]: Shortanov 1992:37; Tabasarans [count stars - there will be warts on their hands]: Seferbekov 2000:8; mountainous Dagestan [stars cannot be considered - hands will be covered with lichen, warts will appear]: Hajiyev 1991:158; Georgians [stars cannot be counted, warts will appear on his hand]: Stepanov 1894, No. 8:79 (same as Mashurko 1894:256, Kutais and Sakara); Armenians [stars cannot be counted, warts will appear]: Tchéraz 1893 : 823; (cf. Armenians (Turkish Armenia) [when killing a snake, its body is buried; if the snake remains unburied, it will count the stars and return to life]: Khachatryants 1933:114).
California. Nisenan [girls should not count stars; they will be miserable, spirits will scare them at night]: Voegelin 1942:236; tubatulabal [people should not count stars more than three; once became Count stars and they died]: Voegelin 1938:58
Plains. Arapaho [can't count stars, it'll bring trouble]: Kroeber 1907c: 317
Mesoamerica Otomi [stars can only be counted the day you die]: Galinier 1990:526; tsotsil (Chamula) [can't count stars, warts will appear on your face]: Gómez 1996, no.22:55; tseltal [ the boy counted the stars, could not count them all, went crazy, died; only God knows how many stars; his father named him the constellations he knew (p.81): 'Ox kojt (Tres animals), Jxana'b (El caite, Can mayor), Kurus'ek (Cruz de estrellas, Cruz del Norte), Tsek (Enagua de estrellas, Scorpio), Nujkupat (Piel de la espalda), Sakubee 'ek (Morning Star), Yek'uljch'ultatil (Evening Star), Sbetoyim de Camino hielo, the Milky Way)]: Relatos Tzeltales 1995:81-85