Just ahead of annual the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Traditional Boat Festival, the Scottish town of Portsoy has banned bananas. No bananas are allowed in town until the festival is over.
Banana ban signs have been posted, a banana amnesty has been introduced and local businesses have come out in support of the action, with Portsoy Ice Cream removing banana flavoured ices from its range until after the event.
Roger Goodyear, chairman of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Traditional Boat Festival, says: “Bananas may be a delicious fruit but they are considered bad luck on boats.
“We want to do everything possible to make sure our 2015 festival is a success and we don’t want to take any chances. Our ban on bananas is a tongue-in-cheek nod to our seafaring heritage and is a reminder that the ocean can be a mystical, but dangerous, place and as such there are many traditional superstitions among fisher people.”
Several possible origins of the banana superstition are offered, but you can’t read them without thinking about that song. -via Arbroath
(Image credit: Scottish Traditional Boat Festival)