We don't say anything about new clothes, but we say that spilling wine means good luck too. There is a tradition about salt that I don't remember well. I think if you spill salt on the table is bad luck unless you take a pinch and throw it over your left shoulder. I don't know why or how it originated. Apparently it is also bad luck to pass the salt shaker to anyone sharing the table with you on their hand, so if someone ask you to pass them the salt, you need to place the shaker on the table where they can reach it, but not put in on their hands directly.
Herodes is apparently how we called it, but in English is Herod. According to the Bible, Herod was the king of Judee at the time of Jesus birth. The Magi (the Wise man of Orient) told him they were searching for a baby who was the Messiah. Herod knew prophecies about the Messiah and did not want him around, so he asked the Magi that when they found the baby they told him where he was (of course, not telling them he has nefarious intentions). But on a dream they Magi were told not to do that. So, when Herod realized a child was born with that manifest Fate, he ordered to have him killed, and when they couldn't identify him, Herod order to kill every male enfant born around that time (2 years!) and place. This is known as the massacre of the innocents. (By the way, Jesus family ran to Egypt and they were safe, of course)
I don't think there is any historical record of that event, but that is what the Bible says.
