“ The gold hoops and rings that sailors wear are to throw into the sea if there is a storm. These are bribes to the sea gods to let them live through the storm.”
“ When you sleep, your soul briefly returns to the place where it was created/goes to when it dies, and seeks nourishment. Everybody's soul is created with a little link (or you could say a greater entity calls it back) to that place so that it can return easily, but upon death, the soul returns via that and annihilates the link as if returns.
Also, as an added thingy, you could say the entity supplying the link, or residue of the links themselves, (whichever) is the source of all arcane power.”
“ Leader carries gold into battle with him. When he sees a great feet of bravery or valor he rewards them with the gold, or maybe a token worth some prize if they survive.”