Do you get nervous when a black cat walks in front of you?
Do you avoid walking under ladders?
If you broke a mirror would you expect to get 7 years bad luck?
If the answer is, 'yes' to any of these questions then you are clearly a very superstitious person.
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Superstitions can be defined as, "irrational beliefs, especially with regard to the unknown" (Collins English Dictionary)
They cause us to act in strange ways, believe in odd things and leave us unable to explain the reasons why.
Many superstitions may seem silly, even stupid to us today, but they continue to influence our behaviour and many people would argue that there are in fact some very good reasons for avoiding black cats and walking around ladders.
Common Superstitions Explained
In most cases the reasons behind common superstitions can be traced back to medieval or even ancient times. They are quite often even more peculiar than the beliefs they attempt to explain.
Black cats are the source of literally hundreds of unlucky superstitions. It's a sign of bad luck if they walk in front of you. It's unlucky to step on their tails. They even bring bad luck into a house if they sneeze inside!
This unfortunate connection with misfortune dates back to the Middle Ages when they became associated with witches and were thought to harbour evil spirits.
There are very practical reasons for thinking twice before walking under a ladder, but a more mysterious explanation can be traced back to ancient Egypt. The early Egyptians believed that the shape of the Pyramids had a special power. It was considered very bad luck to break the 'power' of this shape and that's exactly what walking under a ladder would do!
In Roman times people had the habit of looking at their reflections in pools of water. Some believed that these reflections were in fact 'glimpses of the soul'. Any disruption to the water, such as a stone being thrown into the pool, would bring bad luck to the person looking in. This superstition lives on with the fear of bad luck from breaking a mirror.
Superstitions Groups
Certain groups of people involved with dangerous or unpredictable activities tend to be very superstitious indeed.
Actors
There are lots of Do's and Don'ts to be followed backstage in the theatre.
One of the biggest Don'ts concerns the name of Macbeth, one of Shakespeare's most famous plays. If anyone says the name backstage then the cast will have all sorts of unlucky problems and the show will certainly fail. Also, actors never wish each other, 'good luck' before a performance as it might have the opposite effect. It's safer to tell an actor heading for the stage to, 'break a leg'!
Sailors
Long, dangerous journeys on wild and unpredictable oceans have made sailors very aware of lucky and unlucky signs. Bad luck is caused by stepping on board a ship with your left foot, starting a cruise on Friday and throwing stones into the sea. Good luck will follow a ship if there are dolphins swimming nearby or there is a naked woman on board! Think about the figureheads on old sailing boats with a naked woman at the front, calming the seas.
Athletes
The great Michael Jordan wore his old college shorts underneath his Chicago Bulls uniform for an extra bit of good fortune on the court and Tiger Woods favours wearing the colour red on Sundays for similarly superstitious reasons. Amateur golfers can have a successful day on the course if they start their round with odd numbered clubs and don't use balls with numbers higher than 4! It's also lucky to set out on a rainy day, but definitely not okay to borrow your partners umbrella.
Football players don't let the side down and have numerous eccentricities of their own. West Hams' ex-player Paolo Di Canio always puts his shinpads on his left leg first. Steven Gerrard and the Liverpool players like to touch the, 'This is Anfield' sign in the tunnel on their way to the pitch, but nothing tops Chelsea's ex-player Eidur Gudjohnsen, who goes to the loo just after the warm up, kisses his shirt twice (for two goals) and says a prayer thanking God for his health and the health of his teammates as he runs onto the field!
Global Superstitions
Finally, here are a few curious beliefs from around the world.
If you don't cover your bald head it will start raining - Afghanistan
If you shave your head on a Saturday, you will be in perpetual debt - Africa
You'll 'cut off' fortune if you use scissors on new years day - China
You shouldn't wash your hair the day before an exam - Russia
If you go to the bathroom in the night with no clothes on, insects will fall on you – Japan
What do you think of this article? Do you have any strange superstitions? Are there any strange superstitions from your country? Send us your texts.
Moe Moe Kyaw writes “I think living with superstitions is a kind of detention. There are so many superstitions in my country and also so many superstitious persons although most of people in my country are Buddhists. Comparatively, our family is less superstitious than the other people around us. So our way of living and thinking are quite logical. But sometimes, there are also some inconvenient things will occur in relations with those who are very superstitious. Once, I conflicted with my parents-in-law with regard to my husband. He had got some pain in his back and a cough. I think it is the normal action when you feel sick is to go and see a doctor and have a medical check up. When the result comes out, we must follow the doctor's advice and take medicine and some rest to recover. But my parents-in-law went to a fortune teller and were told to perform some sort of exorcism like releasing some fish into the big pond (to make my husband 's spirit and fate strong and big so as to resist evil's fight; they think sickness and pain are caused by the curse of evil or someone who hates him) and giving pieces of his shirts to a poor man.
I think that ways is not a reasonable way to solve a health problem. In general, giving donations and freeing animals for their sake are good deeds, indeed. But giving things and freeing animals as an exorcism (with the intention of achieving self happiness and health) is another story. In fact, doing good for others only for their sake is good but I think pretending to do good things just for own sake is just cheating the others.”
BuiDuyQuang writes “In my country superstitions are forbidden and I think this makes people become stupid and spend more money on superstitions. Now the world is growing. We must destroy the superstitions if we want our country to be civilized. I don't believe in superstitions. It depends on ourselves.”
Rishu from Bangladesh writes “In my country, I have to say once when the standard of education was poor, there were a lot of superstitions. But now the percentage of superstitious people is decreasing as modern facilities are increasing. One thing I have to mention is that some old and highly educated people are still superstitious. Why, I don’t know and still haven’t get the answer although I believe that when people are educated nothing can separate them from their belief without cause and also they don’t believe anything without having a cause. One of the well-known superstitions in our country is that you shouldn’t let any candidate eat an egg (specially boiled) before appearing an exam or it will cause him to get a result like an egg - that is zero.”
Arantxa Balzategi Muguruza writes “I am not superstitious at all, in my opinion everything depends on oneself, I mean if you are determined that something bad will happen to you, that makes it come true. On the other hand, it is possible to have many signs during the day about what’s going on in our lives, but I am terribly sorry when I say that we are not ready yet to know their meanings.”
Anas from Morocco writes “I'd like to share with you some Moroccan superstitions:
1-You shouldn't see cats in the evening and mainly black cats.
2-You shouldn't have a dog inside your house, because they drive angels away.”
Elena writes “The majority of people in Russia are superstitious. We don’t look in the mirror as we leave our house. If you have left the house and realized you forgot something, returning is believed to bring bad luck. When we go on a long trip, before leaving the house we sit down for a few minutes. Some people pray during this time, some just sit quietly, but it’s a “must”. Once you leave your house, watch out for who you meet first. If it’s a woman, be prepared for bad luck. On the contrary, if it’s a man – your trip will be successful. Another superstition is if everything goes smoothly and you are telling your friends about it, you have to spit three times over your left shoulder. If you don’t do it, things in your life will take an opposite turn. Of course, it works only if everything was going well. It does not work the other way around – you will not get luck by telling people of your troubles. If you whistle inside your house, be ready to lose money. If you had a bad dream, the first thing you have to do in the morning is look out the window and say: “Let the dream go the same way the night went”. Newborns may not be seen by other relatives for the first three months of their lives. And even after that, you can see the baby only if you bring a present. It is amazing how many superstitions we have, and how much accustomed to them we have become. They became a part of our lives, a ritual which you are so used to, that it goes on unnoticed. After residing in the US for 8 years, I became almost free of superstitions. Some superstitions make me laugh, so unreasonable do they sound. Some are still inside of me, and I probably will never forget about them.”
Wikipedia: superstition
Superstitions A-Z
Google directory: superstitions
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