……..When you believe in things
That you don't understand,
Then you suffer,
Superstition ain’t the way……..Stevie Wonder
A superstition is defined as the irrational belief that future events can be influenced or foretold by specific, unrelated behaviors or occurrences. The earliest superstitions were created as a way to deal with ignorance and fear of the unknown. Superstitions are thus a way of attempting to regain control over events in one's life.
The term superstition probably derives from the Latin superstitio, meaning "to stand over in awe”. Superstitions are often considered relics of outmoded ways of thinking except when someone says, “we have the beach to ourselves”, and you know that there will be thousands of people there within an hour. Many will arrive via parachute.
Personal superstitions usually involve good luck charms, lucky charms if you will, but not the cereal. I was surprised to learn that around a quarter of Americans are superstitious. The surprise being “only a quarter?” “There is no real tangible thing we can call luck,” according to Joseph Mazur, mathematician, and author of What’s Luck Got to Do with It? “But we create that tangible thing by transferring it to an object.” Hopefully it is not an anvil.
Speaking of personal superstitions, I know someone. I’m not mentioning names you understand but………..well……..there are “lucky clothes” (sports related), that can help a favorite team win. Really. Gifted, skilled athletes competing but victory depends on which shirt I’m he’s wearing on that day. Rarely works. Totally irrational but that’s superstition. There are also lucky places to sit on the couch, a particular order for checking scores, muting the TV sound at particular moments,………..and that’s just for sports. 5% success rate but hey, you never know. He, and we’re not necessarily saying he is a him but he frowns on people saying “it’s going to be a beautiful day because he knows that guarantees that the weather will turn bad. After retirement, when someone we know was a science education consultant/teacher trainer and was traveling to make a presentation before a large group, the same routine had to be followed including the same breakfast of a bagel and orange juice, giving change to street musicians prior to the presentation day, trying not to look at the audience while setting up, “lucky” ties, and so on to ensure a successful speech or presentation. This was not a ritual. Rituals are repeated behaviors based on defined patterns. Superstitions are repeated behaviors based on a belief. There is no logic or reason. Of course, preparation didn’t hurt. This (whoever he may be) is a very superstitious human who is getting more superstitious with each passing year. Lucky golf ball indeed!
Superstitious beliefs originated during the earliest days of humanity. They explained natural phenomena like thunderstorms and earthquakes, as well as the unpredictability of illness and food supply. Humans attempted to create an understandable world of powers that could be influenced by action. We still do and that includes talking to inanimate objects as if they were human.
Some groups are more prone to superstitious beliefs than others. Actors, miners, athletes, fishermen, gamblers and authors of essays about superstition all tend to be more superstitious than average; the success of all these occupations tends to be more out of the control of the individual.
Let’s examine some popular superstitions.
Walking under a ladder. Well, first of all, things could fall on your head.
This superstition originated 5,000 years ago in ancient Egypt. A ladder leaning against a wall forms a triangle, and Egyptians regarded this shape as sacred (note the pyramids). To them, triangles represented a trinity of the gods, and to pass through a triangle was to desecrate them.
This one has faded in popularity these days - Rabbit’s foot – possibly because of all those rabbits forced to use walkers. Using a rabbit’s foot as a good luck charm dates back to the Celtics in 600 B.C. However, the Celtics were very specific with this superstition. It had to be the left hind foot of the rabbit in order to be considered lucky.
The number seven. This number plays a role throughout nature and our daily lives, leading many to believe in its good fortune. We have the seven days in the week, seven colors of the rainbow, seven notes on the musical scale, the seven continents ….. Some researchers have found that human memory works best when remembering up to — but not more than — seven items. Seven is also a prime number, which means it can only be divided by itself and one. In the creation account, God made the world in six days and rested on the seventh day.
You just broke a mirror – Uff Da! (Norwegian for Oy Vey). Seven years of bad luck. The Romans, who learned to manufacture mirrors from polished metal surfaces and later glass, believed their gods observed souls through these devices. They believed that mirrors contained fragments of our souls. Ergo, breaking a mirror signified a break in someone's health and well-being. However, Romans did not believe that the ensuing bad luck would last forever. Whew! They believed that the body renewed itself every seven years. The belief that good luck would eventually return was comforting and probably prevented many suicides. People have always tended to believe things that make them feel good, like that lucky t-shirt........even when untrue.
I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks can get me five..........Steven Wright.
When you spill salt, toss some over your left shoulder to avoid bad luck Throwing salt over one's shoulder is likely to give the impression that the wearer has dandruff.....Jack Oakie ....It could also be bad luck for the person behind you if they get hit in the eye with the salt. Salt has been a very valuable commodity in many civilizations hence spilling it was bad luck. Around 3,500 B.C., the Sumerians first took to nullifying the bad luck by throwing a pinch of it over their left shoulders. This ritual spread to the Egyptians, the Assyrians and later, the Greeks. It appears everyone was heaving salt all over the place in those days. Spilling salt as bad luck is also linked to Leonardo Davinci’s “The Last Supper,” Judas Iscariot has his elbow on an upset container of salt.
Knocking on wood
I'm not superstitious, about ya
………..
Oh you better knock, knock, knock
On wood, baby
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh baby……..Eddie Floyd. This originated with ancient pagan cultures that believed spirits and gods resided in trees; knocking on a tree could summon protection. Today, many of us, in the absence of wood, will knock on our heads. British folklorist Steve Roud noted that the origin is more recent: Knocking on wood for good luck traces back to a 19th-century children’s game called “Tiggy Touchwood,” where children were only “safe” in the game when they were touching wood.
Always 'God bless' a sneeze.
This began in the sixth century A.D. by order of Pope Gregory the Great. Yet another pestilence was spreading through Europe. The first symptom was severe, chronic sneezing, and this was often quickly followed by death. Pope Gregory urged the healthy to pray for the sick and ordered those responses to sneezes be "God bless you!"
Hang a horseshoe on your door open-end-up for good luck.
There is no business like shoe business ……..apologies to Irving Berlin……
Belief in its magical powers traces back to the Greeks, who thought the element iron had the ability ward off evil. Not only were horseshoes wrought of iron, they also took the shape of the crescent moon which was in fourth century Greece a symbol of fertility and good fortune. The belief in the talismanic powers of horseshoes passed from the Greeks and then to the Romans. In Britain, during the Middle Ages, when fear of witchcraft was rampant, people attached horseshoes open-end-up to the sides of their houses and doors. People thought witches feared horses and would shy away from any reminders of them although this belief had some neigh sayers.
The number 13 is unlucky.
Fear of the number 13, known as triskaidekaphobia, is perhaps one of the most well-known superstitions. First the salt and now we’re back again to Leonardo da Vinci's painting of “The Last Supper”, as 13 rises again to the fore. Judas is often thought of as the 13th guest. One of the earliest myths surrounding unlucky 13 was due to a clerical error, where the 13th law was omitted from one of the world’s oldest legal documents—the Code of Hammurabi. Yet another myth involves the Norse as 12 gods were invited to dine at Valhalla, a Michelin starred banquet hall specializing in mutton and cabbage. Loki, usually described as a “cunning trickster, crashed the party, raising the number of attendees to 13. Loki then tricked the blind god, Höd, into killing the popular god, Baldur.
Black Cats A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere.......Groucho Marx .......Oy vey! What to think. A black cat crossing your path is actually considered to be good luck in parts of the world. In Britain, Ireland, Japan and Germany, it is believed that encountering a black cat on your travels is lucky. However, in America, these cats are said to bring misfortune. Black cats appear in the folklore of many more cultures as both good and bad omens. In some European folklore, black cats are considered common companions of witches and bringers of misfortune if they happened to cross your path. In contrast, Welsh folklore depicts black cats as omens of good fortune who would bring luck to a home and could even be a reliable weather predictor or at least as good as those geniuses that forecast the weather on TV.
Wishing on a star. The Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy theorized that the presence of shooting stars (meteors) meant the gods were peering down from the sky and open to granting our wishes. According to Ptolemy, the gods had to open up the space that divides the earth sky from the divine sphere in order to watch over humanity. Shooting stars would slip through the great divider, so if you saw one in the night sky, you knew the gods were watching and listening to you. Of course, Ptolemy also believed the Sun revolved around the Earth.
According to Scientific American, the chances of finding a four-leaf clover are one in 10,000, making the find a lucky thing in and of itself. But the luck of the clover dates back to Adam and Eve. As Adam and Eve were leaving the Garden of Eden, Eve plucked a four-leaf clover as a souvenir. Another theory dates back to the ancient Celtic world when it was believed that four-leaf clovers would help ward off evil spirits.
Breaking wishbones Breaking the “wishbone”—the furcula of a turkey, duck, or chicken—comes up at Thanksgiving, but people, much to the distress of poultry have been making wishes on poultry bones since around 700 B.C. The Etruscans believed that birds could tell the future and drying out and then stroking the bone could grant the power of foresight and make wishes come true. The Romans went one better, and they began cracking the bones in half to spread the luck. When two people pulled apart a wishbone, the person left with the larger piece got the good luck.
The act of crossing the fingers is one of our most well-understood gestures, although we may often just say I'll cross my fingers for you”— rather than actually carry out the action. It’s thought that the act of crossing one’s fingers started with the early Christians. At this time, Christianity was outlawed, and very unpleasant things befell people who showed support for it. Early followers were forced into secrecy, and they are known to have developed signs and symbols that allowed them to recognize each other including crossing the fingers. But now we also have crossing fingers behind your back when telling a lie. Apparently, you would be silently asking for luck in getting away with the lie. But I have my fingers crossed when reporting this theory.
In the theater, don’t wish an actor “good luck,” but instead say “Break a leg!”. Why? The most common belief refers to an actor breaking the “leg line” of the stage. In the early days of theater, this is where ensemble actors were lined up to perform. If actors were not performing, they had to stay behind the “leg line,” which also meant they wouldn’t get paid. Also, never say Macbeth in a theatre. It is considered bad luck to say the name of Shakespeare’s “Scottish play” inside of a theatre. Legend has it that the actor playing Lady MacBeth died on opening night of the play’s first performance.
“Find a penny. Pick it up. All the day you’ll have good luck”. Folklore from ancient civilizations said metals—like copper—were gifts from gods intended to protect people from evil. However, be careful because the luck could break either way, and that if you find a penny tails up, you should turn it over and leave it for the next person or you’ll actually have bad luck.
Lastly, we go to Rwanda for one of our favorites, Eating Goat Meat Causes Women to Grow Beards. That's what some in Rwanda believed. As some researchers point out that traditional society there imposed many dietary restrictions on women and "It was prohibited for women to eat goat meat under the pretext that it would make them grow a beard."
And remember.........There is superstition in avoiding superstition.......Francis Bacon
