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Superstition

Superstition is a strange thing. Many of us profess that we are not superstitious, but are not beyond taking along a lucky rabbit's foot or patting a favorite object for good luck. Extremely well educated people get caught in this practice from time to time. When asked about it, most will reply that they are not superstitious but don't want to temp fate, whatever that means? Below is an example, it is a photo of the Apollo 10 crew walking along a corridor on the way to Launch Complex 39B, mission commander Thomas P. Stafford pats the nose of Snoopy, the mission's mascot, held by Jamye Flowers, astronaut Gordon Coopers' secretary.

Photo Source: NASA

So why do most of us feel this way? How did superstition start? Most likely, back in the dawn of time somewhere, someone survived some tragic event and that person may have had something on their possession or just done something that they attributed their good fortune to. They may have been carrying some object that they considered gave them some connection to their gods or they may have even sacrificed or prayed to a god before starting out on a trip and then they naturally gave that object or god credit. Today, in sports, superstition has a powerful role. It seems that athletes are a very superstitious bunch. Some always wear a favorite shirt or undershirt when playing in a game. Others will not talk to anyone before a game because they consider it bad luck. Out of the ones that do talk in things like pre game interviews, many of them won't talk about how they think they are going to do in the game because they don't want to "Jinx" themselves.

Sometimes we hear of old superstitions, but we don't hear about the remedies to break the bad luck. Here is an example of what I am talking about. Almost everyone has heard that breaking a mirror brings seven years bad luck, but how many know the rest of the story? Throwing the pieces of the broken mirror into running water breaks the curse. Not all superstitions present bad results. It is said that if you bring a frog into your house you will have good luck. In this context some animals in the home are good and some are bad. Spiders are good, doves are bad. Generally, you don't want birds under your roof. If you are on a ship, you want the rats to stay aboard. This is one of the few times a rat is welcome. The reason for this is that rats abandon a sinking ship, or so it is said. If a person dies in the home and weeds start to grow he or she was evil. Hey wait a second, I must be truly evil, I am still alive and get weeds all the time.

Cutting an apple in half and counting the seeds tells you how many children you will have. Before using a new baseball bat, spit on it to bring good luck. Never start making a quilt without finishing it, if you are unmarried, because you will never marry until it is finished. In ancient Ireland travelers didn't get very far. If they encountered a woman with red hair, they had to begin their journey all over again, and there are a lot of red headed women there. Besides western superstitions there are also eastern superstitions. As a matter of fact, superstitions exist in every country of the world. In Japan it is not good to use the number 4 in gift giving. Don't give a four piece gift or a gift of anything with 4 in the name. There is a simple reason for this, 4 is pronounced the same way as death and is considered unlucky. The Japanese that are superstitious believe that you never sleep facing north because when bodies are laid out, they are faced north.

In a provence of India the government is trying to introduce an anti superstition law. It would punish those who make false claims. The bill has been spoken about for over 14 years and has finally been introduced. It is meant to help an extremely superstitious people. The bill took so long to introduce because the legislators had a hard time trying to differentiate between religious beliefs and superstitions. There are people in India that have huge cult followings and some in government claim that they play on people's superstitions and this bill is aimed squarely at them.

In China it is considered good luck to open all doors and windows just before the new year so that the old year can go out. Along with this superstition is the one that states that the entire house must be cleaned before New Year's Day. Everyone in the home, including the sick must be moved from the bedroom until the first visitor arrives on New Year's Day. If one is in the bedroom when this happens, it is considered very unlucky. There are many other Chinese superstitions, here are a few. When a staircase is built, it should have an even number of steps or it is unlucky. If a door faces a road it is bad luck. Door ways must have white cloth on them. In numbers the luckiest number is 8, that is because the same word means prosper. If you clip your toenails at night, a ghost will visit you.

The business about a black cat crossing your path seems to be universal. It is believed in the west, in the east and on the African continent and probably in the rest of the world. Imagine that, some countries didn't have enough superstitions, they had to import more. Africa may have the most superstitions of all. One of the beliefs is that there are people that stay up all night and hide in trees. If you are unfortunate to walk under the tree they are in, you may be urinated upon.

So there you have it, it seems that almost everyone is superstitious. They may not admit it by saying so outright, but most possess that hidden fear that if they do something that is considered unlucky, they will be punished and after all getting a little good luck from a rabbit's foot couldn't hurt.