“Superstitions is the child of ignorance and the mother of misery.” By Robert G. Ingersoll.
“Cause” and “effect” are so ambiguous for human instinct. The human nature doesn’t believe in the unknown and just tend to give some logic explanations to the so- called Superstitions.
The word itself comes from two Latin words. “Super” which means above and “Stare” which means to stand. In the times of the Romans, those men who were lucky enough to have survived hand-to-hand combat were named ” superstiti “.
The growth of superstition came out of ancient times, before higher education and scientific reason took hold in logical minds. As it was then, so it is now that the ignorance of not knowing how something works or happens causes some people to assume it has something to do with divine intervention rather than something of natural origin. At the time, examples of such inexplicable natural occurrences were: Thunder, Lightening, Earthquakes, Tornados, Tidal waves, Hurricanes and Fires. Of course, now, each of these natural phenomena has long since been explained away by scientific reason. But, imagine living in times before such knowledge existed. It isn’t hard at all to understand where superstitions developed from and that people believed these natural disasters were caused by an angry, supreme being of some sort.
Friday The 13th:
The origins of Friday superstitions are many. One of the best known is that Eve tempted Adam with the apple on a Friday. Tradition also has it that the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower of Babel, and the death of Jesus Christ all took place on Friday. Friday came to be called “witches’ Sabbath.” For it was believed that on this day, each week, twelve witches and the Devil met – thirteen evil spirits up to no good! This is one of the reasons for today’s superstition about Friday the 13th.
It’s Bad Luck to Walk Under a Ladder
This came from the early Christian belief that a leaning ladder formed a triangle with the wall and ground. You must never violate the Holy Trinity by walking through a triangle, lest you be considered in league with the devil. (And you all know what good Christians did to people they suspected of being in league with the devil!)
Don’t Spill Salt
Although some people believe that Judas spilt salt during the last supper, this claim can’t be proven. Salt was a very precious expensive commodity in the middle ages. It was also used for medicinal purposes. But according to the superstition; if you spilled any, you must immediately throw it over your left shoulder to strike the nasty spirits in the eye, thus preventing sickness.
Black Cats Are Evil
In ancient Egypt, the Goddess Bast, was a black female cat. Christian priests wanted to wipe out all traces of other religions so convinced their ignorant followers to destroy the evil demons that were black cats. While they were at it, they destroyed the kindly little old ladies who cared for the cats believing them to be witches.
Breaking Mirrors = 7 Years Bad Luck
Some time ago (ancient Romans, if I remember right), people believed that reflections were actually glimpses of the viewers soul. People had gazing pools in their gardens in which they could look at themselves. A really mean thing to do was wait until a person was gazing at their reflection and throw a stone in the water because the disruption of the reflection affects their soul and bring about bad luck. We don’t have gazing pools anymore, but the mirror breaking superstition still lives on!!
Knock on Wood
Few people know why they do it, but still today when we mention something good that is supposed to happen in the future, many of us “knock on wood” twice to keep from jinxing the expected good fortune. Once upon a time, it was thought that trees were the homes of the gods. When in need of a favor or some good luck, one politely mentioned this wish to a tree and then touched the bark, representing the first “knock.” The second “knock” was to say “thank you.”
Trick or Treat
The Druids believed that on October 31st, the dead rose from their graves to revisit their old homes. The frightened villagers would put out offerings of fruits and nuts to keep the wandering souls from destroying their homes and property. Today we no longer practice this superstition, but instead we make light of it by dressing our children up (many of them AS the dead) and sending them out to collect goodies from our (no longer fearful) neighbors.
Opening an Umbrella Inside
This superstition comes from the idea that an umbrella is a protector against the storms of life. If you were to open one in your home, the household guardian spirits might think you felt their protection was insufficient, and then they’d leave in a huff. Everyone in the house would then be cursed without the spirit protection.
Humanity as a whole will always seek to understand its surroundings and will interpret it by this understanding. However we should start saying this word “NO IF”. I think it’s time for us to wake up because if, now, we’re giving our ancestors some excuse for fear from the “unknown” caused by ignorance; believe me our descendants will never excuse us but will blame us if we just kept silent, going believing and transferring “superstitions to them”. Superstitions we now interpret into belief, omens and luck!!!
5 Comments
Thank you for another essential article. Where else could anyone get that kind of information in such a complete way of writing? I have a presentation incoming week, and I am on the lookout for such information.
Great article, keep em’ coming!
Excellent weblog here! Also your site a lot up very fast! What host are you the use of? Can I am getting your affiliate link on your host? I want my web site loaded up as fast as yours lol
very well find through which time frame most of us liveAs the Novice, We are often searching on line for content that will help us. Many thanks
The new Zune browser is surprisingly good, but not as good as the iPod’s. It works well, but isn’t as fast as Safari, and has a clunkier interface. If you occasionally plan on using the web browser that’s not an issue, but if you’re planning to browse the web alot from your PMP then the iPod’s larger screen and better browser may be important.