“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.”
According to the dictionary, Superstition is an irrational belief arising from ignorance or fear. There are superstitions about almost all aspects of our daily lives, and most have unknown origins.
Thousands of people believe in superstitions although a lot of people think of them as nonsense and not based on reason. We know that the source of the fears is the lack of knowledge. Do you know anyone who does not have a superstition? Most of the people, more or less, believe in them. Even though they deny irrational belief, they cannot help feeling in them. They are superstitious. Unfortunately, we have hundreds of superstitions. Superstitions are all around the world. They change from culture to culture, and they have a significant impact on our lives.
Superstitions live on because they have been passed on from generation to generation. Even today, where direct evidence and facts outweigh superstitious beliefs, there are probably very few people who can deny that they do not at least secretly harbour a slight faith in one or two superstitions. Many of us do not believe entirely in superstitions, but we may follow some because we think it is safer to do so. A superstition is a belief based on fear and not on the laws of science. Science tells us that everything which happens has known cause and effect. Superstition doesn’t consider the real cause and effect of what happens. Instead, fear says that certain things happen because of luck or chance. A careful person might mean you lost the keys because you got up on the left side of the bed and ill-fated your day.
Many rituals are superstitions learned from our mothers and grandmothers, and we feel a connection to those people when we carry them out. The problem arises when our mild fear becomes an obsession. In a general sense, superstitions are a kind of white magic in that people will believe that they’re observing or practising the personal ritual will bring them good luck, prevent illness, and ward off evil. And many superstitions offer procedures for overcoming the negative acts threatened by these premonitions, such as casting a pinch of salt over the shoulder or whispering a blessing after a sneeze.
Many superstitions are so old that we don’t know exactly from where they came or how they started. Some people have studied the history of superstitions or how they began. These historians believe that fears have probably existed as long as people have existed.
There are two types of fear. Good luck superstitions and bad luck superstitions. Some common concerns around the world:
A List of Good Luck and Bad Luck Superstitions
Good luck superstitions
– Wearing your birthstone will bring you good luck
– 7: a lucky number
– A rabbit’s foot brings good luck
– To find a horseshoe brings good luck
– If your right-hand itches, you will earn money.
– If you find a four-leaf clover, you will have good luck.
-A horseshoe hung in the bedroom will keep nightmares away.
– Put a pair of open scissors under your pillow for good luck and to keep away evil spirits
– If you throw rice on a new bride and groom, they will have so many children.
– If you dream about a white cat, you will have good luck.
– If you see a black cat which walks towards you, it brings you good luck.
– If your right ear itches, someone is speaking well of you.
– You can hang up garlic in your house for good luck.
– If you put a mirror just across the door, you will have good luck.
– If you put the sugar into the cup first, before the tea, you will have good luck.
– If you step on your shadow, it brings you good luck.
– If you catch a falling leaf on the first day of autumn, you will have good luck all winter.
Bad luck superstitions
– Wearing an opal when it is not your birthstone is bad luck
-666: The Devil’s number, bad luck
-13: An unlucky number
– To give someone a purse or wallet without money in it will bring that person bad luck
-If you cut your hair or fingernails at night, ghosts will come around.
-If a black cat crosses your path, you will have bad luck
– You must get out of bed on the same side you got in on, or you will have bad luck
-A strange noise heard three times in succession at night, means someone will die.
– If you open an umbrella indoors, it brings you bad luck.
– If you dream about a dog, you will have a lot of enemies.
– If you break a mirror, it will bring you seven years of bad luck.
-If a significant object from someone cracks, it’s a bad omen for them.
– If you sleep with your feet towards the door, a nightwalker will steal your soul.
– If you walk under a ladder, you will have bad luck.
– If a dog howls at night, death is near.
-If a bird flies into your house, death will occur.
-if a bird that comes in your window brings bad luck
– Wild birds inside the house are considered bad luck.
– If you eat from the pot, it will rain at your wedding ceremony.
– If you start a trip on Friday, you will meet misfortune.
– It’s bad luck to leave a house through a different door than the one used to come into it.
– If you feel itching in left hand, you will lose money.
– It is bad luck to sleep on a table
Our fate is written in the stars
Nearly all persons, in nearly times, have held, seriously, irrational beliefs concerning methods of warding off illness or bringing good, foretelling the future, and healing and preventing sickness and accidents. Even people who claim they have no superstitions are likely to do a few things they cannot explain. A superstition is a behavior that has no common basis or history or a history that is long-lost. A few particular traditional societies, such as beliefs in the evil eye or the efficacy of amulets, have been found in most periods of history and most parts of the world. Others may be limited to one country, region or village, to one family, or to one social group.
People feel very anxious to find reasons for all the misfortunes they come across. Being superstitious helps them to hide their mistakes by blaming luck, which, according to them no one can control except God. New studies have revealed that stress makes people not only believe in rituals but also in conspiracy theories and as a result, they are more likely to “see” things that do not exist.
Believe it or not, fear, stress, strain, gloominess, anxiety, makes people “more superstitious.”
The key is to pay attention to your thinking, particularly if you experience any fear, tension, uncertainty, helplessness, unnecessary worry, trouble sleeping, phobic thoughts and exhaustion, for example. If you experience these symptoms or find that you have repetitively ritualized behaviour that’s out of control — superstitious or not — get precise help from a doctor, from your spiritual guru, priests.
Be decisive and confident. People who believe less critical in superstition more and those who are positive are less superstitious. We can only control our actions. What we do shapes our thinking, which then impacts how we feel. Finally, as we are learning, our thoughts and emotions tie into our physiology, and our mental and physical health. What we believe has an effect on our health and wellbeing. When we feel we are miserable and lonely, we probably will be.
“What the mind doesn’t understand, it worships or fears.”