People who believe in superstitions will go to great lengths to avoid a superstitious notion, like walking around a ladder to avoid going under it. There are many irrational superstitions or what is called supernatural causality—that one event causes another without any natural process linking the two events, such as astrology, religion, omens, witchcraft and prophecies.
Those who believe in superstitions would be superstitious of not believing in them, just the simple idea that if they avoid the superstition, something will happen to them, bad luck or something even more sinister. Superstitions date back to early humans and their attempt to explain nature and their own existence and that animals, objects and nature had connections to the spirit world. Many superstitions come from mythology, this is where omens came from.
Superstition is the term used to explain the fear of the gods or other unreasonable religious beliefs. Greek and Roman polytheists, who modeled their relations with the gods on political and social terms, scorned the man who constantly trembled with fear at the thought of the gods, as a slave feared a cruel and capricious master. Such fear of the gods was what the Romans meant by "superstition".
Superstition is the term used to explain the fear of the gods or other unreasonable religious beliefs. Greek and Roman polytheists, who modeled their relations with the gods on political and social terms, scorned the man who constantly trembled with fear at the thought of the gods, as a slave feared a cruel and capricious master. Such fear of the gods was what the Romans meant by "superstition".
Voodoo) It is also commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, prophecy and spiritual beings, particularly the belief that future events can be foretold by specific (apparently) unrelated prior events.
Superstitions have lived on because they have been past down from generation to generation, and there are probably very few people that don't believe at least one of the superstitions. Superstitions are also used in some religious practices (e.g., There is a thin line between superstition and religion. Many may see the superstition as genuine, while others who don't share the same faith will find it a poor concept and the very notion of what is considered a superstition will be different among different cultures. |
In "Folklore" the term superstition has been replaced with "Folk Belief" which is more of a cultural belief and was a neutral term as a way to avoid cultural biases. Crossing ones fingers to nullify a promise is a folk belief not a superstition because in the folk belief a superstition would imply rejection or irrational.
There are general superstition that most people are aware of like the number 13 and Friday the 13th are bad luck, as we mentioned above walking under a ladder is bad luck, stepping on a crack on the ground or a black cat crossing your path, but there are also superstitions of good luck or good fortune, like finding a penny, "see a penny, pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck", this was a childhood phrase but it is still used today. Some superstition are considered "Wives' Tales", like the bride and groom avoiding each other before the wedding, or throwing salt over your shoulder. The list of superstitions, wives tales, folk lore is huge and you may be surprised how many you were actually aware of. For the complete list - Superstitions, old wives tales, folklore, bizarre beliefs, taboos, omens, lucky & unlucky thingsfrom A - Z Click on the text links.
If we didn't have enough superstitions already we also have superstition that are specific to one group. Theatrical superstitions and generally superstitions particular to actors or the theater. Shakespeare's play Macbeth is said to be cursed, so actors avoid saying its name, and they even avoid quoting any of the lines before a performance, particularly the witches' incantations. Generally it's bad luck to wish some one good luck before a performance, it is traditional for the cast to gather together to avert the bad luck by wishing each other bad luck or cursing – instead using the expression "break a leg". There are even superstition where the theater should always be closed one night a week to give the ghosts a chance to perform their own plays. |
As you can see there is a massive number of superstitions and folklore that are sort of silly and comical and most are to irrational to actually take to seriously, but there are those that do take superstitions very seriously, these are the religious superstitions, although the label “superstition” seems to include a negative judgment of irrationality, childishness, or primitiveness, so it is understandable of religious believers they wouldn’t want their own faiths to be categorized as superstitions. The terms most widely used today are beliefs, miracles, divine interventions, the holy spirits and the like.
"We should get our faith not from objects or rituals of man-made origin, but from the one true God who gives eternal life". “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority” (Colossians 2:8-10) It would be a superstition to believe this, but as we mentioned above because it's a religious belief, superstition would imply it was irrational, childish and a primitive belief. The list of religious beliefs are massive and change from culture to culture and from religion to religion. Trying to just add the links on this page would take up the whole page. If you are interested in finding out more on superstitions, there is an endless supply on the internet, or check out the books we have include on this page. These are available through Amazon.com. When clicking on the image it will take you to the amazon page for either of these books.
"We should get our faith not from objects or rituals of man-made origin, but from the one true God who gives eternal life". “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority” (Colossians 2:8-10) It would be a superstition to believe this, but as we mentioned above because it's a religious belief, superstition would imply it was irrational, childish and a primitive belief. The list of religious beliefs are massive and change from culture to culture and from religion to religion. Trying to just add the links on this page would take up the whole page. If you are interested in finding out more on superstitions, there is an endless supply on the internet, or check out the books we have include on this page. These are available through Amazon.com. When clicking on the image it will take you to the amazon page for either of these books.
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