By
Manas
Superstition is a pejorative term for belief
in supernatural causalities – that an event leads to the cause of another
without any natural process linking the two events, such as astrology,
religion, omens, witchcraft, that contradict natural science.
When reading about the discovery of King Tutankhamen’s tomb we came to hear about the Curse of the Pharaoh. The belief in a curse was brought to many people’s attention due to the sometimes mysterious deaths of a few members of Howard Carter’s team.
The Curse of the Pharaoh refers to the belief that any person who disturbs the mummy of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh is placed under a curse. This curse which does not differentiate between thieves and well-intentioned archaeologists allegedly brings bad luck, illness and even death.
The first of the ‘mysterious’ deaths was that of Lord Carnarvon who sponsored the excavation. He was bitten by a mosquito and later he slashed bite accidentally while shaving. It became infected and blood poisoning resulted.
Carnarvon’s death had a medical explanation. But why did it have to happen to him just days after King Tut’s mummy was discovered. Was it just chance? And if the curse really exists, why didn’t it hit the others including Howard Carter?
Superstitious beliefs may have a scientific explanation or a logical genesis. Whether it is true or not, most importantly it is a belief. If we step on a book we touch it to our forehead out of respect or out of superstition? That’s debatable.
Some common superstitions of the world:
- Friday the thirteenth is an unlucky day
- If you walk under a ladder, you will have bad luck
- If a black cat crosses your path you will have bad
luck
- To break a mirror will bring you seven years bad
luck
- Garlic protects from evil spirits and vampires
- Wearing your birthstone will bring you good luck
- If you blow out all of the candles on your birthday
cake with the first breath you will get whatever you wish for
- An itchy palm means money will come your way
- Crossing your fingers helps to avoid bad luck and
helps a wish come true
- After receiving a container of food, the container
should never be returned empty
- When a dog howls, death is near
- Washing a car will bring rain
- You must get out of bed on the same side you got in
on or you will have bad luck
- To kill an albatross is to cause bad luck to the
ship and all upon it
Superstitions in India
-
Donating a sum of INR 101 instead of INR 100. The extra rupee is
supposed to bring good luck.
-
Cutting nails or sweeping the floor after sunset is considered
unlucky.
-
Footwear kept upside down will bring bad luck to both the owner
and the doer.
yeah these superstitions they always make me argue with my grand ma ...... but after all the fight i have had with her i do realize that people have ideas such as there is always some external force which is controlling their life and maybe its like trying to get away with owning up responsibility for instance if an ill omen took place n at the same time something unfortunate happens then i always have a reason other than me to put the blame on ...... or maybe its the way people blindly take up what is served to them, without the will of arguing it.... it becomes something divine to them ..... i mean to some extent we all have superstitions like conveying ur best of luck to ur partner (now that becomes very important before a math exam).... isn't it ....... i mean its just the way we like it ....having blind faith or whatever
ReplyDelete