Are you the superstitious kind? Do you avoid contact with black cats or walking under ladders? Even if you say you are not, you might do things which you cannot really explain. I was watching a movie, Leap Year, last night where the main character was warned continuously about not venturing out or go ahead with her plans because a black cat walked by her.
Many cultures believe in superstition be it the Greeks, Irish, Japanese, Italian, Chinese, to name a few. Each one has an interesting set of superstitions that not many of us have heard of before… sure you hear about the bad luck you will receive if you break a mirror, cross paths with a black cat or walk under a ladder, but there are so many bizarre ones that you do not tend to hear in your social circles.
I am an avid photographer and love to take pictures of anything and everything. In 2004, while visiting an island in Malawi, I came across a very old, run-down colonial house. It was simply beautiful and I wanted to snap a photo of it with two Malawian men sitting in front. As soon as I lifted the view finder to my eye, they scattered shielding their faces asking me not to take a picture. I did not quite understand what was going on until a friend of mine told me that the reason behind their surprising reaction was the fact that they believed their souls would be sucked into the camera once the photo was snapped.
I remember when I was at university someone told me that if I ever passed by a black cat and said ‘Bismillah Ilrahman ilraheem' which means In the name of God the most gracious and merciful, and it ran away then that meant that it was really a Jin disguised as a cat….
A student told me an interesting fact about the number 13 in Thailand. If you turned the two numbers on their sides, it would look similar to this character in Thai ผี which means ghost. Another interesting superstition I heard from a male colleague of mine at lunch time today, says that you should never point your finger at a rainbow and if you happened to do so, then you must stick the same finger up your behind in order to drive away any bad luck.
Makes you wonder where on earth all those superstitions stem from?
I am not what you consider a superstitious person or believed in it much but every now and then I avoid the cracks in the pavement or walking under the ladder, knock on wood or cross my fingers … I cannot really help thinking… WHAT IF IT'S TRUE?
Here are a few interesting superstitions from around the world and where they came from : Enjoy reading and beware of their warnings:
http://www.essortment.com/superstitions-myths-did-come-from-64790.htmlhttp://www.catalogs.com/info/history/common-superstitions.html
http://www.eu-forums.com/tourism/superstitions-in-different-countries-t2356.html
2 comments:
hmmm. superstitions? Would that be like "there are things around us that we cannot see, hear or touch. Let's not wake them up. Don't open your mouth to the devil"! (which sounds much stronger in Hebrew) I have more than enough to say on this subject. But here is what I will do. I will repost an old, old post from a late blog of mine that will tell you what I think. Hope you come over to read it.
Of course I will read it... The saying above sounds interesting and yet so familiar... it makes sense to me... LOL
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