Superstitions

     If you would ask a person:  “Why are you superstitious?”  They would probably shrug their shoulders and say “I don’t know.”  Or they may try to blame it on the way they grew up or the area they are from.  However, there are basically two factors involved in all superstitions:  fear and ignorance!

     People have a variety of different superstitions that they believe in often depending upon what part of the world they live in.  Most people are familiar with some of the basic ones:  walking under a ladder, having a black cross your path, or breaking a mirror.  But some superstitions are really hard to think about and especially when you realize that there are people who actually believe these things.  Consider:

     A statue of an elephant with its trunk pointing upward and tail pointing toward the door will bring money into a home.

     Mirrors cause paralysis of the face if looked into after one has been eating.

     A glass of “holy” water placed behind the door wards off any evil spirits that may wish to enter a room.

     One should not sleep while exposed to moonlight, as it weakens eyesight and causes insanity.

     Some past superstitions concerning women and child birth are really in the realm of the unimaginable, but they have been shown by modern science to be fallacies.

     A woman who has just become a mother should refrain from washing her hair for 30 days or more after giving birth; she should refrain from taking a bath for 40 days if the baby is a girl, 41 if a boy.

     A new mother may not eat eggs, pepper, acid fruits, or even rice.

     She must avoid going out at night, as the evening dew may cause insanity.

     And here’s one that is really a dilly:  If a woman begins labor, she is told to make an infusion.  This is done by boiling in water two railway signal flags, a red one and a green one, and then drinking the water.  The red flag is believed to be good for stopping hemorrhage, and the green one supposedly shortens labor.

     Of course, on this day (Friday the 13^th) some people are very cautious.  The irrational fear of the number 13 has been given a scientific name:”triskaidekaphobia”; and on analogy to this the fear of Friday the 13^th is called “paraskevidekatriaphobia.”  Try to say those names really fast!

     Some of the things associated with this fear are unbelievable!  We have to remember that every year there is at least ONE Friday the 13^th and some years have up to three!  Long ingrained superstitions are often hard to deal with by many people but that doesn’t make them any less upsetting.  One thing for certain when it comes to how people deal with various situations in their lives:  We’re Only Human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Even with all your fears

you can be certain that after Friday the 13th

will come Saturday the 14th!"