Superstitions: The Quirky, Clinical, and Spiritual
My Hawaiian grandmother taught me that taking lava rocks from beaches and volcanoes would upset Pele. Her Orthodox Catholic friend taught me I should do the sign of the cross every time I pass a cemetery. Black women taught me it’s bad luck to sweep someone’s feet. The ones from the South taught me you should serve black eyed peas with your New Years dinner for good luck.
Sometimes I tap the door handle an extra time or two because the first one just didn’t feel right. My brain tells me “it’s better to play it safe than have a bad day”. Saying it aloud sounds bizarre but in that moment, I am the master of my own universe - preventing unknown chaos with just a few light taps.
Hey, no one said superstitions were logical. In fact, by very definition they are “unjustified”.
superstition (noun)
su·per·sti·tion [soo-per-stish-uhn]
a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation.
a widely held but unjustified belief in supernatural causation leading to certain consequences of an action or event, or a practice based on such a belief.
a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge, in or of the ominous significance of a particular thing, circumstance, occurrence, proceeding, or the like.
Superstitions can be quirky, clinical, or spiritual. They can come from an ancestral practice passed down through generations, a routine that was created based on association being swapped for causation (hockey players, I see you…), or simply a habit with unknown origins but seems odd to actually let go of after doing it for so long.
If you see the numbers 13 or 666, what comes to mind? Do you avoid walking under ladders? Did you ever have a rabbit’s foot keychain?
Time for show-and-tell! Do you have any superstitions? Where did they come from? Why do you still believe them?
Thanks for reading and remember… forward this to 5 friends for good luck! 🍀
This is me both exploring AND holding myself accountable as part of a 7-day writing challenge by Cole Schafer. He coughs up a prompt and suggests writing for 45 minutes, editing for 10, then posting. So, here we are… Welcome to my wacky week!
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