How many people have heard their grandparents tell them never to break a mirror? Who remembers the games of elementary school, when children dared each other to run under a ladder? Who really believes in seven years of bad luck? It seems that these trivial sayings have been passed down to each successive generation, only to further lose any sense of the saying’s origin. These are superstitions, and they differ from culture to culture. According to Funk and Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, a superstition is any unmerited belief in supernatural forces, and may involve certain rituals that attempt to control otherwise unpredictable events (Saliba).
To explain, it is deemed unmerited because there exists no real proof as to whether or not that particular belief holds true. It is interesting, then, that these beliefs persist in culture even today. How did they survive the Age of Enlightenment, and the skeptical attitude of current forward-thinkers? This is an attempt to explain why superstition exists and why it is irrational, and therefore to be done away with. Folk myths, as they are sometimes called, are a result of religion, tradition, and desire for control, and they have been proven wrong through their inconsistencies and actual, verifiable tests.
Commonly, most people tend to believe that superstition only appears where intellect and education is absent. Claudia DeLys, author of A Treasury of Superstitions, claims that superstition originates from the animal-like instincts of primitive man (342). Because humans did not understand the natural world, they invented something to believe in that would make sense. Ulo Valk, Professor of Estonian and Comparative Folklore at the University of Tartu, believes that this is because such primitive cultures are in closer contact with the earth and its perils than modern society (“Superstition in Estonian Folklore”).
However, one expert, who is superstitious himself, argues that even so-called intelligent people believe in superstitions. He holds a cultural belief that giving excessive compliments to someone will bring bad luck, and that it is inauspicious to speak of the dead. Granted, he is still unsure of exactly why he believes these things, but he considers himself to be perfectly intelligent (Baldacchino). Another expert agrees, saying that “unless you are a downright rationalist, you are bound to believe in superstitions” (Karunaratne). Intelligence, it seems, has nothing to do with the presence of folk beliefs.
Religion has long been deemed the largest catalyst to superstitions. While it may not explain why such beliefs persist, it does provide the answer to where they came from. The lucky four-leaf clover was supposedly carried out of Eden by Eve herself (DeLys 475). Richard Wiseman noted in his article for the Skeptical Inquirer that thirteen is considered a blackened number because of how many people were present at the Last Supper. Because a ladder makes a triangle with the ground, it is representative of the Holy Trinity and therefore breaking the triangle by walking through it is dangerous (“The Luck Factor”). However, many of these stories have been forgotten over years past.
People no longer remember why they hold such beliefs, only that they were passed down from the previous generation. Thus, tradition also becomes a key factor in explaining why some superstitions persist. Alec Gill, a folk historian, argues that “superstitions are rarely written down. Thus, their survival is even more remarkable.” Gill analyzes the various superstitions that fishermen live by, which include everything from avoiding washing clothes to not allowing women on board a ship. Bad fortune of any kind is often attributed to a forgotten ritual, and can include everything from fires to stuck gear. These incidents, Gill writes, continue to feed belief in the false connection (“All At Sea?”). However, this only scratches the surface of why it is that people continue to believe in superstition.
Gill also writes in his conclusion that people cling to superstitious beliefs because it makes them feel that they can affect the chaotic natural world. Consequently, this is why folk myths appear to originate in places that have close contact with the nature. A fisherman makes his living on the high seas, and he wants to secure a way to make sure he returns home safely. To some extent, then, Claudia DeLys may be correct in saying that superstition comes from humankind’s primitive stage. However, she fails to explain why people still retain those beliefs, when, as The New Encyclopaedia Britannica says, they “should recede before education and, especially, science” (qtd. in “All At Sea?”). Perhaps the answer lies more with Gill, who argued that what he calls the “gambling spirit” is something essential to human nature.
