SUPERSTITIONS Jillian Stringfellow

WHAT IS A SUPERSTITION?  Superstitions have been around since the beginning of man kind. It’s the irrational fear of the unknown. Many people fear the idea of death, and they tend to create these superstitions based off of things that they see in their every day life. Like the unlucky number 13, or that spilling salt on a table will give you bad luck for 7 years.

SUPERSTITION EXAMPLE:  An example of superstitions that many tend to believe is the one about the black cat. It is to be said that if one is to cross paths with a black cat, they have misfortune coming to their future.  A book written in 1584 called Beware the Cat talked about witches, and how black cats were said to be witches in disguise.  During the middle ages, black cats brains were used for witch hunters and spells that were used to ward them off.

MAGIC AND SUPERSTITIONS  Magic and Superstitions have the same origins. They both spring from the belief in supernatural forces that can possibly control the courses of peoples lives and the way they live it. Due to the superstitions that people have believed over time it brought the idea of magic and ways to ward off the fear, summon good fortune and placing angry deities on others.

WHITE MAGIC  Superstitions are related to white magic in the way that people will believe that the rituals they are practicing will supposedly bring them good luck, prevent illnesses and ward off evils. Superstitions and white magic both have to do with ways of over coming negative acts by threatening omens.

BLACK MAGIC  Black magic can relate to superstitions because it is what superstitions are warding off. In another sense it is what the people fear. Black magic is the act of evil that causes harm to others. Superstitions are made around black magic and fear what the “harm” may be, the superstitions is made to ward off the evil sports that black magic brings.

ANCIENT SUPERSTITIONS  During ancient times, they created objects that are similar to good luck charms that we have today, but they were called talisman. Talisman were created to put magical influences on evils spirits and frighten them away.

EARLY CHRISTIANITY  Early Christians changed the meaning of superstitions to a more negative side. The church fathers used roman statues as their new idols, starts sending scarifies to the devil, and oracles as the voices of common demons. These acts were said not to be ones of those who belong to religion, because religion is through true belief. Lactatius said that they were of superstitions, because superstitions are just false beliefs.

ANCIENT GREEKS  Superstitions were first used in a positive way during ancient times. The Greeks called superstitions deisidaimonia, which was referred to as “God- fearing”. It wasn’t until B.C.E when superstitions became warding off the negative. It was the character of one man who had an obsession with warding off the anger of god. After this the negative superstition because more common.

MEDIEVAL SUPERSTITIONS  Many superstitions that we know about today derive from the ideas they had during medieval times, like the ideas of witches, Jack-o-lanterns and Halloween. It was believed that witches flew on broom sticks because horses repelled them, which is why people would hang the horseshoe above doors. Halloween was said to be the night when witches could roam free on the land or it was the night of the dead to early Christianity. Halloween was actually recorded all the way back to 800 AD.

NIELS BOHR  For many years it has been said that a horseshoe is to bring good luck. One example of superstitions believers is Niels Bohr, above the door in his laboratory he would have a horseshoe. He said even though he didn’t believe in superstitions it’s still said to bring him good luck with his experiments and projects.

MODERN SUPERSTITIONS  Unlike in the earlier time, superstitions today are less likely to go against modern religion an is more likely to oppose with science, modern life style or reason. Research has been done recently to discover which groups of population are most likely to believe in superstitions and which ones those might be.

QUESTION  What are superstitions?  Why is magic usually associated with superstitions?  Where did many superstitions we know today derive from?  What was the horseshoe said to do?  What is it called when an act of evils causes harm to others?

SOURCES  Life in Ancient Rome. New York: Oxforn University Press, n.d. Print.  superstition." Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Web. 15 Nov  "magic." Britannica School. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., Web. 15 Nov  O'Neil, Mary R. "Superstition." Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd ed. Vol. 13. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 15 Nov  "Superstitions." The Gale Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained. Ed. Brad Steiger and Sherry Hanson Steiger. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 17 Nov  "Superstitions, Strange Customs, Taboos, and Urban Legends: Introduction." The Gale Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained. Ed. Brad Steiger and Sherry Hanson Steiger. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 17 Nov  O'Neil, Mary R. "Superstition." Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd ed. Vol. 13. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 17 Nov. 2013