Superstitions

The Oxford Dictionary tells us that the word, 'Superstition' means an 'irrational fear of the unknown or mysterious', a belief 'regarding the supernatural' and ' a religion or practice or particular opinion based on such 'irrational or unreasonable convictions.

Superstition is found all over the world. It knows no political creed, nationality ,race,religion,age,color,or sex. Even in scientifically advanced countries many people believe in superstition. Of course, the advancement of science has removed several superstitious beliefs. Electric light has done a yeoman's service to mankind in this matter.The superstitious beliefs of one race of religion or country or caste or age look foolish to another. It is surprising to know that common superstitious beliefs unite people in the same way as a religious or a political creed does.Darkness is closely connected with superstition. The devil or the ghost is supposed to live in the dark. So people often believe that a deserted house is a haunted house. Even electrification has not fully removed the fear of ghosts. Some people believe that even an electrified house may be a haunted one.

Some superstitious beliefs deal with luck and ill-luck. Using the right and first to receive or to to touch a thing is considered to be good. While entering the house of the bridegroom, a bride is advised to place her right foot first inside the house in order that her married life may be a happy one. If a man, stepping out of his house on a good mission or on his professional work,sees a pair of brahmins, a cow, a funeral procession, a wife, or a fox, it will bring success or profit to him. But if he sees a single brahmin, a widow, a buffalo, cat, or an oil-vendor, he will face failure or loss on that day.
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Passing underneath a ladder kept inclined upon a wall is said to bring ill-luck. Lighting three cigarettes with a single lighted match is considered to be harmful. The appearance of a comet in the sky is a harbinger of the death of a king or that of a civilizations. Eclipses are also thought to be harmful. Particular stars are said to make men's lives prosperous or miserable if they were born when those stars were in the ascendant. If it rains drops of blood or if there is a black rain, it is ominous and some calamity is sure to befall the land. The marsh gas is often taken for the Will of the Wisp or Ignis Fatuus, a misleading light.

Wells,trees and caves are often believed to be the habitation of ghosts. If a man or a woman falls into a well and dies of drowning, his or her ghost is said to be residing in the well. If a man is hanged or hangs himself upon a tree , his ghost begins to reside in it. Natural calamities like the earthquake, flood,famine,pestilences,drought,and volcanic eruptions are attributed to the anger of God or that of a Goddess. To appease the deity's anger human sacrifice was given in the past. In modern times some other sacrifices and prayers are offered. Yajnas are also conducted. There is a universal belief that a man or a woman can be possessed by a ghosts and spirits with different forms and powers. The belief in fairies is notable. Some fairies are helpful to human beings and some are harmful.

Some greedy and superstitious men offer human sacrifices to a God or Goddess to get a huge treasure or enormous wealth all on a sudden. They usually kill whole children before the idol. Offering human or other kinds of sacrifice o Gods before going to war or before starting the fight in the battlefield was a common practice.Madness, diseases and incurable ailments like epilepsy were also believed to be caused by magic or supernatural powers.

The belief in witchcraft and the human deeds done to punish witches during the middle ages can never be left out of the social history of mankind. Many women, young and old, were suspected to be witches and put to death in several inhuman ways. A poor woman or poor widow who was hated by a neighbor was advertised to be a witch. She was believed to say her prayer backwards at church to make the regular prayer ineffective. If there was a cat in her house, they said she sent it out to the neighbors' houses at night , having pronounced some charms upon it. It entered a house, became a man who stole some vessels, came ti the witch and handed them to her. She pronounced some charms upon him and changed him into the cat again. In truth, the neighbor herself would have secretly brought and placed some vessels for her house at the witch's house without her knowledge. She made a hue and cry, and brought the other neighbors to the suspected woman's house to show them her vessels and the cat. The witch was arrested upon that proof.

If there was a broomstick in the suspended woman's house, it was another proof to show that the woman was a witch. It was believed that the witch rode upon the broomstick through the air to join other witches in distant countries. They danced together and sometimes they danced with devils, whom they could command. Before dawn the witch returned home upon the broomstick.The arrested witch was tried by some magistrates. The methods adopted to convict her most inhuman and most irrational. She was compelled to insert her fingers in boiling oil or in boiling waters. If her fingers were found hurt , they concluded that God punished her for her having been a witch. If , by by some chance, her fingers were unhurt by the boiling oil or by the boiling water, she was still a witch because they thought that she had saved her fingers by her magic powers.
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She was thrown into a fast-flowing river. Or her head was kept immersed in a tub of water till she died. Or , she was openly burnt to death at a stake. Joan Of Arc was burnt to death in France on the charge of being a witch. Several thinkers and social reformers of the 18th century England investigated at the cases of witches who were arrested and convicted on false evidence and on the basis of popular Superstitions. Joseph Addison, a famous author, published his views on witches and witchcraft in his famous book, 'The Coverley Papers' with a view to reform the society. By and by the government of Britain passed suitable laws to protect the poor and wretched women who might be troubled by the public as witches.

About a million women were put to death on the charge o being witches during medieval period alone. Superstitious beliefs generally lead to great harm to the lives of human beings, animals and birds. They cause a lot of destruction. Shakespeare's plays abound in numerous examples for it.But some superstitious beliefs produce good results. Mother Teresa heard a voice while she was, as a girl, traveling by train, asking her to dedicate her life to the service of humanity. Dr. Schweitzer too was influenced by a similar voice. Oracles and ghost possessed people sometimes tell the truth and prevent disasters. The superstitious beliefs concerning dreams sometimes produce harmful effects and sometimes, good effects.

Superstitious beliefs all over the world are still fit to be researched upon. Repeated occurrences of certain actions under particular situations may be the basis of such beliefs. Telepathy and clairvoyance are not the monopoly of the chosen : some rustics too once in a way predict things or describe , in the name of a dream, what is taking the place at a different place at the moment. Telepathy and clairvoyance may have some connection with some superstitious beliefs.