First you have to differentiate between good advice handed down by previous generations and things which were used against you as a child to control your behaviour. For instance, is it unlucky to have peacock feathers in the house? Only for the peacock.
I have experience of the world of whole foods going back to 1971. Superstition is rife amongst brown-rice eaters. Tomatoes are poisonous. Potatoes make you stupid. Monosodium glutamate slows you down mentally. Free salt is far worse for you than salt used in cooking. Never use boiling water when making tea. Even if you do not believe some of the things you are told, they stick in your head like ear-worms and unless you have a mind of steel it is next to impossible to rid yourself of them as you, say, eat a tomato or enjoy the umami effect of the naturally-occurring monosodium glutamate in crunchy, mature Cheddar cheese.
I believe in magic. That is to say that I believe that the belief in magic makes it real whether it is or not.
Paul Bowles has a wonderfully disturbing set of short stories written when he was living in Morocco and smoking hashish from the moment he woke up until the time he should have gone to bed, had he got out in the first place.
In one, a local woman seeks revenge on her unfaithful husband. She steals his folding pocket knife and throws it down a well where it would remain permanently closed. By doing this she is casting a spell on him to make him impotent - which it did. The reason why this spell worked is because she told him what she had done and why she had done it when he asked her what had happened to his knife. The fear and paranoia (exacerbated by habitual kif smoking) of impotence was enough to make the spell come true.
Here is a statistical fact which I always think of when I buy a lottery ticket: You stand more chance of being killed on your way to buy a lottery ticket than you do of winning it.
There are bigger 'superstitions' we hold to too: an uncritical adoration of the NHS; our love of royalty; the belief that Americans have no culture... or that sex is 'dirty'...
ReplyDeleteControversial for a comment perhaps - but it is not intended that way, nor should it be implied that these might hint at my views. It is simply to second your point; that much of what we believe is based on sentiment rather than any facts or rational consistency.
P.S. - and apple pips: full of cyanide we were told; they'll kill you in a flash... well, I'm sixty years old and I still always eat the core.
I cannot say that I am overly guilty of the first three bigger superstitions, but I am very pleased that I was born in England, where dirt is an intrinsic part of the experience. I cannot imagine what it must be like to have sex in Denmark or somewhere close to the Arctic Circle. Apple pips don't contain cyanide, they are full of arsenic which doesn't kill you in a flash. It is an accumulative poison which kills you in high doses over a short period of time. One man collected all his apple pips in a bowl and ate them in one go. He died.
DeleteIf the lottery thing is true then it makes no sense to me that you still buy one (if you indeed do)
ReplyDeleteSamuel Johnson said that the lottery was a tax on fools. I think that answers any questions you may have, Weave.
DeleteMy mother's superstitions were of a country folk variety. I still follow many of them religiously and believe in them.
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear some examples.
DeleteThere is only one certainty about lottery tickets. If you don't buy one you won't win.
ReplyDeleteIn it to win it. I have a friend whose wife forgot to place his numbers one Saturday. They all came up and he started celebrating before she admitted it. They didn't speak for a month or so.
DeleteDoes jinxing fall in the category of superstition? I’m a great believer in that. Don’t ever, ever, ever talk about whatever good thing you are expecting! Because if you do - it will not come true. Much safer to keep things under wraps!! 😉
ReplyDeleteI am often guilty of blurting out potentially good news to complete strangers. Somehow that seems to change the odds in the middle of the race.
DeleteI believe I have outlived all my superstitions.
ReplyDeleteNone at all left?
DeleteWe buy Lotto as I too am a believer that you can't win it if you've not bought it and we never run a set of specific numbers for the very reason your friend was mad at his wife. In the office today we were talking about how you are a Lotto winner all week if you don't check the numbers. Schroedinger's Lotto ticket.
ReplyDeleteBy the same principal, you can also be a loser all your life if you don't join in. I don't believe in that either.
DeleteWhat are the odds of winning when buying a lottery ticket? The odds are poor and I do not participate. Superstitions - None.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you are just a winner in the lottery of life?
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