What are superstitions?
Superstitions can be defined as, "irrational beliefs, especially with regard to the unknown"
(Collins English Dictionary)
Examples of superstitions:
Bad luck:
Unlucky to walk underneath a ladder.
Seven years bad luck to break a mirror. The superstition is supposed to have originated in ancient times, when mirrors were considered to be tools of the gods.
Unlucky to see one magpie, lucky to see two, etc..
Unlucky to spill salt. If you do, you must throw it over your shoulder to counteract the bad luck.
Unlucky to open an umbrella in doors.
Good luck:
Lucky to meet a black cat. Black Cats are featured on many good luck greetings cards and birthday cards in England.
Lucky to touch wood. We touch; knock on wood, to make something come true.
Lucky to find a clover plant with four leaves.
White heather is lucky.
A horseshoe over the door brings good luck. But the horseshoe needs to be the right way up. The luck runs out of the horseshoe if it is upside down.
Horseshoes are generally a sign of good luck and feature on many good luck cards.
On the first day of the month it is lucky to say "white rabbits, white rabbits white rabbits," before uttering your first word of the day.
Catch falling leaves in Autumn and you will have good luck. Every leaf means a lucky month next year.
Cut your hair when the moon is waxing and you will have good luck.
Putting money in the pocket of new clothes brings good luck.
Experiencing a superstition:
I remembered 3 years ago, when we my family and I were in China, we came to a spot full of clovers. I was told from my father that I would be lucky to find a clover plant with four leaves. I did not know understand the rational behind this, but outof curiousty, I started searching for one anyway. Not too long later, I found a four leaf clover. I was fascinated; Ii had never seen a four leaf clover until now. On the rest of the tour, I held it close to me, despite my parents persuasion to throw it away.The day before we left China, there was this lucky draw, and with my amazing luck, I won a thumbdrive. This was one of the better prizes, worth (S$20) then, instead of pens pencils etc.
From that incident, I regarded my clover luck charm as my hero. I kept it in the cupboard until it rotted away..and now my luck seemed to melt away too..
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Dear Nicholas,
ReplyDeleteI believe that the experience with the four-leaf clover is merely luck, and not truly because of the magical purposes it serve.
However, I feel that we should not overly rely on the superstitions.
In fact, I feel that it is more of a psychological cycle.
For example, when the four-leaf clover rotted away, the human mind would feel that it can have an excuse for not doing well. Therefore, the human lacks motivation since it has somewhat an excuse.
On the other hand, when you have the four-leaf clover and were told that it would bring good luck, you would try to the best of your ability to work hard so as to live up to its name.
Therefore, it all comes back to motivation, encouragement and hard work!
Oh, and Nicholas, remember to acknowledge your source: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/superstitions.htm
It is alright to copy the information and examples, but you must remember to thank the source, for it would be considered plagiarism otherwise!!
Best Regards,
Nathan :)
Hi Nicholas,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about all the different superstitions :) I personally do not believe in superstition. I think that the main reason behind superstition is coincidence and the want to believe in something. When I look at your example, I am reminded of a Latin saying. I forget what the exact words were, but it roughly means "because this happened after that, that causes this". Because you won the thumbdrive after finding the clover, the clover caused you to win the thumbdrive. I think that kind of mentality causes superstitions to occur.
Anyway, its just my opinion and maybe clovers are really good luck XD
Kenneth Pay (20)
Superstitions allow us to do strange things, done for things which are strange and are baseless. Catching 12 leaves during autumn does not necessarily mean you have 1 entire year of good luck. These superstitions are mostly about good/bad luck though. Luck is something which is too complex for most of us to really understand. One could say that it is unreliable, but others could say that it exists. In the event that you 'so happen' to find something good, what can you call it? A gift from God? As for the lucky draw, it could also have been sheer coincidence, and finding the clover is more likely NOT to have an impact on the result of the draw.
ReplyDeleteJust my two cents though on the matter. :/
Alex Liew (17) 2i1