Cultural Superstitions
By Aanchal Patel
Cultural superstitions often vary widely across different societies and regions, and they can be deeply rooted in the traditions, beliefs, and folklore of a community.
As we advance, superstitions are still believed to be true as many people follow the idea of superstitions in different cultures from all over the world. For example in the source “13 Superstitions From Around the World” it says that “Apparently it's bad luck to trim your finger or toenails after dark, at least according to superstitions in Turkey, India and South Korea. One Japanese superstition even claims you could have a premature death.” This tells us that in many countries, trimming your nails at night can be bad luck and a hazard at the same time. As in the dark you may not be able to trim your nails probably, causing cuts. In which trimming your nails is believed to make a person get bad luck when you trim them at night as many people are still convinced to trust, making them become cautious to not forget to not trim their nails during night time. A Junior in Hillcrest high school said “One time I tried to cut my nails when I was little , but my parents told me not to cut my nails, saying something bad would happen to me which at that time I didn’t understand but now I know that it was a superstition my parents believed in.” Another cultural superstition believed by the Ancient Greek/Roman, European people that a broken mirror would bring them bad luck. For example in the source “18 Superstitions from Around the World” it tells us “ the Greek myth of Narcissus, or the idea that a crack in a mirror would somehow break its charm or trap one’s soul.” This tell us that there was a conception of believing that a broken mirror would cause harm to a person by bringing bad luck to them in which many people to still to these days believe that a broken mirror should not be kept as it will only bring harm like becoming sick or causing a death due to a broken mirror.
Even though there are many bad superstitions believed in different cultures, there are still some superstitions that give good luck and are believed to be useful. For example in the source “18 Superstitions from Around the World” it tells us how in “Throwing Salt Over Your Shoulder” was a superstition believed by Europeans, Christians, and the ancient Roman people. It was also believed that “‘knocking on wood,’ this superstition also involves the idea of ‘warding off evil’ - in this case, the Devil himself.” This tells us that this was a cultural superstition that believed that if they threw salt over their shoulders they would be able to get rid of any evilness around them. In which they thought by doing this they would be safe from
the evil, making them believe in this practice and using it whenever they want to warn of the evil by just throwing salt over their shoulders. Also according to “20 bizarre superstitions from around the world and the meaning behind them” it says “According to legend, if the first thing you say on the first day of the month is "rabbit rabbit," you'll have good luck for the rest of it. Alternatively, if you forget to speak the magic words in the morning, you can say "tibbar tibbar" (rabbit backwards) right before you go to bed that night.” This tells us that this superstition in the UK is practiced as a way to have good luck for the rest of the month in which this practice has allowed people to believe in the idea of getting good luck by saying the word rabbit. These superstitious practices allow people to believe that by doing these superstitions they will get good luck which will help benefit them. Many cultures believe in different superstitions allowing for varieties of beliefs from all over the world.