We call each other perfectly rational beings, pride ourselves on our ability to call a spade a spade, deduce logical conclusions, and banish ignorance as one of the chief evils way into the past, where it rightfully belongs. However, despite all said and done, there are more than a few occasions when many give in to old wives’ tales, folklore, stories about supposed jinxes, hexes, and curses, and then do the unthinkable, sometimes bordering on the plainly absurd.
Like take for instance, the old notion of people going to great lengths to avoid walking / driving, if a black cat chooses to cross their path. Last weekend, I was surprised to see my neighborhood spry ladies huddled together in the park, bringing their evening walk to a standstill. When listening-to-music-me hastened to cross them, I couldn’t help but detect a look of pity on their faces, much to my bewilderment. It was only when a pair of greenish-blue eyes stared out at me from behind a hedge that I understood that I had dared to do what the others had stopped for. I had done the unthinkable – walked, when a feline had chosen to cross the path, and hence the tons of sympathetic looks that came my way. My day – considering that I had spent the most part of the day with my two best friends, I wouldn’t say my day went bad (chuckle).
Back in school, I would scoff each time one of my classmates / friends would burst into recitation, upon seeing magpies / sparrows. Seeing one of these birds was a sure-shot indication of ill-luck, though seeing a pair would often make the schoolgirls breakout into impromptu dances of ecstasy.
While leaving one’s place, if someone calls out to you, it is believed that whatever task you are setting out to do, will remain undone. Pshawwww, I say. However many times my brother would call out my name, I would still have to make my way to the dreaded dentist and his high chair, and return home, teary-eyed, jaws-swollen-with-anesthesia - the only silver lining being the soothing ice-cream that my Mom would lovingly feed me with.
Debt is long considered to be the bane of anyone’s lives. Understandably, there are quite a few superstitions about it. Moving your leg causes you to go into debt, as does rattling keys. Cutting your nails on bed at night is sure to get you robbed, they say. I’ve cut my share of nails, on the bed that too, but fortunately, haven’t ever been robbed. Touch wood. Tee hee.
Ever the sloppy one of the house, I have, on numerous occasions, spilled salt at the dinner table. They tell me now that I ought to have ”undone” the jinx by tossing it over my left shoulder for every time I was slipshod.
It is said that “time heals all wounds.” Some say that it originated from the superstition that breaking a mirror can bring you bad luck for 7 years. A mirror was considered to be the window to the viewer’s soul – if one broke it, it would take those many years for that “cracked” soul to heal.
Walking below a ladder is definitely a “stairway” to damnation. So is stepping on a crack in the sidewalk – something that even Leonardo DiCaprio is reluctant to be “departed” from.
When my Mom was pregnant with yours truly, she was advised not to go outside, lest I would be born with a facial birthmark. Stubborn she however, refused to relent, and did venture out…Some months later, a bonny child made a grand appearance in all her dimpled glory. And no, there was no mark on her face.
It is said that one should refrain from using the same match to light three cigarettes. God knows the reason behind it.
The last one is a classic – eat something green and leafy on New Year’s Day. That will ensure that you never have to worry about paying your bills, and will bring your riches and happiness throughout the year.
Salad, anyone? ;-)
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