#superstitions

When the Catalan folklorist Joan Amades (1890-1959) went around the Catalan Countries collecting beliefs, traditions, and superstitions, he found that in many places it was common to bury people with certain objects that the deceased could use to bribe Saint Peter.

Saint Peter is the saint who Christians believe guards the gates of Heaven. He decides who gets in and who stays out. So it's important to be on his good side!

Here are the traditions that Joan Amades compiled in his book about death customs:

Bury the dead with tobacco so they can give it to Saint Peter, because the saint loves to smoke with his pipe. Alternatively, in some places they said to put both the tobacco and a pipe in the dead person's pockets.

If a child dies, put sweets in their coffin so the kid can give them to Saint Peter and make sure to be let into Heaven.

For prostitutes, the ethnologist says: "Among brothel women, it is a widespread belief that, even with their sins, they will be allowed into Heaven if they preserve one of the graces that they refuse to cheerfully waste in their lifetimes, so that they can give it to the gravedigger -according to some- or to Saint Peter -according to others. It is a grace which we do not dare to specify". Oh well, we will have to imagine what it was!

with my very, very unbiased expert 🐰 commentary

If a pet rabbit’s fur has become thicker, winter will be cold; if it has become thinner, winter will be warm.

you don't say.

Wearing a hare’s or rabbit’s paw as an amulet brings good luck; losing it brings misfortune.

of course the main thing is here, of course.

If a hare crosses your path, it portends joy and happiness; if it runs past you from behind, it portends trouble.

I imagined a scheming hare analyzing, thinking, how it should run near this exact person.

If you find a hare’s track in the snow, you should dig it up, turn it over, and bury it again so that evil spirits won’t cause trouble.

that's something new. evil spirits, are you seriously afraid of this?

"You have decades long worth of education over me in my field of study", I would honestly be telling a fresh graduate in this field realizing that scientific advances cannot be reviewed out of a consolidated bibliography, for example, that spans the prior art during such period as a researcher will need to be exposed to them in formal or academic settings.

On the other hand, I'd already have managed to build a progressive career toward realizing material benefits, which would prepare me anyway to appreciate knowledge brought by newcomers to the field who will constitute the workforce that propels further achievements and so on.

Superstitions - are beliefs or practices based on irrational thinking, chance, or metaphysical ideas rather than scientific evidence, often linking unrelated events to outcomes of good or bad luck. They arise from a psychological need for control, as people tend to seek patterns and explanations in uncertain or stressful situations, leading to the creation of rituals or beliefs intended to influence outcomes.

I still hold that if someone abandon their field of study or do not practice what they were trained to do, they may fall in the trap of being a medium of superstition pinging at large. Further, and since the overwhelming majority of us anchor our lives around divine connections or by holding high our moral values ahead of any material practice, negligence in this department will expose our psyche after which we may need to consider an adjustment to our behavior.

Image is due to ChatGPT AI search engine.

Humans believe we’re rational, cerebral beings. That we rely on logic, science, and mathematics to interpret out life and the world around us…until we break a mirror. Or see a black cat in our paths. Or throw a penny in a well. But why do we do that? And where do these strange practices originate from? 

Breaking mirrors- Mercury Poisoning and Narcissistic Romans.

How many people have broken a mirror in their lives? Playing baseball, out of anger- either way, the superstition is something that probably lingered in the back of your minds. The saying goes that if you break a mirror, you’re cursed to have bad luck for seven years. But why? Unsurprisingly, it’s the Greeks and Romans fault. People in Ancient Greece believed that reflections were a pathway to the soul. But the romans were the ones who actually manufactured the first mirrors out of polished bronze, and they believed their gods watched their souls through them. Damaging mirrors was illustrated as disrespectful to the gods, as if they didn’t want their soul to be seen, and therefore caused bad luck. There is also another popular theory, and that contains mercury poisoning! In the 1400s people made mirrors containing mercury, which as we know today, is HIGHLY TOXIC. When these mirrors would break the mercury vapours would come out, and it could poison whole families and lead to physical symptoms, such as hallucinations, trembling, neurological damage, comas, or even death. The seven years is roughly the time that it takes for severe mercury poisoning to start showing physically. The people in this period didn’t know that their mirrors were killing them, and instead blamed it on their bad luck. 

Black Cats- Cute, Cuddly, and Carriers of the Bubonic Plague

Picture this- it’s 1348. The plague has killed your neighbours, family, and maybe even lovers. You’re venturing out of your boarded up house to get some groceries, and a black cat crosses your path. Nowadays this wouldn’t be an issue. You’d pet the cat and go on with your life, but back then? It was a death sentence. But why are they feared? Blame the fleas. Or more specifically, blame the plague that the fleas carried. As we know today, rats weren’t the cause of the bubonic plage, it was fleas that travelled in traders’ ships from Spain. Rats were just their bus. However, rats weren’t the only mammal in Europe that carried them. Cats and dogs were also plague-carriers. Black cats however were especially feared for numerous reasons, being that they were harder to spot, you couldn’t easily see flea movement or symptoms, and pest-infected animals were not a good idea to be around. Black cats still get a bad rep from something that happened years ago. There’s no need to fear them. Or is there…?

Wishing Wells- Throwing Coins in a Hole all Around the World

I know most people as a child threw money into a wishing well or fountain. Or maybe tried to steal from one. Either way, it’s an odd superstition that’s apparently been around for thousands of years. Let’s go back to ancient Europe, where the ancient druids were roaming about, doing whatever ancient druids do! They believed that sacred wells held the power to grant wishes and bring health and prosperity to them and their families. They would leave offerings of jewellery, coins and even weapons like swords or daggers. Whether there was any founding for this I’m not sure, but it wasn’t just them that believed water held a great power. Ancient romans threw coins into fountains as offerings to their gods, people in China throw coins into rivers as offerings to the river gods for protection and affluence, and even some native American tribes see springs as sacred and make offerings to honour and show respect to the water spirits. Apparently throwing hard-earned coins into bodies of water is an international thing!

Whistling Outside, at Night, or Indoors- When are we Even Allowed to?

“Whistle While You Work” is a famous song from Snow White, the first ever Disney film. I can imagine people whistled a lot more after watching that movie, however whistling is seen as bad luck in many countries. The only differences? When and where its bad. In turkey for example, whistling at night is deemed as calling out to the devil. Russia and other Slavic cultures, however, believe that whistling indoors believed to bring poverty. There is even a Russian proverb saying, "whistling money away." In the UK, there is a superstitious belief in the "Seven Whistlers" which are seven mysterious birds or spirits who call out to foretell death or a great calamity. There is even a famous case in the 1800s that hundreds of mine workers stopped working for day, saying that they heard a whistle and proceeded to refuse to work.