Superstitions

The dictionary definition of superstition is ‘credulity regarding the supernatural, irrational fear of the unknown or mysterious, misdirected reverence’. It is not altogether satisfactory, because it fails to lay due to emphasis on the disastrous results of superstitious beliefs and practice in the lives of a vast number of people throughout the world — even today. Superstition can do nothing, but harm. It can destroy the lives of those over whom it gains a stronghold.

Superstition originates in primitive animism which may fairly be described as a false religion. While all great world religions have an element of superstition about them, particularly in their early beginnings, their main teachings are based on the personal leadership of their founders and in every case tend to set the soul and mind of man free from fear and prejudice.

Animism, however — still accepted in tropical Africa and the remote areas of Asia — is entirely different. It is based on the false assumption that every feature of nature has its own familiar spirit, and in order to live at peace with nature, the individual is committed both to please the to appease this welter of imaginary deities. Life becomes a series of ‘restrictive practices’ and there can be no hope of development, for those minds suffer this daily and nightly torture. what, then, are some of these effects? Here are a few examples.

Many primitive races share a fear of the dark. The Jews in Biblical times and the Native Americans in the 19th century were the constant prey of alien marauders. many thousands were slaughtered because they refused to offend the ‘night spirits’ by fighting back after dark. Toda, in tropical Africa, countless cruelties are practiced in remote jungle villages because of superstition. The fertility cults and the puberty rites were undergone by women and adolescent boys and girls defy description — and all this happens to ensure the woman’s ‘productivity and the man’s ‘manhood’, as the requirement of the appropriate spirits.

The more intelligent and therefore less frightened villagers, of course, make capital out of the fear of their fellow tribesmen, by laying down the required offerings and practicing the required ceremonial — all to their own financial advantage. a village can easily be superstitious– not only through tribute-paying but also because the people are afraid to take sensible action to improve their lot for fear of offending the spirits. When the new fish-quay was built near Accra in Ghana as part of a beneficial development plan, the local people spent thousands of pounds on sacrifices to appease the local ‘gods of the sea’, because they were afraid their catches would be poor.

But even sophisticated countries in Europe and Asia have their superstitions, handed on as folklore, or exploited as financial rackets by the unscrupulous. Some are relatively harmless, although others can seriously upset an ignorant person’s outlook on life or harm his pocket. event he Germans use their legend of the ‘black man’, the ‘sweep’ to ensure good behavior from their children at Christmas. the children are told that the sweep visits every house before Christmas and will beat any child who has been naughty! Most of the British superstitions are relatively harmless.

Many people will not walk under a ladder – possible because they think the ladder may collapse or the painter upsets his pot! Many British people ‘touch wood’ if they find themselves confidently asserting an unfortunate thing is not going to happen — perhaps because trees had a magical significance in early  Britain. And again very many people, if they spill salt, throw some over their left shoulders. The theory is that it gets in the devils’ eyes. and no doubt the Chinese, the Malays and the Indians have many similar practices. None of these are especially harmful — yet there are certain other superstitions that can be disastrous.

The worst of these is astrology — the belief that our lives are governed by the stars and the planets. Not only do people pay large sums to those who exploit this racket, but their lives also become just as rigidly circumscribed as those of primitive tribesmen. And this same superstition can be extended to gambling in its many forms and lead to people losing vast sums of money because they rely on a ‘lucky’ number or color charms, amulets and so on — absolutely worthless in every respect — also extract from many people their hard-earned money.

At best, superstition is no more than eccentricity — at worst, a dangerous threat to the serene and untrammeled living. Most of it belongs to our dim ancestry, and as the human race evolves, so will superstition decrease, and, in the end, disappear.