Beliefs, omens and superstitions
Luck and unluck, the evil eye, knocking on wood and the small customs people keep without asking why.
Beliefs, omens and superstitions are the small customs people keep without asking why: knocking on wood, salt over the shoulder, avoiding the number thirteen, the evil eye, a black cat crossing the road, a first visitor of the new year. They are found on every continent and are rarely tied to a priest or book. This page looks at where they come from, what the word superstition hides, and why they persist.
What they look like
Beliefs differ by place. The number four is avoided in China, Japan and Korea because it sounds like the word for death, while thirteen is avoided in much of the West. In India, a sneeze before leaving home may delay a journey, and a lemon and chillies are hung over a shop. The evil eye is feared under many names: nazar, mal de ojo, ayin hara. First-footing at new year in Scotland is said to bring luck to a house.
Whose word is superstition
The word superstition has a history. Roman writers used it for religion they disliked, and Christian writers for forbidden practice. Today it often means someone else's belief. Many religions regard some of their own customs as faith and others as superstition, and where the line falls depends on the speaker. Using the word can mark a speaker as modern and a neighbour as backward. Tests of common superstitions show that people who hold them are not less educated or less rational than others, and many hold them lightly.
Why people keep them
Psychologists find that superstition rises with uncertainty and stakes, which is why athletes, sailors, students and gamblers are known for them. Anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski observed in the 1920s that Trobriand fishermen used rites in dangerous deep-sea fishing and not in safe lagoon fishing. Most people who follow small customs say they do so partly in jest and partly just in case. Similar customs turn up in places that have never met each other, which suggests that people everywhere respond to risk in similar ways.
When belief causes harm
Most superstitions are harmless. Some are not: beliefs about witchcraft have led to killings in parts of Africa, India and Papua New Guinea, and beliefs about albinism have led to attacks in Tanzania and Malawi. Others cost people money, as when a fee is demanded to lift a bad omen. Education, law and trusted community leaders have all been part of reducing harm. Campaigns by health workers, teachers and community radio have been effective where they listen first and explain later.
Belief on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
🇮🇳 IndiaUchchhishtaउच्छिष्ट
A Hindu concept of ritual impurity linked to saliva and food remnantsBelief · Cleansing and purification Living
🇵🇬 Papua New GuineaBaloma
Spirits of departed kin who, Trobrianders hold, place each new child in the wombBeing · Love and attraction Living
🇪🇸 Spain and 2 moreHoly ChaliceSanto Cáliz
A cup believed to have held the blood of Jesus at the Last SupperCharm · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇺🇸 United StatesCurse of Rocky Colavito
A baseball superstition linking a 1960 player trade to decades of team failureBelief · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreChain letterFukou no Tegami
A message that demands copying and forwarding to avoid bad luck or gain fortuneBelief · Luck and prosperity · Cursing and harm Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomChained Oak
A Staffordshire oak bound in chains by a local legend of a curse and an earl.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇱 Israel and 2 moreReligious restrictions on the consumption of pork
A dietary rule found in several faiths that bars people from eating pig meat.Belief · Cleansing and purification Living
🇦🇺 Australia and 3 moreNelson (cricket)
A cricket superstition about the score 111 and the leg-raising ritual to ward it offBelief · Luck and prosperity Living
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreSailors' superstitions
A global collection of omens, charms and taboos used by mariners to manage the risks of life at seaBelief · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreMoney tree搖錢樹
A mythical tree of fortune and a Chinese New Year custom for wealthFigure · Luck and prosperity · Power and authority Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Chain letter: Alpha, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Chained Oak: Gary Rogers, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Nelson (cricket): Lemuel Francis Abbott, Public domain, source
- Sailors' superstitions: Siren Painter (eponymous vase), Public domain, source
- Money tree: Pratyeka, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Uchchhishta: Ebenezergangmei, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Holy Chalice: Vitold Muratov, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Religious restrictions on the consumption of pork: Unknown author, Public domain, source