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.
馃嚝馃嚪 France and 2 moreKing ArthurBrenin Arthur
A legendary British king and folk hero of medieval literature and Welsh mythologyFigure 路 Power and authority 路 Wonder and entertainment Legendary
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomGreen Children of Woolpit
A medieval English legend about two green-skinned siblings who appeared in a Suffolk village.Figure 路 Wonder and entertainment Legendary
馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 3 moreChangeling
A substitute left by supernatural beings in place of a stolen human child or adultBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Legendary
馃嚝馃嚪 France and 1 moreBaphomet
A name from medieval trials and a symbol of occult equilibriumFigure 路 Power and authority Legendary
馃嚛馃嚜 GermanyPied Piper of Hamelinder Rattenf盲nger von Hameln
A medieval legend about a piper who leads children away from the town of HamelinFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Legendary
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 5 moreSibyl危委尾蠀位位伪 (Sibylla)
Ancient Greek prophetesses who spoke divine counsel at holy shrinesFigure 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Power and authority Legendary
馃嚞馃嚙 United KingdomBarghest
A mythical black dog from Northern England that foretells death and haunts the countryside.Being 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Cursing and harm Legendary
馃嚝馃嚪 France and 2 moreMelusineM茅lusine
A water spirit of French and Luxembourgish lore, known for her serpent form and the castles she built.Figure 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Power and authority Legendary
馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 4 moreIriy袙褘褉邪泄
A mythical Slavic realm where souls and birds gather for the winterBelief 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary
馃嚜馃嚜 EstoniaVanapaganVanat眉hi
A giant farmer and underworld figure from Estonian folklore who is often outwitted.Figure 路 Cursing and harm Legendary
馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 5 moreFiddler's Green
A maritime afterlife of endless music and rest for veteran sailorsBelief 路 Wonder and entertainment Legendary
馃嚠馃嚜 IrelandDeath coachc贸iste bodhar
A spectral carriage that signals an unavoidable death in European folkloreBelief 路 Cursing and harm Legendary
馃嚪馃嚫 Serbia and 1 moreVampire pumpkins and watermelons
A Balkan folk tale about ground fruit that turns into vampires.Belief 路 Cursing and harm Legendary
馃嚠馃嚜 IrelandT铆r na n脫g
An island realm in Irish myth where time stands still and youth never fadesBelief 路 Wonder and entertainment Legendary
馃嚛馃嚜 GermanyVril Society
A fictional secret society from conspiracy theories about Nazi Germany and occult energy.Belief 路 Power and authority Legendary
馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceBranchus螔蟻维纬蠂慰蟼
A mortal lover of Apollo who became a prophet and founded an oracle cult in ancient Greece.Figure 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Healing Legendary
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 3 moreSwan maiden
A folk motif where a man steals a bird-woman's feather cloak to force marriage.Figure 路 Love and attraction 路 Cursing and harm Legendary
馃嚡馃嚨 JapanLooking taboo
A mythic rule forbidding a gaze that would bring disasterBelief 路 Cursing and harm Legendary
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Changeling: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
- Baphomet: Eliphas Levi, Public domain, source
- Pied Piper of Hamelin: Edmund Evans, Public domain, source
- Sibyl: Filippino Lippi (1457-1504), Public domain, source
- Melusine: GilPe, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Vanapagan: Kristjan Raud, Public domain, source
- T铆r na n脫g: Arthur Rackham, Public domain, source
- Vampire pumpkins and watermelons: The original uploader was Ke4roh at English Wikipedia ., Public domain, source
- Looking taboo: ArchaiOptix, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Vril Society: John Martin, Public domain, source
- Branchus: Francesco Bini, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Swan maiden: Walter Crane, Public domain, source
- King Arthur: William Morris, Public domain, source