Superstitions and Prejudices(Additional Information) 1. Amulet is a charm that supposedly has magic power. It may be worn around the neck. Some people believe that amulets protect them from evil, sickness, and witchcraft. Amulets may be made of any material, but many are made of stone. Others are small cloth bags filled with a supposedly powerful object. A tooth or a piece of horn or wood can also serve as an amulet. Some amulets have a symbolic shape, such as crescent. (See a Birthstone).
2. Augur was the title given to people in ancient Rome who interpreted signs for government officials. Romans believed that the gods revealed their wishes through certain signs or omens, such as thunder and lightning, the flight and cries of birds, the movement of serpents. Officials sought the advice of augurs before beginning important tasks. They might delay or cancel great ventures or call off public meetings, if the augurs reported unfavourable signs. Officials used only three augurs in the early Roman Republic. By the 40’s B.C., however, they used 16. Some augurs misused the power of their positions to further their own ambitions. Augurs dressed in a trabea (white garment with a purple border). They belonged to the patrician (aristocratic) class. Today, we use the word augury to mean a happening or an omen that supposedly reveals what will happen in the future.
3. Birthstone is a gem associated with a month of the year. According to tradition, a birthstone brings good luck to person born in its month. Each birthstone also corresponds to a sign of the zodiac. However, the birth dates for each sign do not match the beginning and end of each month. Birthstones: This table shows the gem or gems accepted by most jewellers as the birthstone for each month, and the characteristic and sign of the zodiac associated with each stone. The birth dates for the signs do not match the beginning and the end of the months:
The belief in birthstones may have come from a Bible story about Aaron, the first high priest of the Israelites. The story describes Aaron’s breastplate, which was decorated with 12 precious stones. Early writers linked these stones with the 12 months of the year and the 12 signs of the zodiac. Today, many people wear their birthstones in jewelry to bring good luck.
4. Blarney Stone is a block of limestone in Blarney Castle, near Cork, Ireland. According to legend, anyone who kisses the stone receives the gift of expressive, convincing speech. The stone was set in a tower of the castle in 1446. The legend may have begun after an old woman cast a spell to reward a king who had saved her from drowning, if the king kissed the stone while under the spell, he would gain the ability to speak sweetly and convincingly. Today, the word blarney means clever, flattering, or coaxing talk.
5. Divination is the practice of trying to learn about the unknown by magical or supernatural means. A diviner supposedly can learn about the past, present or future. Some diviners believe they can learn the causes of past events, such as a person’s illness or death. Other diviners, called dowsers, claim they can find the location of underground water. Still others believe they can foretell events, such as when a person will die or whom a person will marry. There are many kinds of divination. For example, necromancy involves communicating with the spirits of the dead. Astrology is an attempt to predict events by studying the positions of the sun, moon, stars, and planets. Some diviners interpret dreams to foretell events. Another type of divination, called palmistry,involves the prediction of events by reading the lines and marks of the hand. Some fortunetellers claim to read messages in coffee grounds, tea leaves, dried mud, or crystal balls. Others use tarot cards, a special pack of pictured playing cards, to tell the future. Tarot cards probably originated in Europe in the 1100’s. Throughout history, people have believed in the powers of divination. In ancient Greece and Rome, prophets known as oracles foretold events by interpreting messages from the deities. Many people with important decisions to make consulted the oracle at Delphi, Greece. At one time, courts used divination to determine the guilt or innocence of criminals. Divination in a trial was called an ordeal. For example, in many witch trials of the 1600’s in Europe and colonial America, a suspected witch was tied up and thrown into water. If she sank, she was considered innocent. If she floated, she was considered a witch and was executed.
6. Evil eye is the supposed power to harm people or their possessions by merely looking at them. According to superstition, an evil person who has this power may use it to cause such misfortune as death, illness, or properly damage. A person may also unknowingly have the evil eye and cause harm unintentionally. To avoid the evil eye, many people utter such phrases as “God bless you” or wear blue beads or other protective charms. For thousands of years, people in many parts of the world have believed in the evil eye. Today, the belief is fairly common in India and in the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
7. Exorcism is the act of breaking the power of the Devil or other evil spirits that influence or control a person. Exorcism presupposes the existence of the Devil as an evil force in the lives of people. The Devil’s influence has many degrees. He can tempt a person to do something wrong, such as lie or commit a crime. He can even dominate an individual by temporarily taking control of the person’s body. When an evil spirit takes control of a person or of a person’s actions, the individual is said to be possessed. A possessed person may go into convulsions, have extraordinary strength or shout crises – with no apparent explanation. Possession is difficult to verify because the phenomenon could result from causes other than evil spirits. For example, a supposedly possessed person might really be suffering a mental or physical illness. Some Christian denominations and other religions have ceremonies for driving out devils and evil spirits. The New Testament tells that Jesus Christ exorcised devils. In the Roman Catholic Church, an exorcism is a ceremony that consists of a series of prayers recited over the possessed person. In the A.D. 200’s, the church established the office of exorcist, one who performs an exorcism. Priests hold this office but require a bishop’s permission to perform an exorcism. The church’s sacrament of baptism and the blessing of holy oil and holy water include prayers that ask God for protection from attacks by devils.
8. Fetish is an object that supposedly has magic powers. Many people worship bones, carved statues, unusual stones, and other objects as fetishes. In some societies, people carry such fetishes as a rabbit’s foot or a “lucky penny to bring them good luck”. Europeans first learned about fetishism (the worship of fetishes) when Portuguese explorers colonized Africa during the late 1400’s. Many African people had fetishes and treated them with great devotion and respect. Fetishism is a type of animism the belief that lifeless things have a spirit. Fetish worshippers believe that the spirit protects them from evil and brings them good luck. A fetish may become an idol,the image of a god, if word of its power spreads beyond the community. Psychiatrists use the term fetishist for a person who has an abnormal sexual attachment for a lifeless object. Such objects may include a lock of hair, a shoe, or a pieceof clothing.
9. Fortunetelling is the practice of predicting future events by methods generally considered illogical and unscientific. Persons who claim to foretell the future are called fortunetellers. Some fortunetellers say they possess a form of clairvoyance that makes them aware of events before they occur. Clairvoyance is the knowledge of events, objects, or people without using any known senses. Scientists do not know whether clairvoyance actually exists. Most fortunetellers do not claim to have clairvoyant powers. Instead, they use special systems of prediction. Some of these systems are complicated, and fortunetellers often say they are scientific. But most scientists consider such systems to be pseudosciences (false sciences). Fortunetelling has been especially popular during certain periods of history. For example, the ancient Greeks and Romans believed the gods spoke to them through prophets called oracles. Many people went to oracles for advice about the future. In later times, the Christian church discouraged fortunetelling. However, an ancient type of fortunetelling called astrology became extremely popular in Europe during the Renaissance, the period from about 1300 to about 1600. Some forms of fortunetelling remain popular today, especially in primitive society and developing countries. Most people in the western world regard fortunetelling as a form of amusement, but many believe in it sincerely. Methods of fortunetelling. Throughout history different fortunetelling methods have been used. One of the most famous methods involves gazing into a crystal ball. Many methods of fortunetelling seem to depend entirely on chance. For example, fortunetellers have made predictions based on the order in which a cock ate grains of wheat placed on letters drawn on the ground. Predictions also have been based on the shape taken by oil poured on water, or on segments of writing chosen from a book at random. However, fortunetellers claim that mysterious causes and relationships, not chance, make their predictions possible! For example, astrology is based on the belief that the sun, moon, planets and stars control the lives of human beings. Therefore, the positions and movements of these celestial bodies supposedly can be used to predict the future. Other fortunetelling systems include numerology and palmistry. In numerology a fortuneteller makes predictions through numbers based on a person’s name and birth date. In palmistry, a fortuneteller tries to foresee an individual’s future by studying the lines, markings, shape and the size of the person’s hand. Some fortunetellers only pretend to rely on special systems. For example, a fortuneteller may investigate a client’s background and then impress the client by relating many things from his background information. A fortuneteller also may rely on a broad knowledge of human nature. The fortuneteller knows what most people want to hear and so makes statements about the future that could apply to almost anyone. The fortuneteller then observes the client’s reactions to these statements and develops a more detailed prediction on the basis of these reactions. Dangers of fortunetelling. Most fortunetelling is based on the idea that mysterious forces control human life. Therefore, a belief in fortunetelling may rob people of trust in their own ability to control the future. Also, some individuals have lost large sums of money to dishonest fortunetellers. Some people argue that honest fortunetellers may give harmless- and even sensible- advice to troubled people who cannot afford psychiatric help. However, there have been cases of businesses and marriages being wrecked because a person has acted on bad advice given by a fortuneteller.
10. Friday is the 6th day of the week. The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon word Frigedaeg, which means Frigg’s day. Frigg was a goddess of love in Norse mythology. The Scandinavians considered Friday their luckiest day. But people today associate Friday the 13th with bad luck. One explanation for this belief is that Christ was crucified on Friday, and 13 men were present at the Last Supper. People have called Friday hangman’s day because it once was the day for the execution of criminals. In memory of the crucifixion, some Christians fast on Fridays, except on a feast day, such as Christmas. Christians observe Good Friday two days before Easter in memory of Christ’s suffering. The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday. Friday is also a holy day among Muslims. Muslims also celebrate the creation of Adam on Friday. `
11. Ghost,according to tradition is a spirit of a dead person that visits the living. Most people do not believe in ghosts, but some do. Reports of seeing or hearing ghosts have been common throughout history – more so in ancient and medieval times than today. Many people enjoy ghost stories, and there have been many books, films and plays about spirits. In most ghost stories and reports about ghosts, the ghost resembles its living form. Many ghosts are transparent or shadowy. Some are pictured as white sheets shaped somewhat like a body. Many ghosts are malevolent. That is, they try to do harm. But some ghosts are friendly. A malevolent ghost is usually the spirit of a person who was murdered or otherwise harmed by relatives or friends. Such a ghost may try to reveal who murdered it – as in W. Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” – or try to frighten the murderer – as in W. Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”. Most malevolent ghosts haunt the place where, in their real form, they died or were buried. A ghost that haunts a place by making strange noises and causing doors, furniture and other objects to move by themselves is sometimes called a poltergeist. Friendly ghosts include Marley in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Marley helps Ebenezer Scrooge, the main character in this famous novel, become a better person. In many stories and reports, a ghost returns from the dead without being contracted by anyone. In others, a medium (a person with special powers) calls the ghost back to earth. Ghosts – which are associated with darkness and night – usually end their visits by dawn. Some ghosts refuse to leave, and several methods are used to get rid of them. These methods include reburying the corpse, piercing the corpse or its grave with a stake, and praying. Ghosts play an important role in some religions. Many American Indians and tribes people in Africa and the Pacific Islands believe in spirits that influence the living world. They perform rites to please the spirits in order to assure success in daily life. Many peoples greatly fear the dead and observe special funeral customs to make sure that ghosts do not return to haunt them. Ghost town. In the 1800’s, many towns, particularly in the United States and Australia, grew up near mines. The towns were once prosperous and full of people. When the mines were worked out, the towns were abandoned. Their ruins are now referred to as ghost towns. 12. Magic is the supposed use of natural or supernatural power by a person to try to control human actions or natural events. Magic often seems to achieve results, but the results may actually have other causes. For example, a person might cast a magic spell to make an enemy ill. The enemy may learn about the spell, become frightened, and actually feel ill. People throughout the world have practiced magic from the dawn of history. But beginning in the 1600’s, science has provided an increasingly greater understanding of the true causes of natural events. This increased scientific knowledge has reduced people’s dependence on magic. But many people in nonindustrial societies still trust in such forms of magic as astrology and fortunetelling. The word magic also refers to entertainment in which the performer does tricks of so-called magic. In such entertainment, neither the magician nor the audience believes that the performer has supernatural powers.
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