By Ira Sharma
Science has made it possible for the man to reach on the moon. But living in the era of science, some of us still believe in the things called Superstitions. Superstitions are known to be a set of irrational beliefs, rites, rituals or practices that are based on fear or ignorance that one held inspite of its evidence to the contrary.
These are totally inconsistent with the known laws of science taking under consideration especially the supernatural things. The superstitions are baseless and foolish yet they are as old as man. The early man who had no scientific knowledge fell an easy pray to superstitions. Also illiteracy, lack of knowledge and incapacity to reason out are the basis which generate superstitions. Earlier the rural people in particular believed in superstitions. The belief in ghosts and fairies was very common. People used to believe that the ghost lived in particular trees and also at cremation grounds. Sometimes listening to superstitious stories by my grandmother happens to be an entertainment for me. That is the only time I listen to someone very carefully and actually with interest. And also in today’s era any city dweller would have keen interest knowing the beliefs of backward people living in villages. It was believed that ghost operate at night and were visible to some and invisible to others.
But the sad part here is taking advantage of this gullibility, ignorance and innocence of rural people many clever and cunning men turn into controllers of these ghosts and fairies and cheat the innocent people. Even at present, some highly educated people fall an easy prey to them. They are also superstitious. There are many superstitions which are considered to bring bad luck and auspicious in our country. Some of the famous superstitions are as: Black Cat superstitions, Marriage or Wedding superstitions, Friday the thirteenth, Breaking a mirror superstitions, New year superstitions, Solar eclipse superstitions etc.
Examples: If you are going somewhere and if a black cat passes your way, then do not cross it or move back and wait for some other person to cross the path and wait for some other person to cross the path and then cross it. Breaking a mirror is considered to bring seven years bad luck for the person. Friday the 13th occurs when the thirteenth day of a month falls on Friday, holds to be a day of bad luck. Cawing of crow understood to be the possibility to guest coming your home. Coming across a sweeper in the morning is believed to be very unlucky. Seeing a peacock on a journey is a considered lucky, but hearing its shrill sound is considered bad. Leaving the house after sneezing is considered a very bad sign and if someone asks you that where are you going is considered even worse. Cutting of nails at night, Going below the ladder, Spilling salt are some of the other superstitions that are considered bad. Not only this, there are some of the superstitions that are considered to be good for a person and would prove to be very luck or might bring fortunes and charms to them. Some of them are: Spilling of oil, turmeric or kumkum, Cries of dogs; hooting of owls, Meeting 3 sheep, Sleeping facing south, Twitching or blinking of right eye is considered good in case of men and twitching of the left eye or left eye blinking in case of women is considered good and many more.
We are living in the 21st century still we have such stupid and baseless things in our minds. We should develop a scientific spirit of mind and judge everything on the basis of reason.
