ITCHY PALM- Good luck, BREAKING A MIRROR – Bad luck, FINDING A HORSESHOE- Good luck, BLACK CATS – Bad luck, Don’t go near a Peepal tree in the night, lemon and green chilies to avert, bathe after attending a funeral, don’t cut nails after sunset, avoid sweeping the floors in the evening……..

and there many such superstitions revolving around us where some are considered as good luck and bad luck as well. Technologies has been evolving by leaps and bounds every day but still all these superstitions may tend to hold a major place in many people’s lives. Most of us probably don’t know why we stumble a bit when we see a black cat on our way, give a little shudder when see Friday the 13th looming in the calendar or we say ‘god bless you’ when someone sneezes. Many raise questions of such superstitions the way they are said and others accept them unwittingly. While some superstitions are just meant for fun which should be defied completely, others might have a real hidden fact or science behind them. It is absolutely important to question such beliefs to prevent a slow degradation and to put an end to blindly believing things and perceive the right truth and science. Other than the pointless beliefs termed as superstitions there are also many rituals and scientific procedures that we label as superstitions and tend to avoid it unmindfully.

Futile beliefs

In our country more than half the population literally thrives on pointless superstitions where most of them are illogical and senseless. The most common one is the poor black cats are just blamed for their color, if a black cat crosses your path, its a bad omen which is symbolized that when you come across such a thing the way to your work get delayed. If someone who is not aware of such superstitions and finds a black cat his way, obviously he is not bothered about and gets all his work right, but some just because they come to know such baseless beliefs they stumble themselves become intimidated. When your intellect is strong and you are confident about yourself nothing around can shake you.

Many omit the 13th floor in the building or the 13th room in a floor as they are considered unlucky with no explanations and reasons as the cinemas portray such a weird thing, till date apartments and hotels skip the 13th floor, lets hope that things like this doesn’t become a barrier and hurdle for anybody’s life because every number number is just a number. Can such numbers which are considered unlucky be omitted in all pats of life, isn’t it strange? Keeping onions and knife under one’s bed will drive away bad dreams. When your mind is in peace you will completely have a good sleep and when you are distressed or restless about something there are chances of erratic sleeps and dreams, so just don’t connect all these senseless practices in your life and there are chances of you to get hurt with the knife. Crows shit brings luck. Some believe that it brings money and if that’s the case everyone would be under a tree waiting for a crow to shit and also then crows would’ve been the pets no?

Hidden science/facts behind some beliefs

Not all the superstitions are meaningless because there is always a reason or scientific logic behind it and we should not label them as such because some may turn away from them thoughtlessly. We should make people believe them with right reasons without making them go blind or crazy with things by intimidating and also lets not take all the scientific things beneath superstitions because people hardly believe it.

People were discouraged from venturing near a peepal tree at night to avoid inhaling carbon dioxide so to highlight its importance the ancestors were spinning ghost stories around the trees. Bathing after attending a funeral ceremony was to prevent infection from the dead body because our ancestors did not have vaccination against hepatitis, small pox and other contagious diseases so they came up with a set of rituals to be followed after the funeral rites. Not to cut nails after sunset because in the absence of light one might get hurt because nail clippers were sharp blades which required precision. Sweeping the floor during the evening brings bad luck– This is something which we encounter now and then, the reason behind is that something important might get swept away in the dark so preferably to clean the houses in the morning. To eat curd and sugar before heading out can bring good luck- It is probably not a symbol of good luck, it is to keep oneself cool which provides instant glucose because the consumption of curd has a cooling effect, so this can avoid tension/ trauma before you set to work. A girl should be restricted to certain things at menstruation– because sanitary pads weren’t available those days and would be let to sit and sleep alone, so without knowing the reason behind it still some people follow it as a ritual which is senseless when many medications are available in today’s world. Breaking the mirror, sliding the door lock would bring fight in the family– The reason is anyone in the home can get hurt because of doing so. Plastering the floor with cow dung is auspicious– Before the people did not have luxury to buy bottled commercial disinfectants like we do, so before cowdung was effectively used as a disinfectant against insects and reptiles.

So just educate the budding generation the science and facts of doing such practices and do not label them as superstitions by weaving strange stories.