Superstition

Yep – two for the price of one today on ze blog… You can thank my desire to procrastinate the data project that is anxiously awaiting my attention for that.

Superstitions aren’t limited to the month of October of course, but October seems to be the month where all things creepy and spooky live so superstitions fall in line nicely.

Belief can be a funny thing… I prefer to believe in things I can prove… through science and shit.  But sometimes… well, there’s just no solid proof for something and that’s when I rely on “magic” or other supernatural cause… because it’s more fun than saying “I have no fucking clue”

Like when someone asks me a question I don’t know the answer to, I’m more likely than not to answer it with “Magic” or “Fairies” or “Unicorns” because come on… that’s just way more fun that “I don’t know”

Superstitions…

They come in all flavors – good, bad, scary, hopeful…

Some I “believe” while others I regard as silly… with little rhyme or reason between the two…

For example – I don’t believe that Friday the thirteenth is an unlucky day… quite the opposite.  I look forward to Friday the 13ths.  I do however believe that to find a four-leaf clover is to find good luck… and I look every time I’m around clovers…

I don’t believe that if a black cat crosses your path you will have bad luck… nor do I believe that walking under a ladder will do the same…  but open an umbrella indoors or break a mirror?  Yep.  I believe that bad luck is following there…

We’ve talked before about how I still believe in wishes… so it makes perfect sense to me that I’d believe that if you blow out all of the candles on your birthday cake with the first breath you will get whatever you wish for as well as wishing on a wish bone… (to have a wish come true using a wishbone, two people make a wish, then take hold of each end of the bone and pull it until it separates. The person with the longer end gets his or her wish).

There are a slew of superstitions around the dropping of things…

• To drop a fork means a woman will visit
• To drop a knife means a man will visit
• To drop a spoon means a child will visit
• To drop a dishcloth means bad luck is coming

I honestly can’t afford to believe in these as clumsy as I am… I’d expect visitors all. the. time.

Sometimes I believe that our fate is written in the stars… and yes, I read horoscopes… but even there I pick and choose what to buy and what to disregard… being on the cusp is how I justify but the reality is I believe what I want in the moment… and horoscopes are vague enough that if you try you can read ANYTHING into it…

Today I think I’ll go with the Cancer horoscope… who doesn’t need retail therapy?

Other superstitions have clung since childhood…

• Washing a car will bring rain – Maybe I should wash my car more often…
• Warm hands, cold heart / Cold hands, warm heart
• A forked branch, held with a fork in each hand, will dip and point when it passes over water – I can’t be the ONLY one who did this… right?!?

Some I once believed and no longer do… like “To make a happy marriage, the bride must wear: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”

Mostly because I followed those rules – old, new, borrowed, blue… twice… and we see how well THAT worked out.

What about you?  What are you superstitious about?  Or are you the rare breed who believes only in what can be proven as fact?

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