We live in a time when even the oldest generation knows how to use the Internet, organs are created on 3D printers, children from three parents are born, and people are about to land on Mars. We think we are in control of everything, but only until some black cat crosses our path or the mirror in the house breaks. And here begins such a journey in time for several centuries, and sometimes even millennia. Prejudices live in the subconscious, are engaged and assimilated at an incredible speed, are automated and periodically surface in urgent situations.
The prejudices that are so closely intertwined with everyday life are in fact a practice perfected over the centuries to align the life balance of traditional communities. The people had a very special attitude to the concept of the norm and its content at the proper level. In order not to violate it, certain prescriptions were invented, which in detail "instructed" the members of the community about their behavior. If, nevertheless, deviations did occur, the bearers of the tradition used self-defense techniques, creating alternative ways out of borderline situations - magical counteractions.
So, first of all, prejudices for the bearer of the traditional folklore picture of the world are warning signs that, if properly observed, should protect against violation of the established harmony. And if not, then there will always be an antidote to return everything to the so-called norm. Predictions of the future are attached as a bonus, for the stability of the super-transfer.
Sounds like something from the pre-education period, why do we still believe in them?
There are several important factors. The first factor is belief in the strength of one's own capabilities. We don't always want to admit that we are responsible for our own lives. Admit it, it's much more comfortable to blame a black cat or a neighbor with an empty bin for failing an exam or being late for an interview. This is such a small, but very important primitive life hack, with which they remove responsibility from themselves and shift it onto higher powers, deceased ancestors or fate.
The second factor (which logically follows from the first) is laziness. Popularly, this practice is sometimes voiced by such constructions as: "I am waiting for my destiny", "Black streak in life", "God will help" / "All the will of God" and in especially extreme cases: "Sharo, come!". Believing in prejudice, a person relaxes, because he thinks that someone from above will decide for him.
With all this, any person loves stability and order in his life. This leads to the third factor - a sense of control. Yes, this may seem somewhat contradictory regarding the previous two factors, but people often believe and hold a prejudice precisely because it gives them the opportunity to feel safe and in control of reality. The way of arguing in this case is something like this: I do not climb up to black cats, I always look in the mirror, forgetting something at home, I don’t go under electric poles, I don’t leave knives on the table overnight, and for this I am lucky and have no problems. Profit? Profit. Therefore, it can sometimes seem like a kind of cultural convention: as long as you do not break these "laws", your life is normal.
George Frankl said that man is an animal that produces culture by orienting to symbols, using signs and being driven by symbols. Our ancestors viewed the world as a sign system that can be read. A lot of signs can be deciphered by understanding the principle of such reading. A person is usually interested in a fairly limited range of issues, which boil down to the quality and duration of life. Therefore, death and failure are always at the top of any of the most ingrained prejudices.
Top 10 everyday superstitions:
Meaning: there will be a failure, the day will be lost.
Is there an antidote? Read Our Father, take hold of a metal object, for example, a button, wait until someone else crosses this path first.
Explanation: There are many explanations why such a fate befell black cats. First of all, in the minds of people, they associate with witches. And since they believed that they know how to transfer themselves to various animals, and then there is also a black color, which is associated with evil spirits, then there were simply no other options for a cat.
Meaning: a sign that a child may become an orphan: the mother will die (if walking in the left) or the father (if in the right), and an adult will lose a couple.
Explanation: The boots symbolize parity, inseparability and family ties. Remember the famous fortune-telling about Andrey: one shoe is thrown across the house in order to find out where the groom lives by its nose; girls go to bed in one boot to see their betrothed in a dream; with the same boot they measure in steps to the threshold who will marry first. All of them are focused on finding a pair. In snotlumachennya lack of shoes, his loss or destruction were interpreted as the death of parents, illness or loss. Walking in one boot, a person seems to be with one foot in the world of the living, the other in the other world. Remember: a huge number of magic rituals are performed barefoot (this is what you met in "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" by Mikhail Kotsyubinsky).
Meaning: you can cut off the life of the child and yourself, and in addition give someone a substitute (what will symbolize you, such a portrait of Dorian Gray) yourself for the evil eye.
Explanation: It was believed that the life force of a person is concentrated in the hair. In magical rituals, strands, nails, prints are actively used, as "collected" from the road follows, a variety of secretions from the body. It is a well-known practice to keep the cut off hair throughout life and then put it in a coffin. A pregnant woman, according to popular beliefs, is extremely vulnerable, because in fact she is between two worlds (the child comes from the world of the dead, do not forget about this). Therefore, any manipulation of hair that symbolizes life can harm the already shaky connection of a pregnant woman with this world.
Meaning: not to lose luck outside the home, to keep your protection from evil spirits.
Explanation: the space in traditional culture is clearly divided into ours and those of others. "Own" space, which is represented by the house, is at the same time a talisman, because it is guarded by the spirits of ancestors. This is due to the fact that burials took place first near the house, sometimes in the house itself, as with unbaptized / stillborn children who were buried under the threshold. Hence the prohibition to step on the threshold, and its frequent resemblance to a coffin in old houses.
Crossing the threshold of his home and finding himself in a “foreign” space, a person was considered unprotected. Therefore, any instant return for something forgotten was perceived as wrong. A mirror can correct the situation, which acts as a double of a person and absorbs adversity. Plus, it's also a portal to the underworld, so it's kind of like asking for extra support from your ancestors. A similar interpretation is the custom of sitting down before the trip. There are explanations that this is how a person calms the spirits at home. Some folklorists also say that such "grounding" helps to gain "one's own" before going into a distant "alien".
Meaning: this is one of the most terrible and most common signs of death of one of the inhabitants of the house.
Is there an antidote? Let the unfortunate frightened bird free in the same way where it flew in, go to church, not spend the night at home that night.
Explanation: birds are spirits or messengers of ancestors. They have direct contact with the other world, because they fly away to warmer lands, like the souls of the dead. It is believed that through such mediation, the dead communicate with us and warn about something amiss. The ability to fly by analogy made butterflies, bees and flies diviners of death.
Meaning: there will be no money, trouble will come.
Explanation: Whistling is a harsh sound that is associated in popular culture with the evocation of evil spirits, misfortune, and calamity. The whistle is always demonic and often directly means an appeal to the afterlife. They can call not only the wind (magic by the principle of imitation), but also evil spirits, snakes, mice, wolves and other unpleasant creatures. Whistling means devastation, so it is forbidden to do this, especially in the dark and in "your" space.
Meaning: the guest will come, the guest is in a hurry.
Explanation: Nowadays, everyone can have their favorite plate or cup, and we hardly pay attention to spoons. Previously, each family member had their own spoon. That is why this table attribute began to be perceived as a double of a person. A famous fortune-telling at Christmas, when the table is left uncleaned until the morning, and then they look, there is no inverted spoon. This meant that the owner of this device would die within a year. At a wedding, brides' spoons could be tied with a red thread, and sometimes young people generally ate from one spoon in order to live their whole life together - one fate. Spoons and forks were perceived as feminine attributes (which is also associated with the gender of the same nouns), so if they fall, believe that a woman will come. If the knife is a man.
Meaning: you won't get married for 7 years; putting a hat on, you get a headache, keys on the table - to trouble, quarrels.
Explanation: The corners define the space and divide it. In our case, the space of the table, one of the most important and holiest things in the house. There were clear regulations as to where who should sit at the table and how they behaved. An angle directed at a person symbolically pushes her out of these norms. And what could be worse in a traditional society, but not to lose the opportunity to play a normalized scenario of life without creating a family in time? The word "table" has a common root with "throne" and "capital", and the elevation above the ground makes it akin to the altar. And today in some regions of Ukraine you can find the custom to dine on graves on memorial days. The graves here are not just like a table. They are. Our ancestors believed that the table, like the oven, is a conductor between the worlds. Leaving valuable things on the table, we mentally cross the line with the other world, disturbing the spirits of the dead.
Meaning: quarrel with the one to whom you are giving.
Is there an antidote? If, nevertheless, something like that is given, you need to give a penny. Thus, you seem to be buying this thing, and not accepting it as a gift.
Explanation: both knives and scissors were actively used in magical rituals as amulets from evil spirits and the evil eye, therefore they were taken extremely seriously. At the same time, these objects themselves can cause physical harm to a person. Such a gift can symbolically cut the relationship between the giver and the recipient.
Meaning: you will be beaten, you will incur losses in trouble.
Is there an antidote? Ask someone close to you to lightly hit you. Then the punishment is already formally carried out, so the action of the prejudice is canceled.
Explanation: clothing is a substitute for a person. Previously, this prejudice extended mainly to the shirt, which is known to be closer to the body. Now this is about any clothes, the details of which have become a little more in us. Putting on something inside out, you seem to twist your body too, becoming vulnerable and unprotected.
