The Bible (Deut.

18:9-11) forbade Israelites to engage in "the abominations of the

nations" whose land they were to inherit, specifically singling out "any one that
makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or is
an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with
familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer." Various prophets also denounced
superstition. Thus Jeremiah stated, "Do not hearken to your prophets, nor to your
diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers" (Jer.
27:9). Nevertheless, various superstitions have prevailed at different times. The
Talmud, for example, discusses Astrology, with R. Joshua ben Levi implying that
persons born on a specific day of the week all share certain character traits, though
R. Johanan rejects the idea that there are various times which are more propitious
than others. The idea of auspicious or inauspicious times is found in the Shulh?an
Arukh (OH 551:1), which states that "from the beginning of the month of Av, a Jew
who is involved in a legal case with a non-Jew should attempt to postpone it,
because the time is not auspicious."

The Talmud (Sanh. 65 a-b), when discussing the verses in Deuteronomy 18,
explains some of the superstitions which are involved. Thus "an observer of times"
(me'onen), according to R. Akiva, is one who reveals propitious times for leaving on
a journey, or for purchasing objects, or for harvesting one's crops. "An enchanter"
(menah?esh) is one who sees omens in various everyday events, such as dropping
bread or a staff, or having a deer cross one's path, all of these being considered bad
omens.

The Talmud mentions various other superstitious practices, to some of which it

gives credence, while others it finds senseless. In certain instances, the practices
are condemned as being against Jewish law. R. Akiva, enumerating those who have
no share in the World to Come, mentions a person "who whispers [verses of the
Bible as charms] over a wound" in order to heal it (Sanh. 10:1). Maimonides
nevertheless writes in the Mishneh Torah ("Laws of Idolatry" 11:11) that "if a person
was bitten by a scorpion or by a snake, one is permitted to whisper on the wound ...
in order to calm him and strengthen his heart, even though it is utterly valueless,
for given the fact that his life is in danger, [the sages] permitted it, so that he
should not go out of his mind."

The Talmud speaks of certain actions which to the modern mind would seem to be
needless superstition, such as forbidding a woman to walk between two men. Great
attention is also paid to the implications of Dreams, with an entire literature
developing on how to "rectify" bad dreams.

Other areas of superstition revolve around the Evil Eye. The Talmud and especially
the Kabbalah have many references to evil spirits and Demons, and their effects.
Maimonides dismisses all of these, stating that demons do not disturb anyone who
ignores them. In order to ward off evil events, the Talmud discusses the
comparative efficacy of various Amulets.
Throughout the Middle Ages superstitions either persisted or were added, to the
extent that R. Judah He-h?asid, in his Sefer H?asidim (Sect. 59), mentioned various
practices that were unavailing and even in violation of Torah law. These
superstitions included not eating eggs on the night after the Sabbath and not taking
fire twice from the same source if there was a sick person or a woman who had
given birth in the house. Yet Sefer H?asidim also enumerates many practices and
omens which it claims are valid; for example, if a new house is built on the same
site where another had stood earlier, care must be taken to ensure that the doors
and windows in the new house be in exactly the same place as the old one, for
otherwise "one's life is in danger from the demons or the angels."

Certain customs which are practiced to this day have also come under attack as
being superstitions, although many classic sages have believed in them. These
include the Tashlikh ceremony on Rosh Ha-Shanah, where all one's sins are
figuratively thrown into the water, and Kapparot before the Day of Atonement, in
which sins are figuratively transferred to the hen or rooster which is used in the
ceremony.

The term ‘superstition’ as being too pejorative, preferring the less value-laden
‘belief. This, however, is too broad a term and, for convenience, we have kept the
older word, emboldened by the fact that it is universally understood, and that few
‘believers’ find its normal use offensive. It only becomes so when used by adherents
of one religion, or by atheists, to vilify the religious beliefs and practices of others—
issues far outside the scope of this work.

Dictionary definitions of the word regularly invoke the ideas of fear, irrationality,
ignorance, groundless belief; folklorists can broadly accept this, while giving added
emphasis to the communal and traditional nature of the genre. Its Latin etymology
is somewhat obscure: numerous writers interpret its root (‘standing over’) as
implying survival from ancient times, but the OED declares this unlikely. Victorian
evolutionary survivalists considered them the tattered remnants of archaic religious
and scientific beliefs, made obsolete by intellectual progress, though there is little
real evidence for this. Nevertheless it is commonly asserted by popular authors and
the general public that superstitions date back for thousands of years, and are
direct survivals of attempts by primitive humans to explain and control their
environment. The fallacy, as so often, arises from a failure to distinguish form from
content. Even if it be agreed that the early human world-view was ‘superstitious’ in
modern terms (a point still debatable), it does not follow that particular items of the
modern repertoire date from that time. By analogy: we can be pretty sure early
humans liked singing, but we know the song ‘White Christmas’ is not prehistoric.
Yet ‘explanations’ based on this assumption are now so firmly fixed in the public
mind as to become traditional themselves (e.g. that touching wood dates from
when people believed in tree spirits).
Even without adequate definition, one can identify some of the patterns, formulas,
and basic principles controlling modern superstitions. (a) They aim to ‘accentuate
the positive/eliminate the negative’: do this for good luck, avoid that to prevent bad
luck. (b) Luck can be influenced, but not completely controlled. (c) Do not
transgress category boundaries, for example wild flowers or open umbrellas
(outdoor items) should not be indoors. (d) To seem too confident about the future is
‘tempting fate’ and attracts retribution—‘Don't count your chickens before they
hatch’. (e) Some days or times are lucky or (more usually) unlucky; they vary in
frequency (midnight, Friday, Friday the thirteenth, Holy Innocents Day), and can be
individual—‘Tuesday is always my lucky day’. (f) Something that begins well (or
badly) will probably continue that way. (g) As in magic, things once physically linked
retain a link even when separated (birds using your hair in their nests will give you a
headache). (h) Evil forces exist and are actively working to harm you; these may be
impersonal, or concentrated in humans (witches, ill-wishers) or other beings (devils,
fairies). (i) Certain things, words, or actions have powerfully negative effects, and
must be avoided or counteracted (taboo). (j) Anything sudden, unexpected, or
unusual can be seen as an omen, usually of misfortune. However, many
superstitions do not fit these categories, and individuals can invent their own (e.g.
‘Must get back to bed before the toilet stops flushing’).

Many have wondered why superstition persists despite improvements in religion,

logic, and science. For Gilbert White in 1776, it is because of habits formed when
young and imbibed with our mother's milk (White, 1789: letter xxviii). For Melton
(1620) and Igglesden (c.1932), it is because astrologers, fortunetellers, and local
cunning men/women deliberately foster credulity for profit; for Puritans of the 16th
century onwards, it was due to Roman Catholic priests. Some maintain that
rationalism must not be allowed to remove all the romance and mystery of life, and
enjoy the idea of ‘more things in heaven and earth …’. Others point to the distress
superstition brings, for example the lifelong guilt felt by a woman who believed she
had caused her brother's death at sea by washing clothes on New Year's Day (Gill,
1993: 105-6; cf. Balleine, 1939). At a general level, it is clear that the hold of
superstition on people's minds has weakened over the centuries, and that it is
increasingly consigned to trivial areas of everyday life.

In autumn 1998, the present authors sent out a questionnaire asking respondents
to write down any superstitions they knew, in order to assess the current repertoire;
we made clear that we were not asking what they believed, only what they knew of.
Ten spaces were provided, and respondents were told they could add more items if
they wished. Our hypothesis was that most English people nowadays know only a
relatively small number of superstitions, which will tend to be the same ones. The
first 215 replies received showed this was indeed the case; few of the items
reported were uncommon, and many appeared time and again. It seems unlikely
that further results will change the basic pattern. The following summary gives the
number of times the ‘Top Ten’ items were mentioned, the percentage (of 215) this
represents, and the date of the first known reference to the belief in Britain, taken
from Opie and Tatem.1. 178 83% Unlucky to walk under a ladder (1787)

These dates suggest a fairly rapid turnover in superstitions. Only one (spilling salt)
can be dated to the 16th century, via a vague allusion to those ‘that make great
divinations upon the spilling of salt’ (Scot, 1584: book 11, chapter 15). Another
(black cat) can be traced to the 17th century, four to the 18th, four to the 19th; one
(Friday the thirteenth) to the 20th only. It is also instructive to compare this list with
that given by John Melton in Astrologaster (1620), reprinted in full in FLS News
(2000). Many of his items are still known, but do not appear among our Top Ten
(e.g. cat washing face, cheek/ear burning); conversely, only one of our Top Ten
(black cat) was reported by him.

an irrational belief or practice resulting from ignorance or fear of the unknown. The
validity of superstitions is based on belief in the power of magic and witchcraft and
in such invisible forces as spirits and demons. A common superstition in the Middle
Ages was that the devil could enter a person during that unguarded moment when
that person was sneezing; this could be avoided if anyone present immediately
appealed to the name of God. The tradition of saying "God bless you" when
someone sneezes still remains today.

"I have, thanks to my travels, added to my stock all the superstitions of other
countries. I know them all now, and in any critical moment of my life, they all rise up
in armed legions for or against me." - Sarah Bernhardt

"Superstition is only the fear of belief, while religion is the confidence." - Marguerite
Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

"When superstition is allowed to perform the task of old age in dulling the human
temperament, we can say goodbye to all excellence in poetry, in painting, and in
music."

Clay hamsa on a wall, believed to protect the inhabitants of the house from
harmSuperstition is a credulous belief or notion, not based on reason, knowledge, or
experience. The word is often used pejoratively to refer to folk beliefs deemed
irrational. This leads to some superstitions being called "old wives' tales". It is also
commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, prophecy and spiritual
beings, particularly the irrational belief that future events can be influenced or
foretold by specific unrelated prior events.

The etymology is from the classical Latin superstitio, literally "a standing over",
hence: "amazement, wonder, dread, especially of the divine or supernatural" The
word is attested in the 1st century BC, notably in Cicero, Livy, Ovid, in the meaning
of an unreasonable or excessive belief in fear or magic, especially foreign or
fantastical ideas. By the 1st century AD, it came to refer to "religious awe, sanctity;
a religious rite" more generally.
To European medieval scholars the word was applied to any beliefs outside of or in
opposition to Christianity; today it is applied to conceptions without foundation in,
or in contravention of, scientific and logical knowledge.[4] Many extant western
superstitions are said to have originated during the plagues that swept through
Europe.[citation needed]

Superstition and religion

Evolutionary psychology of religion and Evolutionary origin of religions

In keeping with the Latin etymology of the word, religious believers have often seen
other religions as superstition. Likewise, atheists and agnostics may regard any
religious belief as superstition.

Religious practices are most likely to be labeled "superstitious" by outsiders when

they include belief in extraordinary events (miracles), an afterlife, supernatural
interventions, apparitions or the efficacy of prayer, charms, incantations, the
meaningfulness of omens, and prognostications.

Greek and Roman pagans, who modeled their relations with the gods on political
and social terms, scorned the man who constantly trembled with fear at the thought
of the gods, as a slave feared a cruel and capricious master. "Such fear of the gods
(deisidaimonia) was what the Romans meant by 'superstition' (Veyne 1987, p 211).
For Christians just such fears might be worn proudly as a name: Desdemona.

The Roman Catholic Church considers superstition to be sinful in the sense that it
denotes a lack of trust in the divine providence of God and, as such, is a violation of
the first of the Ten Commandments. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states
superstition "in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion" (para. #2110).

The Catechism clearly dispels commonly held preconceptions or misunderstandings

about Catholic doctrine relating to superstitious practices:

Superstition is a deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling

imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one
attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful
or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their
mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is
to fall into superstition. Cf. Matthew 23:16-22 (para. #2111)

Some superstitions originated as religious practices that continued to be observed

by people who no longer adhere to the religion that gave birth to the practice. Often
the practices lost their original meaning in this process. In other cases, the practices
are adapted to the current religion of the practicer. As an example, during the
Christianizing of Europe, pagan symbols to ward off evil were replaced with the
Christian cross.

Superstition and psychology

In 1948, behavioural psychologist B.F. Skinner published an article in the Journal of

Experimental Psychology, in which he described his pigeons exhibiting what
appeared to be superstitious behaviour. One pigeon was making turns in its cage,
another would swing its head in a pendulum motion, while others also displayed a
variety of other behaviours. Because these behaviours were all done ritualistically in
an attempt to receive food from a dispenser, even though the dispenser had
already been programmed to release food at set time intervals regardless of the
pigeons' actions, Skinner believed that the pigeons were trying to influence their
feeding schedule by performing these actions. He then extended this as a
proposition regarding the nature of superstitious behaviour in humans.[5]

Skinner's theory regarding superstition being the nature of the pigeons' behaviour
has been challenged by other psychologists such as Staddon and Simmelhag, who
theorised an alternative explanation for the pigeons' behaviour.[6]

Despite challenges to Skinner's interpretation of the root of his pigeons'

superstitious behaviour, his conception of the reinforcement schedule has been
used to explain superstitious behaviour in humans. Originally, in Skinner's animal
research, "some pigeons responded up to 10,000 times without reinforcement when
they had originally been conditioned on an intermittent reinforcement basis."[7]
Compared to the other reinforcement schedules (e.g. fixed ratio, fixed interval),
these behaviours were also the most resistant to extinction.[7] This is called the
partial reinforcement effect, and this has been used to explain superstitious
behaviour in humans. To be more precise, this effect means that, whenever an
individual performs an action expecting a reinforcement, and none seems
forthcoming, it actually creates a sense of persistence within the individual.[8] This
strongly parallels superstitious behaviour in humans because the individual feels
that, by continuing this action, reinforcement will happen; or that reinforcement has
come at certain times in the past as a result of this action, although not all the time,
but this may be one of those times.

From a simpler perspective, natural selection will tend to reinforce a tendency to

generate weak associations. If there is a strong survival advantage to making
correct associations, then this will outweigh the negatives of making many
incorrect, "superstitious" associations

I have my own superstitions or maybe just beliefs that are weird. For example,
Years Eve I put silver coins on the windows ceils and eat pickled hearing this is
supposed to bring you Good luck with money for the coming year. I know crazy right
I also have to be with my husband on Year’s eve so at midnight I can kiss him for
Good Luck. I will work every other Holiday just to be home on Year’s Eve.

I have heard of many different things that people do because of a superstition

You may not walk under a ladder or like the number 13

I believe that if you are good people they will be good to you (this may not always
happen) but to give is to receive. That is just my thought; you never know when you
may stumble in to a hard time.

I am also extremely superstitious with say thing that you really not mean. We all get
pissed off and anger that is a given, you may end up say something that you wish
that could be taken back.

What is said is said there is no rewind button on life; when mean, hurtful are said
out of anger that is remember forever!

Here is why I truly try my best not to say thing that I don’t mean even when I am
pissed off.

When I was three years old my mother married my stepfather. He was the most
caring, loving man there ever was. He treated me and my old sister as if we were
his own, he and my sister would fight often.

I was almost sixteen years old, my sister and him had been fighting I can remember
this like it was yesterday. When she looked at him and said” I wish you were dead”
he reply say it again and you might get your wish, so she did.

At about 1 AM she was walking in from being out with friends, as she walk in he was
taking his very last breath at the young age of 46. I cannot help but to believe that
he waited for her to be home, when he passed.

Maybe Superstitious or maybe just life experience, but to me words are very
powerful. I would not be able to live with myself if that was me. Therefore, I do not
say thing out of anger because you just never know what is in store.