Superstitions

Have you ever done the following: touch wood for luck; avoid walking under a ladder; do the sia-sia pun; twirl your belly button when ever you hear / see undesirable things, say "jauh palis"??? Now, all these are old wives' tales, myths, folklore, urban legends and superstitions. Suffice to say, every cultures have them and old wives' tales are definitely found all over the world. Superstitions are perhaps as old as language itself. They are part of our oral tradition and generally passed down from one generation to the next. It is interesting to note that despite modern advances and modernization, we still cling to old wives' tales, myths, folklore, urban legends, superstitions.

Most old wives' tales are false / nonsense (this claim will definitely inspire some debate!! -- some will say that old wives' tales are based on truth and have merely been distorted by the passage of time or interpretations!!). Old wives' tales can be 'used and abused' (tee hee hee) to discourage unwanted behaviour in children. There are of course some truth in the tales but the veracity is likely coincidental. The following should be taken with a pinch of salt;

You will catch your death of cold by walking around with wet hair.
If you keep pulling faces, one day the wind will change and you'll get stuck that way.
Chewing gum, if swallowed, remains inside your body for seven years.
Amber beads, worn as a necklace, can protect against illness or cure colds.
It is bad luck to cut your fingernails on Friday or Sunday.
Pulling out a white hair will cause ten more to grow in its place.
If the palm of your right hand itches it means you will soon be getting money.
Horseshoes and rabbit foot will bring you luck.

Old wives' tales permeate every aspect of our lives. It has been said that if you suspend a ring held by a piece of thread over the palm of the pregnant girl you can predict the sex of a baby. Apparently, if the ring swings in a circular motion the baby will be a girl. It's a boy if the ring swings in a straight line. Believe it or not!! According to old wives' tales, you can also predict a child's character based on the day of the week s/he is born.

Monday's child is fair of face;
Tuesday's child is full of grace;
Wednesday's child is full of woe;
Thursday's child has far to go;
Friday's child is loving and giving;
Saturday's child works hard for a living.
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day is fair and wise, good and gay.

The question is "do you believe in superstitions?? They have been around the human cultures for thousand of years. Shall we debunk the so-called old wives' tales in the name of modernization and progress??? What do you think???

This entry is dedicated to Ns and Rx. Thanks for the inspiration.