I imagine most people would say they aren’t superstitious. I’m not much myself, but I still catch myself doing the knock on wood thing, and I don’t have the slightest idea why. I don’t even know the origins of that particular action. Someone must have done that a lot when I was a sprog. I’ve been thinking about this because we recently had our 37th anniversary, and we never celebrate our anniversary beyond “oh, happy anniversary”, and we generally forget all about it, remembering sometime after March 11th. We are superstitious about our anniversary, because we don’t like blown engines on our vehicles. Night we got married – engine blew half way home, late at night, in a deserted industrial section of town. Oh, yay. First anniversary, drove to Venice (SoCal) for supper. Different car, engine blew half way home. Second anniversary, drove to Santa Monica for supper. Different car, engine blew half way home. So, we don’t do that sort of thing anymore, stopped after the 2nd anniversary, and for all these years, haven’t been able to shake the notion that if we go out to celebrate, we’ll kill another vehicle.
The number 13 bothers me. I know there is no rational reason it should, and I know there is no such thing as an unlucky number. Fortunately that knowledge helps push me past my purely irrational response to the number, but damn, I still try to avoid it when I can.
I’m just the opposite, I kind of have a thing for the number 13. Friday the 13ths have always tended to be really good days. That’s still superstition, though. More of it brewing in my head than I recognize.
Ouroboros?
I’m sure I have random negative associations of similar kinds, but nothing is coming to mind. I tend to repeatedly investigate negative positive associations that I feel, but I can’t say that they are connected to basic symbolism. There has to be something.
Maybe an ouroboros. ;)
I’ve developed a severe fear of the month of February. Yes, the entire month:
A) When I was seven I broke my arm on February 2nd.
B) A few years after that my uncle died on February 2nd as well.
C) My grandmother died on February 9th when I was thirteen.
D) My dad killed himself on February 7th when I was fourteen.
E) My best friend just died on this past February 12th.
It’s usually a bad month, most especially for people I love. All of those people died somewhere temperate, too, so it’s not as though the harshness of winter got to them. It’s just a series of terrible coincidences, and yet…I sure do hate February. And it’s all bunched up in those first two weeks, too. After February 15th it’s smooth sailing.
I think I have it, I’m sensitive to basic social symbolism. I’ve been aware that I have a repulsion to things like flags and anthems even though they can have positive versions. Another example would be how I know I have an aversion to allusions about everyone being the same, but social symbols that assert that we are the same in many legal contexts is very important.
I’m sorry to hear that Mellow Monkey. I can see how that would make a month take on a negative feeling.
TMM:
I can see why. If that was me, I’d positively dread it. Traumatic events do get stuck in your head, and it seems one of the ways to cope is to build a superstition of some sort around it.
According to a book of folklore I once read, knocking on wood was supposed to be a way to wake up the nature spirits living in it, who were helpful with good fortune. Of course, the same book said that knocking on wood could have also been to scare away the evil spirits inhabiting the house. I would believe either one, though more likely somebody who didn’t have anything to say just uncomfortably knocked on wood and then made something up after the fact.
Anniversary superstition to not blow up car engines, makes our anniversary easy to forget. No pre-planning makes it an ordinary day. I think we went out about anniversary 7, and the car didn’t blow up, but we were both so nervous, we couldn’t have a good time. We decided then, that it just wasn’t worth it to go out.
If I see an eagle, I consider it a good omen. However, since I don’t see them that often, I will also consider a raven a good omen as a backup.
Antigone10 @9:
So, an all purpose custom, then. :D
DG @ 10:
Did we? I don’t remember, but that sounds about right.
Militantagnostic @ 11:
That’s interesting. I’d see a raven as a good thing, even though they have traditionally been birds of ill omen. I know someone who about faints if she sees an owl, convinced there’s a death curse or something.
Rental.
Raucous Indignation @ 13:
There a story lurking in there?
My wife tells me that there are some superstitions that come from safety issues. She says that not walking under a ladder is good sense because somebody on the ladder could drop something on you and not crossing on the staiway comes from when stairways were usually narrow and an accident could occure. Mind you, she is English and I have no idea if these superstitions apply in other countries, they don’t appear to in Spain.
She also has some bizzare ones like not leaving the house by a different door than you entered (you take the luck out with you) and not putting shoes on a table (no idea).
Don Quijote @ 15
Well, if you put shoes on a table you have to clean it before eating on the same table. Putting shoes on the table comes up rarely in a culture in which you don’t wear shoes indoors at home, so I can’t think of many situations where you’d be putting any shoes on a table unless you were mending them or you were taking a nap at work, feet on your desk.
I must say
dakotagreasemonkey as a ‘nym is made of awesome.
and the gravatar, too
Chigau @ 17:
That was my contribution. :D
Caine #18
I suspected as much.