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Superstitions and Where They Come From
silver
In the beginning there was nothing, and then it exploded.USA, Left coast. Veteran
My grandmother had this weird superstition about if a bird got in the house, it was a sign that someone was going to die. Which reminds me of the movie, Thunderheart where the sheriff said that if you see an owl, it means that someone is going to die. It seems like a simple belief to explain away, but lots of people have lots of odd-sounding superstitions - of course they don't think it is, but anyhoo.......How DO people start believing this sort of thing? Is it simply that they had a coincidence and chose to believe it was a sure sign or what?
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Since most folks around us will die at some time within a 80 year period, in a stable community of 29,200, at least one person is probably going to die every day so you can safely say whenever you see anything.
...somebody is going to die.
Yep, and you may want to invest in an anti-tiger rock. Keep yourself safe!
People like to think there's a hidden order to things and that they've "cracked the code." I think they find this comforting.
Owl is a very good sign for prosperity. I have purchased little brass owl because i like owls. When i was infant they used to come near tree beside the window at night. Owl is vehicle of goddess Laxmi i.e prosperity. Owl eats mouse therefore they are keeping all troubles away like plague and other disasters.
In India, owl is little sized as compared to other regions of the world. Large owl might fly away infants of humans, i am not sure. But there is complete contradiction in beliefs of east and west regarding owl. I think Europeans are so cruel about owls and they have killed many owls from past which may increase rats, mouse and insects in their region. May be owl size is the difference.
http://cclitgirl.hubpages.com/hub/Owls-Facts-Symbolism-and-Meaning
http://forestbear.hubpages.com/hub/owls-in-Japanese-culture
I watched a documentary on owls the other evening. I wasn't intending to, but I am so glad I did.
I learnt a lot about these extraordinary birds.... they are true super-heroes with amazing skills, unmatched by any other bird, at all, ever. Sensational....
I can't stand magpies. I am not in the slightest bit superstitious at all - but I hate to see one on its own... I always look for a companion or mate, in the hope of transforming 'one for sorrow' into 'two for joy'....
How nutz is that!?
Owl eyes! i like so much.
They occupy 79% of an owl's skull. They are absolutely huge, and have specialised rods which enable them to see in the dark. They are similar to infra-red/heat-seeking cameras... their ears are also extremely sensitive...one ear is higher than the other... if the sound hits the lower ear first, their prey is below them. If a sound hits their upper ear frst, something is above them. They have modified vertebrae, veins and arteries in their necks that enable their heads to turn 170 degrees. If we turned our heads like that, we would pass out in seconds due to blood-loss to the brain....
Their wings and feathers are adapted to fly slowly, accurately and silently. You never hear an owl flying. They make no noise, they tested it. And the wind from their wings causes a fraction of the turbulence of other birds' wings, which is what makes them such adept, successful hunters.
We Buddhists do that too, don't we?
We're programmed to correlate - we do it automatically - a glossing over of sorts, of chaos and speculation of outcomes - perhaps glossing over isn't so apt as we are the product of the chaos and not separate from it so in essence, the very act of believing is a compromise that is required to create this reality or our connection to it via the model universes we carry around.
Coincidence means the effect of the outcome is below the threshold of perception - it is in that sense an artificial threshold better used for describing likely outcomes along a chain of outcomes to the products of reality.
Does interconnectedness mean that an owl shall randomly flap against the window when a personal death is imminent? who knows... but I can from personal experience state that what is discounted should not so easily be discounted and what is venerated should not so easily be venerated - perhaps here, coincidence and correlation lose their grip and things that are, just are and everything is nothing short of magical.
Quite....
My Mom would either hear a woman walk by a window with high heels or 3 knocks on the door the night before someone in the family would pass.
Her and one of my sisters were talking about it and she didn't believe her so the next time she heard the heels, she woke her up.
The next day one of our uncles passed away.
I still figured they were just making it up (I was about 11 at the time) and so at around 3 am one night I went into my closet and knocked 3 times on the wall as the other side was my Mom's room.
She bolted up and out into the hallway and so I jumped back into bed and pretended to sleep. She was opening everyone's door to make sure we were ok and pretty worried.
I told her about it a few years later. She pretended not to be amused.
Who knows?
Owl means good luck (good fortune to be exact) in my culture of origin.
If you see an owl, it means you are into something which will bring a lot of money. Plus they are incredibly beautiful creatures to look at.
-It involves mostly two components: fear of the unknown and an attempt at establishing some control in their lives...
@Will_Baker said "-It involves mostly two components: fear of the unknown and an attempt at establishing some control in their lives..."
Yes, and it's sad if you think about it because many of these 'signs' are about death - even though there are superstitions about money (If your right palm itches, etc.). I guess it happens more with people who have depressing lives although part of that problem is self-created.
@mmo said 'Owl means good luck (good fortune to be exact) in my culture of origin.
If you see an owl, it means you are into something which will bring a lot of money. Plus they are incredibly beautiful creatures to look at."
Owls are breath-takingly beautiful and just to enjoy seeing one is priceless. I saw one flying once - they have amazing wingspans.
Some of them are probably practical in origin. Not walking under ladders is actually quite sensible when you realise how clumsy builders are.
A number of Native American tribes believe that the owl, if seen during the daytime (they're primarily nocturnal animals), portends death. Cherokee tribal chairwoman Wilma Mankiller saw an owl one day as she was leaving her home and getting into her car. Mere minutes later she was involved in a car accident that nearly took her life and left her disabled for a long time. Read her autobiography, "Mankiller: A Chief and Her People".
Symbols of misfortune in one culture leave people from another totally nonplussed.
My mother hates number 13, won't walk under a ladder, and she buys into virtually every superstition widely accepted in Western cultures.
Except for black cats, because she adores cats.
Since man has felt impotent in the presence of death and misfortune, not violating this tacit code has made him feel as if he was regaining some sort of control over a seemingly arbitrary, chaotical and ruthless universe.
If you meet a Buddha on the path kill him, is an old zen superstition ... Oh wait it has another meaning, do not kill Buddhas ... if you find any ...
@Dakini said, "Mere minutes later she was involved in a car accident that nearly took her life and left her disabled for a long time. "
She was probably thinkin' about that stupid owl she saw.
I don't remember all the details, but she encountered another vehicle that was driving recklessly, or something. She said that if she'd left the house just a minute or two earlier or later, nothing would have happened. If she'd hesitated in leaving, everything would have been fine.
Fate. Crazy. But at least she survived and is ok.
I think superstitions are the inevitable outcome of a biological necessity.
A central biological principle is that traits confer survivability. An organism's trait somehow increases its chances of surviving and therefore reproducing. All traits have this cause, and only this cause.
In the wild, it is useful to recognize associations between phenomena. It is not necessarily useful to understand or explain, only to detect/recognize. Therefore, we are preprogrammed to be perceptually sensitive to associations. The ability to detect and act on associations without waiting for understanding is biologically necessary. We have inherited the trait because it kept our ancestors alive long enough to reproduce. This is the only cause of the trait.
The ancient Egyptians detected that people who liked to eat Meadow Saffron flowers tended not to get gout. How in the world they ever managed to make this bizarre association is an amazing testament to how highly tuned our minds are to associations. Superstitious? It turns out that Meadow Saffrons contain a biomolecule called colchicine. Nowadays colchicine can be synthesized. It is useful for preventing uric acid crystals from precipitating in joints.
Sometimes phenomena occur together entirely by coincidence. Nevertheless, we are preprogrammed to detect the association. We have inherited the trait of recognizing and acting without understanding or explaining.
Well said @Steve_B
... we might also mention the association made by the ancient Egyptians between their morning ritual to ensure the rising of the sun.
They knew the ritual worked because after its enactment the sun rose. Maybe someone can spot the flawed/superstitious thinking ...
Waz they scientific? No. Limited knowledge. Nice statues and pointy buildings though ... and as pointed out herbal and medical insights ...
I was just being a wise-acre, I am glad she's ok.
I'd agree with @Steve_B in general. This page has a good list of the origins of 9 specific superstitions.
http://www.livescience.com/33507-origins-of-superstitions.html