Superstition

Superstition

Superstition is a prejudice that relates to a belief in some otherworldly force. It is the deviation of religious feeling and practice imposed. It is a faith in action and the perception of strength which is not explicable by the laws of nature, as these forces do not find their justification in the religious teachings. Superstition takes for the reality of the existence of mysterious magical forces which have beneficial or harmful effects on people and pets. In addition to this, it also determines the well known phenomenon of nature (weather, growth, birth, death). At present, superstition has been associated with preserved remnants of the old folk beliefs and seems to appear as wearing amulets, tattoos, etc. The manifestation of superstition, although it may be different depending on the innate abilities, behavior, living conditions and education, is a fact which is established as the psychology and the study of legends of all time.

Superstition is a fake conception of supernatural causality; such superstitions that contradict the natural science are astrology, witchcraft, omens, and others. In this paper, I have interviewed my grandfathers' friend. I have learnt from my grandfather that from early childhood, he has always believed in a superstition.

Discussion

On enquiry from my grandfathers' friend, I learnt that he has always been afraid of witchcrafts and he always believed in it. When I asked him a couple of more questions, I learnt that he always use to imagine those witchcrafts that use to threaten him for certain actions. The present situation is entirely opposite since now he takes these witchcrafts positively. He told me that the witchcraft use to guide him towards positive behavior and guide me in taking decision is environments where there are a lot of contingencies.

Origin of Superstition

The word superstition was first used in English in the 15th century and is modeled after an earlier French superstition. The term superstitio, or superstitio vana "vain superstition", was applied in the 1st century to those religious cults in the Roman Empire which were officially outlawed. This concerned the religion of the druids in particular, which was described as a superstitio vana by Tacitus, and Early Christianity, outlawed as a superstitio Iudaica in AD 80 by Domitian. There are different disciplines in superstition categorized as (Russell, 1983);

The divination

The astrology

The cartomancy

The quackery

The spiritualism

The feng-shui

The geomancy

The magic

The palmistry

The tarot

Witchcraft

Many researchers believe that witchcraft depends on the objective characteristics and actions of witches who usually possess physical disgrace (Harkness, 2011). Similarly, some researchers also claim ...