THOUGHTS ON
Superstitions are curious things. Curious not solely due to their general nature but to their longevity. For a single superstition can seemingly appear across generations. Still, no matter how much such assertions are refuted, they continue to persevere. On the other hand, one may surmise that it is not necessarily a sincere conviction that affixes superstitions in popular culture but tradition. For example, the practice of knocking on wood to maintain an influx of good fortune originates in old pagan practices wherein one would knock on a oak tree to convene with fairy folk or other such beings therein. The point to be made is not that some individuals need believe in superstitions to invoke them but merely as a matter of habit or to embrace some nostalgic facet one may remember from childhood.
Regardless, of what associations society may have with a particular superstition, it does not necessary negate what personal connotations an individual may have with them. For instance, one may avoid walking on cracks not to safeguard against some ill fate but in remembrance of early childhood days and in the spirit of fun. Perhaps then we need not condemn all superstitions but celebrate them, as we do other time-honored traditions. After all, what difference can one affix between throwing salt over one’s shoulder and throwing rice at newly weds? The two are seemingly equally as idiosyncratic; however, only one is apt to carry the appellation “superstition.”
One begins to wonder why some traditions are regarded as superstitious while others do not carry a similar connotation.