The Stories of Superstitions

Superstitions are beliefs or actions associated with luck or magic. Three common superstitions are breaking mirrors, black cats, and certain numbers. The superstition of breaking mirrors originated from ancient Greece, where reflections were seen as a connection to the soul. The Roman Empire adopted this belief and associated breaking mirrors with bad luck. The belief of black cats bringing bad luck may have originated from Greek mythology and later influenced by the Pope's association of cats with evil during the 13th century. The number 13 is considered unlucky due to various reasons, such as its absence in an ancient Babylonian text, its association with Jesus' betrayal, and its status as a prime number. The number 4 is feared in some Asian cultures because it sounds similar to the word for death. Superstitions are not based on science, but rather on personal beliefs and a desire for control. As long as people are not obsessed or imposing their beliefs on others, superstitions are h In the US, 1 out of 4 people claim to be superstitious, whether it be choosing not to walk under a tree, avoiding the number 13, or even just crossing your fingers. These seemingly harmless habits are normally associated with some form of luck. But what exactly is a superstition? Superstitions are something that people believe or act upon, and are normally associated with some kind of luck, or even magic. There are three superstitions we're going to talk about, one being broken mirrors, the second being black cats, and the third being some seemingly random numbers. And the third being some seemingly random numbers. In the US, 1 out of 4 people claim to be superstitious, whether it be choosing not to walk under a ladder, avoiding the number 13, or even just crossing your fingers. These are seemingly harmless habits, but were they always? And what even is a superstition? Let's start with the mirrors. The superstition is now that breaking a mirror gives you 7 years of bad luck. But where did this even start? The origin of this superstition starts all the way back in ancient Greece. They believed that reflections, also known as a mirror image, was sort of a road to the soul. This was helpful, because it gave people revelations about themselves, kind of like the story of Narcissus. The origin of this superstition starts all the way back in ancient Greece. They believed that reflections, also known as a mirror image, was sort of a road to the soul. This was helpful, because it gave people revelations about themselves, kind of like the story of Narcissus. A man who died from looking at his own reflection. Okay, so they really liked their reflections, but what did that have to do with the mirrors? Well, that was when the Roman Empire entered the picture. When the Roman Empire conquered Greece between 200 and 300 BC, much of Greek mythology followed. Certain myths, like the Trojan War, were similar between the two cultures, though it probably varied in scope. Other myths, like Narcissus, faded away from the mythology, but the meanings and lessons still were kept by the Romans. Now, when the Romans created mirrors in the first century, they were made of glass and measly breakable, especially compared to the metals and pools of water used for reflections by the Greeks. Now, with the high esteem of reflection from the Greeks, if someone broke a mirror and by proxy their reflection, people assumed that the gods would look badly upon them and punish them. But nowadays, since we don't believe in Greek or Roman mythology, we just say that breaking a mirror brings bad luck. But why seven years? Well, in Roman mythology, they believed that the body is renewed every seven years. So they believed that you'd be punished until your body is renewed and cycled that bad luck away. So that's the story of the superstition, that breaking a mirror brings you seven years of bad luck. A story of the Greeks' obsession with reflection mirroring on us today. Another common superstition is the superstition of the black cat. Apparently, black cats bring bad luck when they cross their path. But why do these adorable furballs deserve the slander? Well, the origin of this black cat superstition is unknown, but there is a popular theory. Greek mythology's Hecate, the goddess of magic and witchcraft. She has sported a cat by her side in many of her iterations. Later, probably because of the Roman Empire, the idea transformed from just the goddess herself to witches in general. Though there is not a definitive reason for this, we can probably assume it has something to do with the fact the Pope said cats were evil. In the 13th century, the Pope issued the Vox in Roma, a document that talks about all the satanic cults that the Pope was learning about recently. When explaining the events of these satanic rituals, he mentioned that cats were involved somehow. Scared by the sudden revelation, many people started persecuting cats for fear that when they saw a cat, especially a black one, that it was a curse from a witch or maybe even Satan himself. Now, yes, that was over 700 years ago, but that doesn't mean we can't still see the effects of it today. Part of the reason the Black Plague was even a plague in the first place was because people were so scared of cats that they were killing them, and the mice that actually had the plague were avoided because there weren't enough cats to help hunt the mice. Even now, pop culture and even Halloween has helped to paint these black cats as some sort of eerie supernatural creature. But don't worry, even in the Pope's time, even these lovable creatures still had some sort of good luck in them. I mean, even sailors thought that cats were good luck, especially the black ones, because they thought that cats would give them safe voyage on their travels, and even their wives would be harboring cats in order to make sure to try and give them some sort of luck on their travels. And nowadays, we can even see the positive effects. Well, black animals like cats and dogs are not normally picked, but on Black Friday, adoption costs are waived in certain areas so that way people are more likely to adopt them. And the UK and the US even have days celebrating black cats. So, if a black cat crosses your path, it's said to be bad luck. And that's because they're associated with witches and even Satan. Now, though it is for a wide variety of reasons, from Greek mythology to the Pope, now, that isn't as popular anymore because of so many efforts from the government and even adoption agencies to get these lovable creatures off the streets and into your homes. Well, not just animals and objects have superstitions surrounding them, but also numbers. For example, the number 13, which is really popular in the West, is also a very unlucky number. And no one really knows why, but there are a few theories. One of which is the Code of Hammurabi, an ancient text from Babylon, which, when it was adapted from the source material, was numbered. But it was missing the number 13, which was just a mistake. There wasn't any, like, actual things missing from it. Another interesting use of 13 is actually in the story of Jesus' betrayal. Well, Judas, the person who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th member at the table, and he betrayed Jesus. That was really weird and probably caused some sort of stigma around the number in the first place. The third reason is because of the fact that a lot of the systems we use today are actually in a base-12 number system. So, 13 is like an odd number out, and is really weird for that reason. Because we really like prime numbers, and 13 just isn't it. It's also a prime number, which makes it really hard to divide, and all the other prime numbers are either used as some sort of counting system, or they also have some sort of weird superstition around them. But a number that isn't a prime number, that has a superstition around it, is actually known number 4, which, in Asian cultures, China in particular, is very feared, just like how in America, the floors 13 will be removed from buildings because of fear of it, the number 4, and sometimes even the entire 40th floors, will be removed because of it. Now, why you ask? Well, because in many of these languages, the number 4 sounds actually pretty close to death in that language. Now, this is weird because it didn't only develop because of culture, it also developed because of language. There are a bunch of cultures that actually follow this rule, and it's not even just because of the culture, it's because the languages, some of which grew up in entirely different areas and didn't really overlap a lot, still had the same homophone, which is really crazy and really weird for those areas. And there you have it. According to superstitions, mirrors can shatter your dreams, cats can claw calamity into your life, and numbers can ruin your life to where you can't even. But why do people even believe this? I probably missed this part in the beginning, but superstitions are not associated with science in any way. There is no science backing this at all. So, what makes people want to believe this? Now, my opinion on this is the fact that it's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. People think that something is going to give them good luck, so they focus on that and hope for that good luck. Or something gives them bad luck, so they avoid it to try and give them some peace of mind or some control in their life. But regardless, whether you decide to not walk under a ladder because you just don't want that bad luck or because you have some common sense, it doesn't matter. As long as you're not actively obsessing over it and trying to shove your ideas down someone else's throat, you're fine. And I just want to say how interesting it is for both the mirror and the black cat to have basically the same origin in both Greek mythology and then later in Christianity and Catholicism. It's really, really interesting that those two seem to be really good contenders for causes of superstitions. Okay, okay, so in Greece, reflections are sacred, but what does that even have to do with mirrors?