A Superstitious World by Hamza Khatib 9B

  To what extent do people nowadays believe in superstitions? Superstitions are beliefs or ways of behaving that are based on fear and faith in magic. That being clarified, I firmly believe that people in the world still believe in superstitions as it is linked to their cultural beliefs and life experiences.


   To begin with,  people's cultural beliefs make them believe more in superstitions. Most superstitions originate from culture. This makes people believe in it as it is rooted in their own culture and beliefs. It would be something they cherish as it is a part of their history and heritage. For example. In Egyptian culture, a ladder against the wall forms a triangle shape which is a sacred shape for the Egyptians. Therefore, walking under it brings bad luck. (Wolchover, Natalie “The surprising origins of 9 common superstitions) This shows that this superstition is linked to their culture and heritage, therefore they cherish it forever and always keep believing in it as their ancestors and people from their culture did as well. Furthermore, another example is that the Turkish culture believes the colour blue acts as a shield against evil. (Williams, Victoria) This superstition is rooted in their culture as it originated years ago by the Turkish people. It has been passed down by their ancestors to younger generations which makes people still believe in them from the Turkish culture. Therefore, our superstitions originate from multiple cultures which makes people believe in it as it is embedded within them.


Furthermore, people's life experiences and fears that are embedded in them allow them to believe in superstitions. The events that a person goes through can affect the aspects they believe in as they would view it from a different view. Superstitions are based on the events or patterns that occur in a person's life. The experiences and events they witness and go through allow a person to view a certain aspect as it is bad luck. For example, Charles Panti wrote: “When metal spoke umbrellas began to be a common rainy day sight, their clumsy mechanism allowed them to be hazardous. As when it opens it can injure a child or break something” (Panati, (Extraordinary origins of everyday Things) This was dependent on Charles life experience, meaning he opened an umbrella indoors by accident and it caused a mishap by breaking something or injuring a person. Therefore, Charles viewed it as an object that brings bad luck and offers a mishap to people. Therefore, our experiences affect the things we believe in, whether it is a positive or a negative experience with the person. 


   To conclude, I firmly believe that our world still believes in superstitions, as our superstitions are linked to our own culture and life experiences that we went through which makes us believe in them further.




Bibliography:


Encyclopedia Britannia, Encyclopedia Britannia, Inc. www.britannica.com/dictionary/superstitions.Accessed 16 Dec.


Williams, Victoria (2016). Celebrating life customs around the World: From baby showers to Funarlan, p.344. ABC (-LEO.ISBN 9781440836596)


Panati, C. Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. PHarper 8 Row Publishers, 1987.


Wokhover, Natalie. “The surprising origins of 9 common superstitions” Live Science, Purch 19 Sept. 2011, www.livescience.com/33507.origins - of - superstitions

Comments

  1. Farah Al AssafMarch 2, 2024 at 11:29 AM

    I liked your explanation on the connection between superstitions and cultural beliefs. I also liked it when you mentionedd that superstitions orignate from multiple cultural beliefs. I would suggest you elaborate more on people's life experiences. I think you can do so by justifying why people tend to believe in superstitions due to lack of faith or lack of critical thinking and rational views.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To what extent do people still believe in superstitions? Mina Al-Fathil 9B

Image
    Name: Mina Al-Fathil Class: 9B  To what extent do people still believe in superstitions?       Do people still believe in superstitions? “Superstations are defined as a belief or a way of behaving based on fear of the unknown and faith in magic or luck” (Encyclopedia Britannica). I firmly disbelief that people still believe in superstitions, because of the spread and development of technology, and the increased number of educated people.      To begin with, people do not believe in superstitions anymore, due to the spread and development of technology. Technology has made it easier for people to access information. Thus, fear of the unknown has significantly decreased as people have access to all the information for all the subjects they can think of. According to Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things “A rigidly spoked umbrella, opening suddenly in a small room, could seriously injure an adult or a child, or shatter a fr...
Read more

Logic or Superstitions? - Ahmad Abu Asbeh 9C

Image
  Logic or Superstitions?        Superstitions make up most of generational belief systems which get carried on from one generation to the next. As stated by Natalie Wolchover on www.livescience.com on the origins of famous superstitions: “Ancient Romans believed mirrors held fragments of our souls, and that shattering them therefore created a crack in our souls too.” Which is why this argumentative essay is being conducted to discuss the world’s recent decrease in superstition beliefs.      The world has become less superstitious. As mentioned by Russel Bertrand in his argumentative essay: “Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom”. Which clearly states that the nature of superstitions is based mainly off of fear and not logical thinking, and in the new day and age of straight-forward and logical answers being 5 seconds away from the inquirer, the need of su...
Read more

Superstitions in Literature. Raya Abu Atiyeh 9B

Image
 Superstitions in Literature   To what extent do people still believe in superstitions? How can superstitions be reflected in literature pieces? Superstitions are beliefs based on fear of the unknown and faith in luck. I firmly believe in superstitions as they do not align with my culture or religion.    To begin with, I do not relate to superstitions as they conflict with my culture and beliefs. Superstitions are becoming more prevalent in literature, with works like "The Hollow" and "Superstitions" emphasizing the significance of these beliefs in culture. Rather than adhering to tradition, superstitions challenge and reshape these beliefs. Sometimes, superstitions do not have any connection with cultural beliefs, as is the case with the two poems. According to Turkish culture, the colour blue acts as a shield against evil and negative energy. However, it is perplexing why people hold such beliefs that can lead to negativity. It is like judging a book by its cover,...
Read more