Secondary School Level

Outline: Meaning of the term ‘Superstition’. India and superstitions. Examples of superstitions. Early time superstitions during the Middle Ages. Science helping men against superstitions.

Superstition means a belief that has no fundamental reason. Fright, ignorance am unawareness are always accompanied by superstition. Superstition is an innocent belief or notion that is not based on reason or knowledge. However, with the increase in knowledge, superstitions always decrease. No matter which part of the world we visit, certain beliefs and superstitions are always encouraged by the inhabitants.

Indian society is changing fast, but still there are people who are superstitious and have a strong faith in the local beliefs. Most of the Indian beliefs have jumped with an objective to protect themselves from evil forces. These beliefs have no scientific reasoning, and most of them appear unproven and false. There are many such beliefs in the Indian culture. These beliefs are absolutely absurd, and have no logic behind them. Even the daily life of people in India is ruled by superstitions. For example, some people assume that/Saturday is not an auspicious day for having haircut and Friday is good for buying new things.

Some superstitions originate from various religious practices. Civilizations hold many examples of common every day superstitions. To begin with; the curved horseshoe outside the main door of the house and the traditional rare four-leaf- clover is always said to bring good luck. In addition to this/some other irrational and illogical actions bring good luck to a person. They include knocking on wood, crossing the fingers to fulfil one's wish, and so on .Some mistakes are said to bring bad fortune like walking under a ladder, breaking a mirror, stepping on a crack and so on. However, it has not been proven, whether these superstitions actually bring luck to a person or vice versa.

In early times men offered human sacrifices to please their deities. As illiterate people had no scientific knowledge, they worshipped various forces of nature. They strongly believed that wind, moon, sun, air, water and fire controlled the universe. These forces were sometimes kind and sometimes very cruel. Due to the fear, they worshipped them and conducted ridiculous customs. During the Middle Ages, witchcraft in many European countries became a famous superstition. People imagined that old wicked women had sold their souls to the evil spirits.

Today in scientific age, old monsters of superstition has been slowy thrown out of men's mind. He is becoming more any more rational. However, our wisdom will not develop until alt superstitions are totally uprooted from the society.