中西方迷信superstitions in Chinese and western culture

Spilling Salt—Bad Luck
Salt is regarded as a token of friendship and trust. Spilling was seen as an intentional offense to the celestial powers
Judas knocked over the saltcellar.
Superstitions in Chinese and Western culture
Superstitions
Content:
What is superstition? Why does superstition exist? Chinese superstitions Western superstitions Now people's view of superstitions
Now people's view of superstitions
The Eight Diagrams
• According to legend, it was created by Fuxi, an ancient Chinese sage(圣人）. It is written in the ancient book ZhouYi • It represents the ancient Chinese' s earliest knowledge of the universe,which contains a simple dialectical materialist point of view(辩 证唯物主义）
What is superstition?
A belief, practice, or rite irrationally(不合 理的仪式） maintained by ignorance of the laws of nature or by faith in magic or chance.
Why does superstition exist?
One can counteract（抵消） the effect of spilled salt, or bad luck, by throwing a little over the left shoulder
Put salt on the doorstep of a new house and no evil can enter.
some other superstitions • Fortune-telling &divination • Pray to the spiritual being
Western superstitions
13 & Friday
Jesus was betrayed by his 13th disciple, and he was hung on a Friday. Britain used to hang criminals on Friday, thus Friday was called “the hanging day”. Adam and Eve ate the Forbidden fruit on Friday; both died on Friday; and their son Cain(该隐) killed his brother Abel(亚伯) on Friday.
• Factors affecting people
◎ The influence of friends ◎ The influence of family ◎ Experience ◎ Books ◎ Hearsay(谣言) ◎ Tradition religion etc.
Chinese superstitions
Last supper
The 13 superstition is based on the idea that Judas, the bad disciple(门徒）, was the 13th man to sit down to the table at The Last Supper. I think a more rational superstition would be to fear bad disciples.
Left eye jump wealth,the right eye jump disaster
People often think that left eye jump will bring them good luck , And in the right eye jump will bring bad luck
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The Eight Diagrams
qian---sky kun---earth zhen---thunder xun---wind kan---water li---fire gen---mountain dui---lake
feng shui
Feng shui is an ancient Chinese pract ice of arranging item in a room so that they are in balance and ha rmony with their envi ronment.
Knocking on Wood
Finally,a commonly held superstition is that of touching wood for luck.This measure is most that often taken if you think you have said something that is tempting fate,such as "my car has never broken down , touch wood?"
Numbers
• The word for "eight" (bā) sounds similar to the word which means "prosper" or "wealth" (fā). • The number 2 is a good number in Chinese culture. There is a Chinese saying: "good things come in pairs". It is common to use double symbols in product brand names, such as double happiness, double coins and double elephants.
Broken mirrors To break a mirror means 7 years bad luck. • Mirrors have been used in fortune-telling. • Breaking a mirror is the destruction of a means of knowing the will of gods.
Superstitions remain as outward expressions of the tensions and anxieties that hold sway over humanity as it struggles down the corridor of life from birth to death, full of change and uncertainty. 人类在从生到死的生命长廊里为充满变数而又无法预 知的一生进行挣扎的过程中，始终被紧张和焦虑困扰。
Rabbit s
the superstition of rabbits in westerners originates from the famous English writer Lewis Carroll‟s book <Alice‟s Adventure in Wonderland>. Rabbits are mysterious and swift, especially good at running, so that they can escape from misfortune. Therefore, the westerners believe that the rabbit foot can drive away evil and bring about luck. Also the adults tell their children that the Easter eggs are sent by the rabbits on Easter.
而迷信的延承正是人类紧张和焦虑的外在表现。
我们可以把迷信看成是面对多变人生的一种慰藉，就好像我们是一 个神秘世界的一部分，而这个神秘的世界又充满着不可理喻的规则。
• We can see the superstition, therefore, as a kind of reassurance against fluctuation as though we are part of an impenetrable mystery with incomprehensible rules.
Umbrella
• It„s bad luck to open an umbrella indoors • Infinite power of the sun have been a result of worship(崇拜）, indoor umbrellas were considered to be an insult（侮辱） to the sun, and then everyone in the house will bring bad luck. • Some of the things associated with the umbrella, all with bad luck, and therefore should not be an umbrella as a gift for Westerners。
Every age pays attention to the ancient superstitions according to a certain subtle fashion, very often knowing nothing about the original sources from which they derived.
Walking under a Ladder
• In the middle ages,a leaning ladder was thought to resemble the gallows（绞刑） and so by walking underneath a ladder, you are playing out your own execution • How to avoid ? 1Cross your fingers until you see a dog 2Lick finger and make a cross on the toe of shoes ,and don‘t look down at the shoe until the mark has dried
Sticking chopsticks upright
• Stick chopsticks into the rice: Do not stick your chopsticks into your food generally, especially not into rice, because only at funerals, chopsticks are stuck into the rice which is put onto the altar(祭坛).