Superstition欧美常见迷信说法

Factors affecting people
The influence of friends ◎ The influence of family ◎ Experience ◎ Books ◎ Hearsay(谣言)
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Attitude of people who are superstitious
Types of superstition
◎ Ghost ◎ Witchcraft ◎ Divination(占卜) ◎ Tarot(塔罗牌) ◎ Constellation ◎ Geomantic omen(风水) ◎ Fortune telling(八字算命)
Western superstitions
Numbers in Chinese culture Lucky numbers
• 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 coin and double elephants. •
Black Friday ◎ Bird of peace ◎ Witches ◎ Devil
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Black Friday – Unfortunate Event
◎ In the year 1869 The financial market of USA slump ◎ In the year 1939 Fire in the mountain forest in Australia ◎ In the year 1978 Holocaust（大屠杀） in Iran ◎ In the year 1982 War between England and Argentina
summarize
Whether you admit it or not, superstition, a common phenomenon, is almost everywhere in our daily life. But why? This is the main question to deal with.
◎ They can get benefits without working. (E.g. They can pass the exam without revising ) Consequence: Bad result ◎ It is necessary to believe in it. Otherwise, they may suffer from pain. (E.g. They must choose an auspicious day to remove something.) Consequence: Feel anxious with everything.
Ravens(大乌鸦): according to the Bible, raven is the betrayer of Noah and is hated by most people. Even so, in Britain’s London Tower,six ravens are the most famous creatures and are treated quite well, for the British people believe if they all fly away, the UK will die out.
So, you think in a world that science and technology has been more and more developed, superstition is far away from us? Then you are totally wrong, for they are even more common in modern society.
Albatross(信天翁): the westerners believe that you can never kill a albatross anytime anywhere, for they think the souls of the seamen are attached to them, so killing the albatrosses will lead to the revenge of the sea.
Chinese superstitions
Sticking chopsticks upright ◎ Choosing an auspicious(吉利 的) day ◎ Supernatural beings ◎ Certain numbers
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Sticking chopsticks upright
How to understand superstition? Regardless of the truth or false of it, the meaning of superstition is some kind of outward expressions of the human’s tensions and anxieties to the uncertain of life.
Attitude of people who are NOT superstitious
◎ All the things may not be true. (E.g. When you see someone wearing white robes(长袍), you will think that it is a ghost but it can be hallucination(幻象) . ◎ It can be interesting. (E.g. Someone predicts something for you and it is fake.)
• 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).
From the above we can see what was the source of superstition: the helplessness in the face of disease and suffering, the uncontrollable things such as fire as well as the mysterious religion.
All superstition has grown from something, so what was the world like that produced and maintained such extraordinary ideas? According to the living in those times was like jumping from the frying pan to fire.
• The word for "eight" (bā) sounds similar to the word which means "prosper" or "wealth" (fā). In regional dialects the words for "eight" and "fortune" are also similar, e.g. Cantonese "baat3" and "faat3".The number 8 is viewed as such an auspicious number that even being assigned a number with several eights is considered very lucky.
Salt: westerners believe that people who put the pot containing salt upside down will encounter unlucky things. However, Greeks think that this can be avoided by throwing a handle of salt over one's left shoulder.
Think About Three Questions
• What is superstition? Give your own definition.
• Why do you think contemporary people are most easily influenced by superstition? • Do you(or others you know) have any superstitions(For example : Lucky number)? Talk about it.
Rabbits: 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.
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Background knowledge
In many people’s opinion, western countries are so developed that the people there would not admit superstition. However, this is not the truth. Westerners are in such a contradiction that they believe in both the science and God. The following are some intersting superstitions in the west.
Bulls: in the west legend, bull is the strongest and most powerful creature. westerners believe that bulls can bring them wealth.
Umbrella: Europeans believe that opening the umbrella in a clear day can bring about the rain, while in America, it is the opposite.