I imagine that none of us is wholly rational, that we
exercise little well-hidden rituals at critical moments and are touched by what
the outside world calls “superstition” which I prefer to regard as “extra
comfort”. The wholly rational person is a dull dog devoid of that crazy poetry
bubbling away under our immaculate stuffed shirts. So let’s rub that rabbit’s
foot for luck, mind you ideally it should be a left hind-leg foot, shot, not
trapped, in a cemetery of all places,
for maximum potency – a rare rabbit indeed.
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| A silver mounted Rabbit's Foot |
Luck is an elusive companion: Lady Luck can change our lives
and open up new opportunities so it is worth courting her and chasing away all
obstacles. Naturally we marshal our lucky numbers idly to play the lottery in a
vain dream of riches. We avoid walking under ladders (normally mere prudence,
but allegedly not to disturb a 3-sided figure symbolic of The Trinity) and
certainly we cherish mirrors, those reflectors of our inner selves, as cracking
one brings a whopping 7 years’ bad luck. Help your prospects painlessly by
looking over a 4-leafed clover, hanging up a horse-shoe upside-down and keeping
your fingers crossed.
Black cats, associated with dreaded witches, have had a
mixed press. In Scotland, seeing one is a happy omen but in most places a black
cat crossing your path is a harbinger of bad luck. All over Europe, especially
in the South, there is a fight against supposed evil spirits. The cursed
Italian village of Colombraro only has to be named for the local peasant to
scratch his privates, the received remedy for chasing away hobgoblins (and
probably innocent passers-by as well). In Greece a whole industry revolves
around The Evil Eye, an envious malignant stare, and how to repel it.
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| Antidote to The Evil Eye |
Thus many doorways, walls and charm bracelets will be
adorned with the blue stone carrying an eye to chase away the evil spirits left
by ill-disposed visitors. Even the Orthodox Church attacks the Evil Eye (Vaskania in church Greek). At a wedding
the congregation will spit silently to protect the bride from The Eye and
new-born babes get the same treatment, odd, but all well-meant. On New Year’s
Day, a pomegranate will be smashed over the threshold to bring the house good
luck accompanied by the daily ritual of a 3-times sign of the cross over the
breast. To illustrate the power of superstition, the Greek Church is currently controversially
parading some relics of St Barbara (Ayia
Varvara) lent by a Catholic Church in Murano, Venice. The Orthodox took
them round a leading cancer hospital in Athens yesterday to the protests of the
solidly secular SYRIZA government, who preferred the patients to receive modern
drugs instead.
We may smile at these goings-on but we Westerners are
equally beset by Myths and Superstitions, although we do not recognise them as such.
We worship The Wisdom of Free Markets, we revere The Cult of the Sacred Euro,
we cringe at The Global Warming Horrors – all mythical bogeymen of no real
substance.
My calendar tells me it is the 13th tomorrow, a
dread date to be avoided globally. I will hurry to publish today so everything
will then be alright...........Touch wood!
SMD
12.05.15
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2015
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