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  • Are you afraid of black cats?

  • Would you open an umbrella indoors?

  • And how do you feel about the number thirteen?

  • Whether or not you believe in them, you're probably familiar with a few of these superstitions.

  • So how did it happen that people all over the world knock on wood, or avoid stepping on sidewalk cracks?

  • Well, although they have no basis in science, many of these weirdly specific beliefs and practices do have equally weird and specific origins.

  • Because they involve supernatural causes, it's no surprise that many superstitions are based in religion.

  • For example, the number thirteen was associated with the biblical Last Supper, where Jesus Christ dined with his twelve disciples just before being arrested and crucified.

  • The resulting idea that having thirteen people at a table was bad luck eventually expanded into thirteen being an unlucky number in general.

  • Now, this fear of the number thirteen, called triskaidekaphobia, is so common that many buildings around the world skip the thirteenth floor, with the numbers going straight from twelve to fourteen.

  • Of course, many people consider the story of the Last Supper to be true, but other superstitions come from religious traditions that few people believe in or even remember.

  • Knocking on wood is thought to come from the folklore of the ancient Indo-Europeans, or possibly people who predated them who believed that trees were home to various spirits.

  • Touching a tree would invoke the protection or blessing of the spirit within.

  • And somehow, this tradition survived long after belief in these spirits had faded away.

  • Many superstitions common today in countries from Russia to Ireland are thought to be remnants of the pagan religions that Christianity replaced.

  • But not all superstitions are religious.

  • Some are just based on unfortunate coincidences and associations.

  • For example, many Italians fear the number 17 because the Roman numeral XVII can be rearranged to form the word vixi, meaning my life had ended.

  • Similarly, the word for the number four sounds almost identical to the word for death in Cantonese, as well as languages like Japanese and Korean that have borrowed Chinese numerals.

  • And since the number one also sounds like the word for must, the number fourteen sounds like the phrase must die.

  • That's a lot of numbers for elevators and international hotels to avoid.

  • And believe it or not, some superstitions actually make sense, or at least they did until we forgot their original purpose.

  • For example, theater scenery used to consist of large painted backdrops, raised and lowered by stagehands who would whistle to signal each other.

  • Absent-minded whistles from other people could cause an accident.

  • But the taboo against whistling backstage still exists today, long after the stagehands started using radio headsets.

  • Along the same lines, lighting three cigarettes from the same match really could cause bad luck if you were a soldier in a foxhole where keeping a match lit too long could draw attention from an enemy sniper.

  • Most smokers no longer have to worry about snipers, but the superstition lives on.

  • So why do people cling to these bits of forgotten religions, coincidences, and outdated advice?

  • Aren't they being totally irrational?

  • Well, yes, but for many people, superstitions are based more on cultural habit than conscious belief.

  • After all, no one is born knowing to avoid walking under ladders or whistling indoors.

  • But if you grow up being told by your family to avoid these things, chances are they'll make you uncomfortable, even after you logically understand that nothing bad will happen.

  • And since doing something like knocking on wood doesn't require much effort, following the superstition is often easier than consciously resisting it.

  • Besides, superstitions often do seem to work.

  • Maybe you remember hitting a home run while wearing your lucky socks.

  • This is just our psychological bias at work.

  • You're far less likely to remember all the times you struck out while wearing the same socks.

  • But believing that they work could actually make you play better by giving you the illusion of having greater control over events.

  • So in situations where that confidence can make a difference, like sports, those crazy superstitions might not be so crazy after all.

Are you afraid of black cats?

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