Touchwood

Touchwood the best possible way to preserve a positive situation, isn’t it? “They said I am good for the job—touchwood”, “he keeps me so happy—touchwood”, “she is so healthy for her age—touchwood”. In theory if we didn’t touchwood in these situations, I would become bad at my job, he wouldn’t keep me happy and she would be unhealthy for her age. Crazy!!! Well!! Hmmmmm...

It is believed that this phrase that we use to sustain good fortune originates out of ancient mythology where trees were said to hold good spirits. What’s also interesting is that if we don’t find wood we go about touching our head and say –“touchwood”, this was apparently done because our brain is equated to a block of wood ( I don’t really know if this supposed to speak highly of us and our intellectually ability!!!)

I for sure would rather believe the ancient myth versus being overly logical about it, so in words of Eddie Floyd—You better knock, knock on wood, baby.



Lyrics | Eddie Floyd - Knock on Wood lyrics

The Confused Black Cats

“STOP THE CAR!! REVERSE!!! Ah; now move ahead”. I have lost count of the number of people I have heard saying this when a black cat crosses their path while driving. So while we Indians whine about the years of bad luck these terrible cats bring upon us, people in Scotland are waiting for their house to be invaded by black cats cause for them these blackies signify prosperity. In England the presence of a black cat in a woman’s life is considered to be a sign of her having many suitors (So Much for saying the whites hate the blacks huh!)
In this entire mess of good and bad luck imagine the poor cats. The black cat who gets shipped from India to England or England to India will be cursing his luck trying to understand the confused reactions his presence entails in the lives of people.If not for the sake of logic let’s try to let go off this cat curse for the sake of the confused cats.......

Top Five Food Supersitions

Superstitions successfully define food beyond nutrients and calories.The five most fascinating superstitions around food according to me are:-

1) Lettuce
On the Chinese New Year eating lettuce is considered to bring good fortune. So, people who thought dieting was a curse might just have to think again!!



2) Noodles
In sections of Asia eating long noodle strands without cutting them is believed to ensure a long life. Guess it’s time to bid farewell to table manners!




3)Rice
Throwing rice at a wedding is meant to bring prosperity, wealth and happiness to the couple. Considering the amount of money that is spent on weddings now a days, it would help if people threw cash at the couple to ensure their prosperity and happiness!




4) Egg Shells
This is one of my favourites-It is believed that if you do not crush the ends of an egg shell after eating it, a witch would come and collect all the discarded shells and use them to make a boat that would sail into the sea and raise storms. Whoever said Tsunami is caused because of underwater earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, forgot to mention the EGG SHELLS.




5)Garlic
In Greece people carry a piece of garlic in their pocket to avoid the Evil Eye. So, I guess in Greece women and men don’t rank body odour too high on their list of dating priorities.

SUPERB-stitions

We all have heard of these superstitious beliefs at some point or another in our lives. I'll be honest I still don't whistle at night cause my grandmum told me,"don't whistle ghosts will come".My sister always tied her hair before an exam because she believed that if she keeps her hair open her knowledge will fly out.My friend Ashritha always wears yellow before the on set of any important event , cause she is convinced it's a recipe of success in her life. It's not like all these people including myself are unaware of these notions being hideous but we still do it and i always wonder if this fixation really has a perfect answer....

Unlucky 13

It is hard to mark out the boundaries of superstition. A

Frenchman travelling in Italy finds almost everything

superstitious, and is hardly wrong. The archbishop of

Canterbury claims that the archbishop of Paris is super-

stitious the Presbyterians levy the same reproach against

his Grace of Canterbury, and are in their turn called

superstitious by the Quakers, who are the most super-

stitious of men in the eyes of other Christians.

Voltaire Philosophical Dictionary

Superstitions are beliefs and practices that are subjective and supported by rationale that lack complete objectivity. Ignorance and fear dominates the minds of those who try to use superstition as a tool to protect themselves from what they believe is ‘unknown’.

Just like our culture and tradition has been passed on to us from generation to generation, superstitions have also been neatly packed and transported to us within this gift hamper. Look at the cursed number 13, there are a number of stories behind why the double-digit 13 became infamous.The story I heard among the other ridiculous ones, claims that the cursed number 13 came into being thanks to our ancient Egyptian and Chinese counterparts.The members of ancient Egypt and Chinese civilizations are believed to have used their ten fingers and two feet to count which made the number 12 the highest numerical number they could count up to. Since the number 13 came immediately after 12 they started to think of it as an evil number as it was unknown to their clan! But then going by their logic shouldn’t every number after 12 be cursed?Ignorance of such sort was acceptable during the time of ancient civilizations but how does one explain civilized 20thcentury people running from the number 13?! Architects till date omit the 13th floor from buildings they build.

Imagine the directors and producers of Apollo 13 and Oceans Thirteen, they must really have B**** of steel! or may be the cursed numerics are responsible for the $334,100,000(Apollo 13) and $311,144,465 (Oceans Thirteen) box office collections of the two movies. Imagine their plight!They must be devastated!!!!