October is a very multifaceted month. There is the scary, the snuggly, the beautiful, the tasty and the fun. I like to add one more to that mix, the contemplative. October always gets my creative juices flowing. I think deep thoughts. I reminisce. I imagine. Along with nostalgia, I also like to think about the why questions, and what better time to ponder them than October 13th. So much the better if it happens to fall on a Friday.
This year the 13th falls on a Saturday, which is fine. But it still gets me to thinking, specifically about superstitions. The definition of superstition as Webster gives it is threefold. 1) a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge, in or of the ominous significance of a particular thing, circumstance, occurrence, proceeding or the like. 2) a system or collection of such beliefs 3) a custom or act based on such a belief.
Being a geeky history major (and proud of it) I like to examine why things are the way they are. I don't just like to do things cuz that's the way they have always been done. I want the back story so I can make an informed decision. Supersitions, fairytales, legend, story, song, myth, all of these can tell you a lot about a population or a person. It can give you an insight into what they believe and why and a glimpse into daily life.
Since this is October, let me give you a suitable example. Take the vampire. In the lovely olden days of yore, vampires were not the romantic heroes they are now. Vampires were agents of evil who looked like something my cat coughed up and smelled even worse. They were misshapen, had claws and lived in squalor. The superstion centering around them came about because these early ancestors didn't know much about corpses and lividity. If someone died you buried them and didn't poke around to see what made them tick. Doing that sort of thing got you burned at the stake or worse.
Unfortunately, not being inquisitive left them ignorant to the fact that corpses do move. They also make sounds. Even knowing this, if I was in a morgue with one and an arm moved or the body made a noise I might think it was something undead and be fearful as well. Anyway, from this ignorance came about the idea that some people had the capability to come back to life after they died. So what do you do to someone who used to be living, died and then seemingly came back? Well, you got a very large bit of wood and rammed it into their chest, or you cut off their head. That seemed to be the catch all solution. Of course with gases and such, the body might emit a noise upon "expiring" the second time thus giving credence to the belief that the being was a member of the undead. Thus a superstition and legend were born.
Now that we in the thoroughly modern future know all about corpse behavior, the fable of the vampire has changed significantly. What once was a dark evil doer who was bent on destruction is now suddenly a power symbol. Where once it was a foul fiend who lived in caves, we have Armani wearing socialites who live in mansions. Modern man has changed the vampire myth into a story of power and not fear. In our quest to retain youth and vigor (plastic surgery, cryo sleep) we have traded in the fear of the vampire for admiration. It is funny to see how society has changed the supersition to fit the mindset. If you showed a pitch fork wielding villager from the middle ages a vampire film today (assuming they wouldn't totally be freaked out by the whole motion picture process) they would think we were nuts. See, isn't history fascinating.
The same can be said with fairy tales. When the Grimm's wrote their stories originally, they were capturing and collecting the tales that ordinary folk told around the fire. These were not nice stories. They were cautionary tales. Don't trust strangers, don't go into the woods, animals are dangerous, beware things you don't understand. The tales are dark and most do not end well. But that is the point. You learn from the characters mistakes so that you don’t have to make them. In the original Grimm fairy tale, Snow White's prince is a lustful jerk. Snow tortures the queen on her (Snow's) wedding day until the queen dies. There is no wake up kiss. People back then were not so much concerned with true love. Kings and queens were not to be trusted. Again, we see things differently. We look at the true love aspect. The hopeful, everything will work out aspect. Because that is the world we live in. If you wait long enough, or stumble upon the right circumstances you too can find true love and a castle waiting for you around the corner. I'm pretty sure the past century villagers would laugh at us. And then poke us with a pitchfork for showing them moving pictures.
In one of my favorite scary movies, a museum is hosting a superstition exhibit (so you know everyone is pretty much doomed from the get go). Every time I watch it I get excited. Not to see people get eaten by beasties. But because I would love to see such an exhibit in real life. In the movie, guests have to walk into the mouth of a giant sculpture and follow a roped off path. Along the path they must walk under a room full of open umbrellas, walk under fully opened ladders, and walk across the path of a room full of fake black cats. There are also a room of broken mirrors and cracks along the path that one can't help but step on. Somewhere along the way there is an exhibit dedicated to the King Tut expedition. The cursed dig that claimed the lives of all who opened the tomb. In the film I think you have to walk over the boy kings grave. I would LOVE to see a live feed of those paths. How many people would walk in without fear, and how many would try to find an alternate path, or not go in at all?
Even if you are not a superstitious person, you can still find yourself being drawn in. Why? I think because it is a human reaction. If you have a bunch of people who are afraid of something, I think your body just reacts. It may not seem sensible or logical, but the combined anxiety of a certain thing happening just seeps into our pores and we go along.
Athletes have lucky socks, shoes, bats, gloves, uniforms, pre game routines, all because they think they will help them win a game. And to an extent they might. It is a round about form of meditation. A way to ready yourself. But it is still superstition. We all do it. We cross our fingers, we go a certain route, we see a penny and pick it up. We read a fortune or horoscope and believe it. If a good thing happened once when we did a certain thing, perhaps it will happen again. Superstition is our way of making sense of things we don't understand. It is our way to exert a little control over the uncontrollable.
As a historian I find superstition endlessly fascinating. I have books about superstitions and mostly they make me laugh. I think, how odd. Or who would be silly enough to believe that. But then again, I yell at characters on my TV screen and pretend that they can hear me and make changes accordingly. "No you fool, don't go into that room, the monster is in there. Run. RUN." They haven't listened to me yet, but I still keep on yelling. I guess they deserve to get eaten ;) Superstitions can truly be fascinating things. I'll bet you didn't even realize that. What are some of the superstitions in your life? I'll bet you have more than you think
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