Are you one of them?

In several countries superstitions have taken the form of traditions and are followed religiously. You! takes a look.. By Zarina Patel  

The world has evolved tremendously from what it once used to be. Globalisation has taken place and technology rules the commencement of even the smallest of our activities. Emails have taken the place of hand written letters, while telephones are now mobile. Yes, everything changes with time, but one thing that millions around the world refuse to let go of are superstitions.

However, as compared to men, women are the ones more obsessed with the existence of this fallacy. Every woman is exposed to various superstitions from an early age and adopts them, without paying heed to the scientific rationale behind them. For example, Mrs. Jamal, a housewife who has taken up gardening as a hobby, says, “I avoid planting chillies in my garden because it can be a source of domestic quarrels.” Even with an educated background, a successful husband and two children, Mrs. Jamal not even once gives a thought to how irrelevant her superstition is. Chillies have nothing to do with domestic disputes whatsoever! Quarrels occur in a home due to lack of understanding, so why fear chillies when she already has a bond of understanding with her husband?

Unfortunately, there are more silly superstitions from where this one came from. Farzana, a teacher believes she has a bad day whenever a bird sits on her bedroom window. While Zahida follows the universally accepted superstition of a broken mirror bringing seven years of bad luck and takes special care of how mirrors are handled in her house.

It’s due to their immovable conviction for superstitions that make women famous for blindly following self-invented beliefs. The belief in this fallacy has inclined so much so that women opt to wear specific colours in order to bring good luck. Sara prefers wearing pink dresses for parties, as she believes that this particular hue is lucky for her. Various psychologists describe this behaviour as a means to overcome anxiety. However, women generally begin to form a dependency towards ‘lucky’ colours and clothes, which in effect weakens their will power. They tend to get confused and nervous when plunged into a difficult situation without the support of their lucky charm.

Even educated women admit that they follow lucky numbers for their career’s success, home management and never-ending financial crisis. Mehtab, an interior decorator got her first project on the 18th of a particular month and from then onwards she waits for this date to commence all of her projects. Now, what does a date have to do with how well she does on a project? All her success is due to her talent, not some date. But sadly, some people just refuse to accept the real facts and find comfort in turning to superstitions.

The power and impact of superstitions unfortunately, just doesn’t end here. For centuries, most irrelevant superstitions have been preserved by people. In several countries superstitions have taken the form of traditions and are followed religiously. One such country is India where pregnant women are not allowed to hold scissors or come outside in the dark. Whereas, in Russia giving yellow flowers to a woman signifies infidelity and means that the relationship will not last long. Generations inherit these dim-witted views and women are under pressure to follow them. A few of such beliefs include white trousers being a bad omen for a married woman, black clothes bringing tragedy to the wearer, our luck falling astray at having crossed paths with a black cat, crossing fingers for success, avoiding 13th day of a month to start new work, and touching wood for surety of work done. These beliefs are amongst the popular ones that many educated women even follow blindly without coming up with a single reasonable explanation of how these superstitions even matter.

Why women are superstitious?

There are several reasons why women involve themselves in irrational superstitions. The blame for the obsession with this fallacy can be easily placed on the subdued status of women, family disputes, despairs and mental anxiety. Also, the fear of a husband’s unfaithfulness tends to keep women on the edge and they in effect can do anything to perverse their happiness. A sense of insecurity gives birth to superstitions which is the main reason for the rise in superstitious beliefs amongst women. As it is said: “Superstition is the child of ignorance and the mother of misery.”

With this lies the fact that a woman living in a male dominated society has fewer opportunities to acquire knowledge and lack of information is a powerful tool of propagation of superstitions. The worst victims of superstitions are rural women. Their faith in unrealistic superstitions is aggravated by lack of education, nutrition, hygiene, and general health care. Therefore, these women find solace in spell practices. They head towards pirs and amils for solving their issues, who take large sums of money for no valid reason. These false notions are deeply ingrained in our society hence; it is hard for women to get rid of them totally. However, it is imperative to change our train of thoughts for the betterment of future generations. 

Source: The News