Tradition or Superstition

Tradition or Superstition

Some of the traditions that we practice unknowingly today was come from superstitious belief from the olden days. Some examples can be found in funeral arrangement. The gun was fired to drive away the evil in the olden days. But, now the gun firing is the tradition of military funeral. Wreath was intended to trap the spirit of dead body in the olden days. Nowadays, sending wreath become tradition and people send wreath as a memory of person who pass away.

Some people believe that the bad luck can be fallen if someone walk under the ladder. In the olden days, the criminals needed to walk under the ladder to go to guillotine before they faced capital punishment.

The other superstition that people believe until now is related to number "13". People thought 13 was an unlucky number because Jesus dined with 13 of his disciples before he was executed. Jesus was executed on Good Friday. So people treated Friday 13 as an unlucky day. Irrational fear of number 13 is called "Triskaidekaphobia" and irrational fear of Friday 13 is called "paraskavedekatriaphobia".

Common superstitious belief are as follows:
- If you blow out all the candles on your birthday cake with the first puff, you will get your wish.
- If a mirror in the house falls and breaks by itself, someone in the house will die soon.
- A dog howling at night when someone in the house is sick is a bad omen.