Mohd Siddiqur Rahman :
Despite the world has made tremendous progress in science and technology, many people still have firm belief in superstition. A vast section of our people are the victims of superstition for their illiteracy and ignorance. The evil effects of it mostly affect the poor and the unlettered people in the community. It’s role to push the nation into backwardness and misdirection could not be ignored at all. So we should not get away from the contemporary problem of our life and society, rather must continue constructive discussion over the issue in order to create more and more awareness among our people and to find out the ways to get rid of it .
What is superstition ? It is just a blind belief in certain things , not based on science or logic. We do not have logical explanations here, excessively credulous belief and reverence for supernatural beings. The root of superstition is lack of control, according to Vyse, the author of ” Believing in Magic : The psychology of superstition.” (Oxford 2013). ” Generally superstition is aimed at achieving greater control, Vyse told live science. ” When something important is at stake , yet the outcome is uncertain, the superstitions are likely to be used to fill the gaps and make us feel more confident .” Superstition stems from the unknown and mysterious fear, people in every country believe in , one or the other, superstition. Most of the superstitions have come down to us from our ancestors. It was because education and wonders of science were absent at the primitive stage of life.
There are various kinds of superstition like religious, cultural , and personal. Religious beliefs may be taken as superstitious by the person not believing religion. Huge number of superstitions belongs to a cultural tradition in many societies. Forefathers worshipped the Sun , the moon , fire, water, storm etc. so , their generations are following the suit. In our society, many people believe in the evil eye or in the success of amulets. Belief in amulets or stones have been found in most parts of the world . Personal superstition like : A horse player develops his belief with a white horse, he wins the game if he bets on a white horse . He is convinced that white horse is lucky for him . A player , wearing blue shirt , wins the game. So he is convinced that blue color is lucky for him .
Now it is evident that superstitions are numerous, they vary from one country to another, some are commonly shared by many countries. A vast section of people believe in evil eye or evil spirit. In order to avert the evil spirits, they sacrifice birds and animals. They try to please the gods and goddesses with different offerings and prayers. Some consult religious teacher (half educated) and resort to spell and charms. The cries of certain birds like owl and ravens and mewing of cats are superstitions followed all over the globe. It is also a common belief that when comets are seen , they indicate the death of a great man . People in the West regard ’13’ as an unlucky number, they refuse to accept room number 13 of a hotel , or 13th floor of the same. It is because Lord Jesus, at the last supper, dined with his twelve disciples, and was later crucified. Spilling of salt is regarded inauspicious as it was seen spilt on the table on which they had had their meal . To them , going under a ladder brings bad luck and Friday is unlucky day to start a new work. Tuesday 13th in Spain is considered unlucky. There is an even old proverb that explains: ” On Tuesday , don’t get married, embark on journey or move away. In Bangladesh, some days and months are deemed to be inauspicious. Some people consult priests, astrologers to know the date and time to start the work , projects and journey . Date and time of marriage and other ceremonies are fixed in accordance with the advice of priests and astrologers in Indian sub continent, the home of highest number of superstitions. Many believe in Horoscope and Astrology that proved to be futile in most cases and in few cases successful having coincidental match with prediction.
Let me proceed with a few more common superstitions : One should not go out if one is seen sneezing in front of him, or one sees a man with an empty pitcher, or if a black cat crosses one path, because these are all considered not good signs and likely to bring bad luck . Seeing an one eyed man early in the morning is considered highly inauspicious. The sitting of an owl at the house-top is an indication of immediate ruin and destruction . Crowing of a crow in the early morning indicates coming of some guest during the day. Or falling of a plate from hand accidentally also sign of having guest on that day . We find some superstitions in our society that are funny and some are scary like don’t eat an egg before appearing of an examination , you might get a zero if you do so . You have to donate 2.5 kilograms of salt if you kill a cat . You should not cut your nail at night as it will bring ill luck. Never utter your husband’s name to others , you will have a bad luck . If you eat ants, you will learn swimming quickly . If a butter fly sits on some one’s body, she will be getting married soon . If you get hick cups while eating , it means some one is remembering you. Foxes get married when the sun shines in a rainy day. If a framed picture falls of hand on the ground, the person in the picture will die soon. If you come across a funeral procession ,you will be having a bad day. I need to stop here as the list of superstition is too long to mention in one write up .
Nevertheless, the evil effects of superstitions are overwhelming. We experienced superstitions not only on trivial matters but also on such issues as matter most. During the British period in Indian sub continent, the radical Muslims considered English education anti-religion, abstained themselves from receiving it, pushing the community into backwardness and curse of unemployment. Once they went against female education retarding the national progress, it was Begum Rokeya who stood against it and inspired the women folk to be educated . Once in India , under Sati practice in Hindu communities, many recently widowed women , either voluntarily or by use of force , committed suicide and were buried with her husband . Raja Ram Mohan Roy came up as a reformer and stopped it. Superstitions can sometimes lead to horrifying crimes. Women, who were suspected of practicing Witchcraft, were tied and buried alive. Joan of Arc was burnt to death because she was regarded by the English men as a Witch. In our society, a person having syndrome of abnormal behavior , used to be tied and caned severely by the local quack to ward off the suspected evil spirit upon him. There are too many phenomena to mention that ended up with tragic outcome due to cruel superstitions.
Presently, It is good news that with the expansion of education and passage of time, problems relative to superstition have been reduced to some extent . Having listened to Radios , televisions as well as reading of news papers on the subject and other different daily pursuits, concept of realities of life is gradually getting clearer to the superstitious people . Superstitions , when got the
Strong hold on the society, it might be a challenge to abolish them completely but our sincere efforts with fresh strategies could bring them to minimum.
Throughout the ages, people have experienced dire and devastating consequences of superstitions due to lack of education and congenial atmosphere. In view of enormity of evil effects in the society , we cannot afford to allow them to thrive. Our education department would focus it’s kind attention over the issue and include the subject in the syllabus in order to prevent our young generations from being superstitious. Social media, which is very popular these days , should take the initiative in spreading awareness about the demerits of superstitions. A country wide campaign could be conducted involving various social activists, celebrities and eminent people and reformers. Clubs and seminars can play an effective role in getting the issues addressed.
In conclusion, it is our earnest appeal to all concerned to come forward and figure out all possible ways to eradicating superstitions from the society. It is high time that people from all walks of life develop a scientific outlook to do away with superstitions. So , we need to concentrate our sincere efforts in place to eliminate them, otherwise we cannot leave a modern superstition free society behind us for the generations to come.
(The writer is an ex country manager of Biman, Bangladesh Airlines in Frankfurt, now lives in New York)
