SUPERSTITION 



5635 



SUPERSTITION 



the symbol of the cross.) A traveler mentions 

 that he was never in a railway accident, or a 

 mother mentions that her children never had 

 whooping cough ; and at once touches or knocks 

 on wood to prevent the mere mention of the 

 misfortune from bringing it on. The Germans 

 under the same circumstance say "Unberufen," 

 similarly to prevent the mere name or mention 

 from bringing on the reality. The magic of 

 names has a large history in which remote no- 

 tions of such connection are embodied. (See 

 MAGIC.) 



The Folklore of Salt. It is difficult to say 

 why one article rather than another becomes 

 the center of folklore superstition. The folk- 

 lore of salt is a typical instance. It, too, is 

 supposed to keep off spirits; and throwing a 

 pinch of salt over the left shoulder is a cere- 

 mony that in some countries is a means of 

 keeping the devil at a distance. The spilling 

 of salt as a bad omen is widely current; it is 

 commonly interpreted as the sign of a quarrel, 

 possibly because the acceptance of salt indi- 

 cated friendly hospitality. An example of sym- 

 pathetic magic with salt is the following from 

 the South of England. A maiden on three suc- 

 cessive Friday nights throws a pinch of salt 

 into the fire and says: 



"It is not this salt I wish to burn, 

 It is my lover's heart to turn ; 

 That he may neither rest nor happy be, 

 Until he conies and speaks to me." 



On the third night she expects to see her lover. 

 Note the number three, and the day Friday, 

 commonly an unlucky day, but here chosen as 

 propitious for magic. Superstitions cumulate, 

 old and new notions mingle, but all in the 

 same vein. A Swiss peasant may be advised 

 to fortify himself against evil spirits by carry- 

 ing a piece of fresh bread in one coat pocket 

 and a psalm book in the other; a piece of rock 

 salt in each vest pocket or inside a briarwood 

 cane upon which three crosses have been cut. 

 A negress may carry a rosary and a rabbit's 

 foot in the same pocket for a double protec- 

 tion. 



Driving Evil Spirits Out of the Body. The 

 practice of medicine offers a favorable field for 

 tracing the course of superstition. The early 

 and widespread notion that disease is caused 

 by the invasion of a foreign spirit comes from 

 the days when priest and physician were one. 

 Cure takes the form of exorcism. By weird 

 ceremonies the shaman or priestly medicine- 

 man attempts to drive or suck or frighten the 

 spirit out of the afflicted body. The drum and 



the rattle, as well as a bag of herbs or magic 

 odds and ends, are his insignia; the drum and 

 the rattle are now the playthings of children. 

 This notion is part of the more general one of 

 the direct play of spirits (animism) in the forces 

 of nature and the conditions of life. A dream 

 is regarded as a real experience in which the 

 soul of the sleeper takes an excursion to an- 

 other world and brings back reports. Hence 

 the practice of never awakening a sleeper, lest 

 his soul fail to find its way back to the body. 

 A like belief leads to the "ghost" or returning 

 spirit which plays a large part in superstition, 

 and prepares the ground for such modern move- 

 ments as Spiritualism (which see) to ancestor 

 worship, or to the return of ancestors in the 

 newborn child. 



It may be interesting to trace some of the re- 

 mote superstitious forms of such belief. Sneez- 

 ing has always been regarded as an omen, in 

 some cases as of supernatural origin. There is 

 the feeble notion that a spirit is leaving the 

 body in the sneeze ; to turn it to good omen the 

 Italians say "felicita" and the Germans "ge- 

 sundheit," thus wishing happiness and health. 

 The spirit notion in seeking some visible ex- 

 pression has become attached to the image, or 

 reflection which equally is involved in the per- 

 sonality. Hence the practice of covering mir- 

 rors at times of death or other occasions, of at- 

 taching a peculiarly bad omen to the breaking 

 of a mirror; or again the objection of North 

 American Indians as of other people to have 

 their portraits or their photographs taken. This 

 may be partly because the picture might be 

 used for bewitchment, but is also because the 

 sitter is parting with a portion of himself. The 

 custom of naming children for ancestors is at 

 once an intelligible sentiment and has a dim 

 reference to an actual return; among some 

 primitive people the name is given according 

 to the returned ancestor thus recognized. Ori- 

 ental people will not name a child for a living 

 relative. In such remote practices or prejudices 

 we may recognize the vestiges of ways of think- 

 ing that once determined the serious views of 

 life. 



Exorcism was practiced until within recent 

 times. It was taken up by the Christian Church 

 and there used both to cure disease, to rid 

 haunted houses of their ghostly visitors, even 

 against the damages caused by raids of ani- 

 mals, vermin, or plagues. In connection with 

 the belief in the divine right of kings, the king's 

 touch had peculiar power to cure scrofula. Par- 

 ticularly when the patient acted strangely, lost 



