Good evening, my fearless friends...
You woke up realizing it's Friday the 13th. A black cat
crosses your path, you break a mirror and someone opens an
umbrella in the house. Do you have a vague feeling of dread,
sure that bad luck will follow? Or, do you think that stuff is
just silly? What about that worry about being the middle person
of three in a photograph? Or, knowing that your birthday is on
the 28th, which is always a lucky day? Or, when you rent a
house, you discover to your displeasure that the stairs to the
upper level face right toward the front door. Don't get it?
Those last are Chinese and Japanese superstitions. It's always
easier to dismiss another culture's beliefs as superstitious - as
if our own were completely reasonable.
The majority these beliefs go back far before civilization,
to the days when our ancestors were tossed about in a an
unfriendly and frightening world. Many times, you hear people
laugh at these clumsy attempts to understand a world that seems
random and dangerous. Pretty silly, right? But, what about all
of those phony computer virus warnings that still circulate over
the Internet. The ones that claim incredible magical powers and
that frighteningly bad things that will happen if you just "read
this file." Are we really that much more sophisticated than our
ancestors cowering in the caves? We invent the fears we need to
come to grips with things that we see commonly but don't really
understand.
Never Fear, we remembered to wish the best of luck this week
to our friends and contributors: Jerry Taff, Laura Hong Li, Paul
Roser, Sylvia Libin He, Ellen Peterson, Timothy McChain, Nnamdi
Elleh, Yasmin Leischer, Carol Becwar, Beth Butler, Nancy Wohlge
and Sue Yan. I know that none of you believe these things of
course - knock wood. I'd tell you that I'm not superstitious at
all, but that would be bad luck.
Have a lucky week!
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
"We are of one common superstition - the superstition
that we realize the changes that are daily taking place
in the world because we read about them and know what
they are."
- Mark Twain in "About All Kinds of
Ships"
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THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE SLAYERS - DO IT YOURSELF DIVISION
------------------------------------------------------
We've all seen the old movies - or even the new ones. These
vampires are a pain in the neck. We can't wait for sunrise, so
how do we rid ourselves of these fiends? Strangely enough, it
turns out you need to know just where a vampire comes from to do
him in properly. Simply driving a stake through the heart only
works for vampires in the movies (or from Albania). Just how
you're supposed to figure out where a vampire comes from I don't
know. Anyway, once you've found the grave and figured out where
the vampire comes from, you apply the correct remedy for your
species of vampire (Warning: some of this is not for the very
squeamish):
Country Local Vampire Cure
------------------------------------------------------------
Albania Sampiro Put a stake through the heart to hold
the vampire in it's grave.
Bavaria Nachtzehrer Place coin in vampire's mouth, cut
off head with an iron ax.
Bohemia Ogoljien Bury vampire at crossroads.
Bulgaria Krvoljac Tie vampire to grave with garland
of wild roses.
Crete Kathakano Cut off vampire's head and boil in
vinegar.
Greece Brukulaco Cut off and burn head.
Hungary Vampir Put a stake through the vampire's
heart and an iron nail through temple.
Ireland Dearg-dul Pile stones on grave to hold
vampire down
Macedonia Vryolakas Pour boiling oil on vampire, drive
nail through navel
Poland Upier Bury face down in grave
Prussia Gierach Put poppy seeds in vampire's grave
Romania Strigoliul Remove vampire's heart and cut in
two, put garlic in mouth, nail in
head
Serbia Vlkoslak Cut off toes, drive nail through
neck
Saxony Neuntoter Put a lemon in the vampire's mouth
Spain Vampiro All of the above
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
LUCKY 13?
--------
You've seen the movie "Apollo 13," right? But did you know
that the ill-fated, 1970 space flight lifted off the launching
pad at 1:13 PM (1313 in military time) and the explosion that
disabled the flight happened on April 13? (NASA)
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
FEELING LUCKY?
-------------
Here is a small sampling of ways to bring good and bad luck
from around the world:
- It's bad luck to spill of salt unless you throw a pinch over
your left shoulder into the face of the devil waiting there.
(Europe)
- It's bad luck for the doorway of you business to face the
corner. (China)
- If your nose itches in Europe, it means either that you will
either be cursed, run into a gatepost, or kiss a fool. But,
in Japan it means that someone that you know will have a
baby.
- Cats have a strange place in folklore, alternating between
good and bad luck. This is probably why they are associated
with witches. During the Dark Ages, Christians came to
associate cats with evil spirits, and took to killing them in
large numbers. The immediate rise in the rat population was
followed by plagues. After that, it became bad luck to kill
a cat. (Europe)
- The sound of bells drives away demons because they're afraid
of loud noises. (This is a superstition found in just about
every culture that has made bells.)
- It's bad luck to stand blocking the doorway to your house,
because it prevents good fortune from coming in. (Nigeria)
- Kissing under the mistletoe is good luck. The Druids of
Northern Europe believed that the cycle of life and death
followed nature. They saw that trees appear to "die" every
winter, then regain their leaves each Spring. So plants
that stayed green all winter, like pines, holly and
mistletoe, had some special, powerful magic that might
prevent death. Some of the old farmers believed that
mistletoe also works for cattle. If you give a bough of
mistletoe to the first cow that calved in the New Year, you
prevent bad luck from attacking the rest of your herd.
Whether you also had to kiss them, I don't know. (Northern
Europe)
- It's bad luck if you talk back to someone talking in their
sleep. (Japan)
- The number 13 is unlucky, especially Friday the 13th. The
Sumerians were the first to come up with this and it seems
to be just an unfair reaction to the number following
twelve. Twelve was so easy to divide evenly that in was
convenient for commerce - which we still follow. If you
have thirteen, it is impossible to divide evenly.
- It's bad luck to put shoes on a table. This originated from
the custom of putting the shoes of the dead on their coffin.
It also makes sense. If you are surrounded by horses and
farm animals, it is pretty disgusting to put your shoes on
the table. (Europe)
- Many people in Hong Kong consider the number 14 unlucky,
since 14 in Chinese (Cantonese dialect) sounds like the
words for "definite death."
- If you stub you toe as your leaving the house to visit
someone, which foot you hurt makes a difference. If you
stubbed your right toe, it means you'll get good food. But
if it's your left toe, go back in and eat first, because the
food where you'll be visiting won't be good. (Nigeria)
- It's good luck to wear amber beads in a necklace; they
protect against illness and cure colds. Probably started by
some merchant that had an overstock of amber beads.
- If you drop a fork means a man is coming to visit. (Europe)
- If a single woman sleeps with a piece of wedding cake under
her pillow, she will dream of her future husband.
[ And she'll be stuck washing the frosting
off her bedding, too! ]
- If you drop a broom, you will soon have company. And you
might just as well pick up the broom and clean up a bit, in
case that company drops in.
- If a black cat crosses your path: Take your hat off, spit in
it and put it on backwards. That way the cat won't know if
you're coming or going. (Ozarks, U.S.)
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
BEWITCHED, BOTHERED AND BEFUDDLED
---------------------------------
Chinese officials in Hong Kong were embarrassed last year
when their new 20 billion (U.S.) dollar airport opened featuring
lengthy flight and baggage delays, blocked toilets, stalled
escalators and overcrowded restaurants. Anywhere in the world,
a disaster like this sends politicians scattering to delegate
blame, but the government in Hong Kong found an easy answer -
unlucky stars.
"The fifth yellow star is shining on a huge construction
work on the coast of the western part of Hong Kong island and the
dragon cannot emerge," said Chinese fortune teller Raymond Lai.
The geomancers also said that there were problems with the
name of the new Chek Lap Kok Airport and that the construction
workers had disturbed the ground in building the airport, which
caused fortunes to be unstable. (Reuters)
[ And to think... All the politicians in
Denver could do when their airport opened to
disaster was appoint a commission. ]
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
THE SORCERESS APPRENTICE
------------------------
A high school in Baltimore, Maryland suspended a 15-year-old
girl last week for casting a spell on another student. The
accused girl, who habitually dresses in black and makes no secret of
her neopagan religion, admits that she practices witchcraft and
didn't deny putting a hex on a student that had taunted her.
Administrators at Baltimore's Southwestern High School held
a two-hour meeting with both girls and their families. School
officials later said that the whole thing was a misunderstanding;
the suspension order should have cited the girl for making an
alleged verbal threat rather than for "casting a spell on a
student."
[ "And get that broom out of your locker,
too!" ]
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?
--------------------------
A small radio station in Blackfoot, Idaho pulled a Friday
the 13th stunt last February that involved a wedding. KLCE-FM
morning show host Mark Roberts, who is apparently a minister,
conducted the ceremony for a young couple identified only as Jay
and Michelle. During the ceremony - which must have been pretty
odd - the couple did a number of things to prove their love. In
defying superstition for their marriage on Friday the 13th, they
did such stunts as walking under a ladder and breaking a mirror.
All was going well with the broadcast ceremony until the
large explosion and fireball that rained sparks on the gathering,
causing people to run for cover. Fortunately, no one was
injured.
It wasn't evil spirits... Some of the shiny mylar balloons
the couple had released drifted into overhead high-tension power
lines and caused a short circuit, knocking out power for 3000
residents in rural eastern Idaho. The Idaho Power Company said
that they intended to hold the radio station responsible for
damages, bad luck or not.
"It probably scared some people half to death," Idaho Power
spokesman Russ Jones said. "We'll try to determine who's
responsible and we'll send them a bill."
"They did everything to defy superstition in the name of
their love, but no one thought anything would happen until the
explosion," said morning show co-host Amy Rose. "It was a lot of
fun, we just hope we keep our jobs!" (AP)
--:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)-----:-)--
© 1998 by Bill Becwar. All Rights Reserved.
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