Ignorance, fear, irrationality. For some, these elements form something in the mind that is believable enough to live by–a superstition. Superstitions have existed for years, and their origins range from family and culture to personal experiences.
Freshman Krishna Vanegas Cruz shares a story of the origin of her superstition of forwarding text messages. “I had this dream about a girl who got raped and murdered by these two guys in their van. Her spirit showed up in my room [in my dream] and she gave me this letter, telling me not to read it until morning and gave me a kiss on the cheek. When I woke up this forward came up and it was the exact story that happened in my dream…I even had a red spot on my face” Ever since she explains, “[This superstition] affects me every day because now I feel like I have to send them even when I don’t want to. ”
Cruz also shares a superstition discovered during a trip to Central America. “I always have to land on my right foot when I’m going up or down the stairs. I feel like I’m going to fall or something bad is going to happen when I land on my left foot. Once, when I was boarding a plane, someone told me to step on with my right foot because if I stepped on with my left foot, we were going to crash.” Freshman Miranda Brinkley believes in a similar superstition. “I feel like if I put my left shoe on before my right shoe it’ll ruin my entire day. I have to put on my right shoe first, even during P.E or wherever else I’m changing,” she says.
Other superstitions originate from a country’s culture or traditions. In China, superstitions include some like those of the Brinkley family’s. “After you wash your clothes…you have to fold them before you wear them or else it’s bad luck.” She adds, “You can’t cut your fingernails after dark because it’s like cutting your life. Also, before Chinese New Year you have to clean the house spotless because it cleans away all the bad spirits and all the bad things that happened that past year.”
Brinkley also shares her conclusion of why certain superstitions exist in the world. “[People] need something to believe in or something to blame. If something goes wrong, someone who doesn’t want to blame himself or herself or anyone else will blame it on a pair of “unlucky” pants or something,” she says.
Freshman Sarah Nelson takes a different perspective on the cause of superstitions. “Superstitions exist because they become more believable if lots of people believe in it,” she says. “For example, I believe in making a wish on 11/11/11 or at 11:11 or a time and date similar to that. A lot of people have told me about it and believe in it so it influences me to believe in it too.” Sophomore Cesar Garcia concludes, “Some people are just raised with a superstition and it sticks with them. They tend to be really careful that the bad outcome from the superstition won’t happen to them.”
As shown through Aragon students, superstitions are people’s unique beliefs that usually correlate with good luck or bad luck. They should not be judged or frowned upon as they add spice to a person’s world. Perhaps one day the truth about whether certain superstitions are real or not will be revealed once and for all.
