The Superstitions and Their Origins in British Society1.doc

英国社会的迷信及其渊源The Superstitions and Their Origins in British SocietyContentsAbstract.1Key words.1I. Introduction.2II. Literature Review and Present Situation of Superstitions.21. Literature review of superstitions.32. The present situation of superstitions.3III. The Definitions and Origins of Superstitions.31. The different definitions on superstitions.42. Different views on the origins of superstition.43. The origins of superstitions.51) Bible.52) Greek and Roman mythology.53) Historic events.64) Folk legends.6IV. The Superstitions in British Society.71. The superstitions of animals.72. The superstitions of food.83. The superstitions in daily life.9V. Conclusion.10References.10The Superstitions and Their Origins in British SocietyAbstract: Superstitions began long ago when our ancestors tried to explain mysterious circumstances or events as best as they could with the knowledge they had. In this thesis, the author will give the definitions of superstitions, introduce the present situation of superstitions in British society, describe superstitions in Britain, such as embodied on animals, food and daily life etc. According to these superstitions, I will analyze the origins of the superstition. The aim is by the introduction of the superstition and their origins in British society to make everyone understand the traditional culture of Britain from a unique perspective.Key words: present situation；definitions；origins of the superstitions；superstitions摘要：迷信在很久以前就产生了。那时侯我们的祖先利用他们掌握的知识，试图尽可能地解释他们周围所发生的神秘的现象和事件。本文作者在文中简要概括了迷信的定义，介绍了迷信在英国的现状，详细叙述了英国社会各方面的迷信。并且根据这些迷信及相关研究成果，分析并总结了影响迷信的几个因素。旨在通过对英国社会的迷信及其渊源的介绍，使人们从一个独特的视角了解英国社会的传统文化。关键词：现状；定义；渊源；迷信I. IntroductionAs an important part of culture, superstition has a long history, but the systematic research on it began at the 19th century. Many anthropologists and sociologists spend quantities of time and energy on exploring superstitions and their origins. They have gathered the superstitious phenomena all over the world and studied them. Today superstition is still with us as a part of tradition; even though superstitions are proved to be untrue.The word, superstition, often implies ignorance and foolishness. You may connect it with silly beliefs that are obviously not true; it may make you think of children or uneducated folk who put their trust in magic, who have a faulty idea of how things work. We often think of superstitious people as those who fail to understand the true sequence of cause and effect. For instance, a superstitious person may think that a black cat crossing his path causes a series of unfortunate events. As a student of English major who have studied English language and culture, most of us dismiss such an assumption as foolish and irrational.The scientific method is how scientists learn about the word. According to current thought, science proves what is real and disproves what is false; it has the ultimate say on how we all see and shape reality. In a world ruled by the scientific method, there seems to be little room for superstition.Superstition, however, is not actually so very different from the scientific method. Superstitions are based on generations of people's observing a problemthe question of why bad things happen, for exampleand collecting data through observation. A particular superstition might even be looked at as a sort of hypothesis, a guess or assumption that explains the observed problem.In this paper I will explore the topic from the definitions of superstitions, the present situation of superstitions in British society, and introduce the origins of the superstition in Britain .II. Literature Review and Present Situation of Superstitions in BritainThroughout the 16th and 17th centuries life was hazardous, and the central feature of day-to-day existence was a preoccupation with finding explanations for fortune and misfortune.1. Literature review of superstitionsIn the western countries, the earliest systematic research on superstitions began at the 19th century. Superstition was written by Robert Green Ingersoll in 1898.Recent years, Martin Lings wrote a book named Ancient Beliefs and Modern Superstitions. Drawing upon his wide knowledge of world religions the author in this book strikes at the root of everything that makes it difficult for people today to believe wholeheartedly in religion and in doing so, it shows modern man to be, in his own peculiar twenty-first century way, the embodiment of superstition in its most dangerous form. We faced the modern world with a situation similar to that in the fable of the Emperor's new clothes. This book aims to speak the truth about the modern outlook especially concerning science and metaphysics, in order to dispel the illusion that prevents the intellect from seeing things as they really are.In China, Hao Peng, an associate professor, wrote a book named The Traditional Beliefs, Legends & Customs of the British & Americans. In this book, he introduced British superstition in detail according to the following steps: Mysterious numbers; Acts supposed to be unlucky; Acts supposed to be lucky; Things supposed to be lucky; Some other common superstitions; Superstitions about birds; Superstitions about wedding; Fortunetelling.There are some other researches on superstition, but restricted by limited resources, I mainly listed the above literature view.2. The present situation of superstitions in Britain According to some statistics, the female is more fetishistic than the male. There are 19% of men having blind faith in superstition and 34% female blindly believes in superstition. It is special that the youngsters are more fetishistic than old people in Britain. It is 46% of people who trust in superstition in 18 to 24 year-old while 18% of people who in 55 to 64 believe in. Psychologist Dawson said that unsuperstitious is also difficult in this chaotic time. III. The Definitions and Origins of Superstitions The Latin root word for superstition has to do with "standing over," the way a victor, a witness, or a survivor might stand over the scene of some disaster. When we look at superstitions from a folklorist's perspective, these are beliefs that have witnessed life's turmoil and trouble; and they have survived from generation to generation. They may be silly or just wrong, but they go through the years and stand the test of time, they made common people's life colorful. As much as any hypothesis gained from the scientific method, these superstitions have worked. 1. The different definitions on superstitionsWe can find the following definitions: (idea, practice etc based on the) belief that certain events cannot be explained by human reason or physical laws; irrational fear of what is unknown or mysterious; idea or belief held by many people for no good or logical reason.(Oxford advanced learners English-Chinese dictionary, 2002); 2. To believe in spite of evidence or without evidence. To account for one mystery by another. To believe that the world is governed by chance or caprice. To disregard the true relation between cause and effect. To put thought, intention and design lack of nature. To believe that mind created and controls matter. To believe in force apart from substance, or in substance apart from force. To believe in miracles, spells and charms, in dreams and prophecies. To believe in the supernatural. ( Robert Green Ingersoll Superstition); Concepts involving "beliefs, practices, and procedures based upon conscious or unconscious assumptions, usually concerned with the nature of cause and effect"(according to folklorist Jan Brunvand); Beliefs that often take the form of “If A, then B, unless C"-for example, if you break the mirror(A),then you'll have seven years of bad luck(B), unless you get all the pieces and throw them in running water(C)(according to folklorist Alan Dundes).2. Different views on the origins of superstitions All superstition has grown from something; there is no smoke without fire. Who was the first one to decide that opening an umbrella in a house is the symbol of bad luck? Who was the first to walk under a ladder and suffer the consequences? Who hung a horseshoe the wrong way up, smashed a mirror and spilled the salt? (Loire P, (1992) p17)There are three parts in Robert Green Ingersolls work Superstition: What is superstition; What is a miracle; What harm does superstition do? He deemed that ignorance is the foundation of superstition, the superstructure is faith and the dome is a vain hope. Decades later, T. Sharper Knowlson explained in detail his ideas in The Origins of Superstitions and Customs. In his opinion, the true origin of superstition is to be found in early mans effort to explain nature and his own existence; in the desire to propitiate fate and invite fortune; in the wish to avoid evils he could not understand and in the unavoidable attempt to pry into the future. And the most important element in all superstitions is that of ignorance. His different opinion from Robert Green Ingersoll is he thought the origin was twofold: The old causes have never ceased to be operative, though the manner of expression has changed; The new causes were the advent of world religions, of social transformations, and of political separation.3. The origins of superstitionsThe true origin of superstition is to be found in early man's effort to explain nature and his own existence; in the desire to propitiate fate and invite fortune; in the wish to avoid evils he could not understand and in the unavoidable attempt to pry into the future.There are four main origins of the superstitions:1) BibleThe Bible is the most important book in western countries, many superstitions has grown from it.Seven: Seven is used frequently in the Bible to signify completeness. God creates the world in six days, and had a rest on seventh, meaning his job had been completed. Since seven seems to be a mysterious number, people have tended to create groups of seven things. For example, there were seven sages in ancient Greece; to Christians there are Seven Virtues: faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance; and Seven Deadly Sins: pride, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, avarice, and sloth.Thirteen: One of the most widespread superstitions is that thirteen is unlucky and so general is this idea that many hotels do not have a room number thirteen. Some people will not start a trip on the 13th day of the month, especially if it happens to be a Friday. Various explanations have been given as to the origin of this superstition. The most popular explanation is that there were thirteen persons at the Last Super; Judas being frequently regarding the number thirteen is universal. Serpent: It is the symbol of subtlety and the Devil. In the Bible, Jesus tells his disciples to “be wise as serpents and innocent as doves”. According to Genesis, the serpent was more subtle (wicked in a clever and hidden way) than any other wild creature that God had made. And the devil was in the disguise of a serpent when he tempted Eve to take the forbidden fruit.2) Greek and Roman mythology Nine: According to Greek and Roman mythology, there were nine muses; the Hydra had nine heads; there were nine river of hell; when Vulcan was kicked out of heaven, he fell for nine days before lighted on the island Lemnos. Superstitious people used to believe that to see nine magpies is most unlucky. Nightingale: According to Greek mythology, Procne and her sister, Philomela,were the daughters of the king of Athens. Procne married a hero named Tereus and gave birth to a son, Itys. Tereus fell in love with Philomela, raped her, and cut out her tongue so that she could not reveal the crime to Procne. To punish Tereus, Philomela and Procne killed Itys and served his flesh as food to Tereus. When Tereus discovered the truth, he took an axe and ran after the women, who begged the gods to help them. The gods transformed Philomela into a nightingale and Procne into a swallow. Since then the nightingale has sung lonely and sorrowful songs during the night for her great misfortune.June: The best month for wedding is June. June was named after Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage. So it was considered lucky to get married in the month controlled by her.Owl: The owl was the emblem of Athens in ancient times, since there were a lot of owls in the city. So the owl was also the symbol of Athena, the patron goddess of the city. As Athena was the goddess of wisdom, the owl was associated with wisdom. The owl was considered wise probably also because it has large eyes and a solemn, thoughtful appearance.3) Historic events Lighting cigarettes: Not surprisingly nowadays, given the health risks, but lighting them is surrounded by superstition, too. It was said (during WWI) that taking the third light from a match would get you shot. As well it might, as an enemy sniper has time to take a bead on you and BANG! There's another one that tells of a sailor dying if you light a cigar from a candle. Apparently sailors often sold matches to supplement their incomes (or with smuggled tobacco, possibly!). Lighting a cigarette from a candle was denying them income from match sales.Spilling salt: Since ancient times salt has been highly valued because it can be used to preserve food, help wounds to heal, and make food tasty. At one time salt was regarded as being almost as valuable as gold, and soldiers, officials, and working people in Greece and Rome received all or part of their pay in salt. So spilling such a valuable thing has been regarded as a sign that something unlucky is going to happen. Some people believe that if a person has spilled salt, he or she may cancel the bad luck by throwing a pinch of salt over the left shoulder.4) Folk legendsTraditional witchcraft: Witchcraft, also called black magic, is the power or practices of witches. Western people used to believe that witches had supernatural powers. They were supposed to be able to call up spirits and make them do evil things. Their special helping spirits are called “familiars”, who take the form of animals, particularly cats, snakes, owls, and dogs.Moon: Many people used to believe that the moon i