EY Y01 L26 Superstition

  1. There are many things that could be considered "unlucky" in your country. Name one. Do you know the origin of this superstition? If yes, please explain. If no, why do you think this thing is considered unlucky?
  2. What do you keep in your house, car or bag, or do on a regular basis, that you believe brings you good fortune (or wards off misfortune)? If it is an object, tell us about where it is from. If it is an act, tell us about how and when you developed or learned this habit?
  3. Tell us about a friend, family member or celebrity who has extreme, or funny, superstitious beliefs.
  4. Would you kill a spider at night? Buy a house or apartment with the number "4" in the address? Pass food between chopsticks? Skip hatsumode because it is cold? Show your thumbs when a hearse passes? Get married on a Butsumetsu day? Step on the threshold to a temple or shrine?
  5. Do you consider yourself a superstitious person? Why?
  6. Are Japanese people more superstitious than people from other countries? Why do you think that?

Question 1

If you walk under a ladder it is bad luck. If you break a mirror you will have bad luck for ten years. The ladder origin is about 5,000 years old and is from Egypt. A ladder forms a triangle when leaning against a wall. In ancient Egypt, a triangle is a sacred shape. You are not supposed to walk through it. In Hindu culture, a mirror is said to hold one's soul. If you break it you have damaged your soul.

Question 2

I have a raccoon stuffed animal that my mother gave me for my 12th birthday the day before she died. I have had it now for over 34 years. His name is Jimmy. I think my mum bought him for me because my eldest brother is named James.

Question 3

When I was a child my friends used to say "If you step on a line, you will break your father's spine. If you step on a crack you will break your mother's back". We used to say this walking down the sidewalk.

Question 4

I would never purposely kill a spider. The number four has no superstition in my culture. I would never pass food between chopsticks. I will always go to the shrine for new years. Don't know about the "show your thumbs when a hearse passes one". I'm already married. I got married on 10/10/10. There might be some superstition to that? I'm sure that I've stepped on the threshold of many shrines. I at least always walk through the torii gate.

Question 5

Not really. I think superstitious people believe in ghosts, aliens, astrology and other weird things. I have no belief in that stuff whatsoever.

Question 6

I don't think Japanese people are more superstitious than other people. My wife isn't superstitious at all.

Tough Vocabulary

Comments

  2. Jim Usher

    “Don’t know about the ‘show your thumbs when a hearse passes'”

    Thumb is oyayubi in Japanese. Commonly called “father finger” though the literal translation is “parent finger”. The idea is if your parent fingers are showing when a hearse passes by, it’ll come for your parents next.

    I think this is a silly one. Where a lot of superstitions serve as allegories to protect those too young to understand the associated dangers, this one doesn’t seem to have any real-world benefit. I still hold my breath when I pass a graveyard though. 😛