“When you believe in things that you don’t understand, Then you suffer, Superstition ain’t the way”

Is Stevie Wonder right ? Do superstitions mislead us ? “Five-a-side”, “don't give me the eye”, “break a leg”... How many such expressions do we hear on a daily basis ? Despite the reign of Science and Fact, these little bits of magic still prevail over purely rational logic. An IFOP poll reveals that today, one in three French people is superstitious. In the 21st century, certain beliefs remain indelible. Do we adopt the cautious stance of medieval Rabbi Ben Samuel of Regensburg: “We don't believe in superstitions, but it's still safer to respect them ?” Or are we prisoners of imaginary representations?

Too many reasons to disbelieve these ancestral stories, and not enough to defend them... How about playing devil's advocate ? Here, we propose three good reasons to keep our superstitions alive.

A shared cultural heritage

More than a mystical force determining individual and collective destinies, superstition is first and foremost a shared cultural heritage. In the former provinces of the Ottoman Empire - Serbia, Turkey, but also the Arab and Jewish communities of the Levant - the ancestral custom of throwing water behind those setting out on a journey is perpetuated — “go like water, come back like water”. Like water, this tradition has returned to the new generations of parents who accompany their children to the station with a well-filled bottle. This symbol and its use reveal a shared imagination... “Keep me in a daydream”, as Stevie would say.

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Another powerful symbol, the Nazar in Turkey, the Ain in North Africa and the Eye of Sainte Lucie in Corsica all have the same meaning — the evil eye. Bringing misfortune upon oneself through the jealousy of others.
To ward off this curse, each community has its own grigris. In Turkey, lucky charms take the form of a blue eye to ward off evil spirits. These Nazar amulets, sometimes found on the front of cars, are the same as those made on the shores of the Aegean Sea in 3,300 BC.
In Egypt, as early as 1,500 BC, the kohl worn by Egyptians drew a magic eye to protect them from evil powers. From generation to generation, the transmission of the Ain and its antidotes is a common thread for historians and archaeologists. Superstitions preserve centuries of history.

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Evil eye and social networks

Magics-religious beliefs express a need for control over one's own life — if I behave according to the rule, then I should be protected. Today, however, this control is undermined by the use of social networks — the boundary between private and public life is increasingly blurred, and you have to show yourself in order to exist. We end up giving ourselves away to unknown eyes.

In this context, fear of the eye is no longer a belief, it's a course of action. Do I really have to expose my life to all eyes to make it legitimate ? What if a malevolent person were to track down my address, my place of work, my vacation dates because of one of my posts... Evil forces are not only to be found in the spiritual world, they are also perceptible in our own world.

To be superstitious is to be reasonable — Persian wisdom

What we are looking for then is a direction, a path to follow in the darkness. In the Babylonian Talmud, as in the Koranic tradition, demons are invisible beings who occupy a shadowy world shared with humans. The image of the demon djinn refers to the root ja-na-na — that which is hidden. The need for light is also one of the foundations of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's Christian Kabbalah.

The logic is reversed — to be superstitious is to be reasonable and rational. The superstitious worries about reality, while the Cartesian minimizes its dangers. “In Iran, before going to a cleric to consult the future, according to the practice of estekhâreh, it is advisable to first use reason” asserts anthropologist Laetitia Fronval. This Shiite custom aims to guide those who have lost their way by widening the focus to the future... We're moving forward in the dark, but we're moving forward !

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Sources:

https://www.femina.fr/article/vendredi-13-les-francais-de-plus-en-plus-superstitieux-selon-une-etude http://www.veroniquechemla.info/2015/07/magie-anges-et-demons-dans-la-tradition.html https://lepetitjournal.com/istanbul/comprendre-turquie/superstition-turque-le-nazar-cest-quoi-au-juste-276634 https://culturesciences.chimie.ens.fr/thematiques/chimie-du-vivant/le-khol-egyptien-et-medecine-traditionnelle-la-science- au-service-de-l

https://www.cairn.info/revue-le-divan-familial-2014-1-page-103.htm https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/actu-et-enquetes/djinns-islam-creatures-surnaturel-tradition-arabe-coran https://journals.openedition.org/assr/50047 https://www.cairn.info/revue-bulletin-de-psychologie-2013-2-page-135.htm https://www.cairn.info/revue-archives-de-sciences-sociales-des-religions-2020-2-page-73.htm https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/actu-et-enquetes/mauvais-oeil-ayn-jalousie-envie-moyen-orient-maghreb-protection https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Pic_de_la_Mirandole

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbale_chrétienne
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith
https://www.google.com/search? client=safari&rls=en&q=odelly+chante+pour+conjurer+le+mauvais+sort&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:8f7f2 3e0,vid:EF1ZWCajBrc

https://www.lesoirdalgerie.com/societe/un-geste-et-une-croyance-emplis-de-tendresse-37815

Source image : https://www.bwallpaperhd.com/nazars.html

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