Nikhil Karihaloo
Ms. Bennett/Herzman

English Vignette

 

Superstitions and Old Wives Tales

There are very old sayings, many that I heard from my aunt. My aunt told me these superstitions maybe because she thought that I should learn from them. But I never believed all these superstitions. For example, there was a superstition which not even my aunt but many people believed which was that, "If a cat crosses our path and if it is a black cat is supposed to be very unlucky". Another one that is still very common is, "If one has to leave for work or run an errand and if someone sneezes at that time the person will return half way back and the work won't be accomplished". These were some of the very common superstitions that I didn't believe in at all.
The Old Wives tales were practiced and carried on from generation to generation. They were mainly like, "not to cut nails on a Saturday". Another one is that, "If an unmarried girl ate raw or uncooked rice grains it would rain on her wedding day.