Superstitions & Science..!

In India, we have many superstitions which are followed from centuries. I think that superstitions are those beliefs which are passed on from one generation to another without verifying the true reason behind them.

Let me discuss some of the superstitious beliefs and possible scientific reasons for them..

• Don’t wash your hair on a certain day: 
  • We are told not to wash hair on specific days, maybe the reason behind it would be to conserve water. Water was not readily available at homes in olden days and they had to carry the pots from so many miles to take a bath so maybe it was a rest day and bonus reason Water conservation 🙂

 

• Don’t cut nails after sunset:   
  • In ancient days, electricity wasn’t available and they had mud lamps i.e diyas and they wouldn’t produce as much light as of a fluorescent lamp. Since nail clippers are very sharp objects, they could harm and hence this superstition came up.

 

• Swallow Tulsi (Holy Basil) leaves, never chew:  
  • It is widely believed that Tulsi is a form of Goddess Lakshmi and hence not to chew the leaf. But, the scientific reason is it has arsenic in it and it causes discoloration of teeth hence it should not be chewed.

 

• Do not sleep with your head facing the North:
  • We hear that sleeping North means, inviting death but we don’t know the reason for it. Our ancestors actually knew about the relation between Earth’s magnetic field and human body’s field. They probably made this rule of sleeping with your head in the South because of the harmful effects related to blood pressure and other diseases that asymmetry with the Earth’s magnetic field would create. Hence now we know..!

 

• Don’t go near a Peepal (Sacred Fig) tree at night:

  

  • We hear lots of stories of ghosts and Peepal trees and so not to venture near Peepal trees at night. But, our ancestors probably knew about photosynthesis and the effects of inhaling carbon dioxide in the night. Later stories were woven to discourage people to go near Peepal trees at night making it a superstition.

   

• Bathe after attending a funeral ceremony:
  • Dead bodies have bacteria and other micro-organisms which can cause infections to living beings and hence our ancestors would have created a set of rituals to be performed after the disposal of the body to prevent the deadly diseases.

 

• Saying to sit down immediately after someone sneezes:
  • Sneeze can travel at about 100 miles per hour, so with such high speeds their is a chance of heart missing a beat. So the reason to sit down immediately after a sneeze is to relax the body and then proceed but, it had got down to a superstition saying sneezing while stepping out causes bad luck which indeed isn’t true..

 

My analogy for a superstition into existence: Some unexpected incident or accident would had taken place in olden days with our forefathers. These incidents are then associated with a normal incident which happened concurrently with that accident. Then these normal incidents are then marked as superstitions by the people which do not take time and effort to seek the correct and feasible reason behind the unexpected “bad” incidents or accidents. Thus marking them as a superstition.

We are getting to know that many superstitions are actually science based facts , but they were advertised in a wrong way and people believed without understanding the purpose. I think its time to think about its reason at least once before following blindly…!