The Origins of 10 Ancient Superstitions We Still Follow Today

Black Cats

Black cats have a mixed reputation in the world of superstition, with some cultures regarding them as lucky while others see them as the epitome of doom. If a black cat crosses your path in Japan, it’s believed good luck is on its way. However, in western, Christian traditions, the black cat is firmly linked to doom. Associated with the concept of the witch’s familiar, the cat, as an associate of Satan is a demon in disguise. As such it is unlucky to have one cross your path. So how to explain this variance in opinion?

Once again, the black cat’s reputation in western civilization is rooted in the ancient past- and the changes in connotation that occurred with time. In ancient Egypt, the cat was sacred as the symbol of the goddess Bast. To the Romans, the cat was the symbol of liberty and sat at the foot of the statue of the goddess liberty herself. As such, it was a positive symbol, strong and independent. Black, however, was the color of death. Although this was not negative to the ancients, it was the Egyptian and later the Roman color of mourning. In its turn, it would color the reputation of the black cat.

By the Christian era, black cats, with their associations with goddesses and death acquired a darker connotation. The classical legend of Galenthias would not have helped this. In Greek mythology, Galenthias was a servant of Alcmene, the mother of Heracles’. When the Fates, at the behest of Hera tried to delay Heracles’s birth, Galenthias she broke the spell by shouting that Alcmene had given birth. Heracles was born safely, but as a punishment, Galenthias was turned into a black cat (although Ovid’s version of the Greek myth says a weasel)

It was as a cat that Galenthias came to serve Hecate, the goddess of the underworld. Hecate was a perfectly respectable underworld deity in the Greek world, for life and death were part of the same cycle. However, for the Christians, the underworld came to mean hell, the realm of the devil and a place of evil. So, as a goddess of the underworld, Hecate became the queen of the witches and the black cat, as her servant the prototype witch’s familiar.

However, even in Christian countries, the black cat’s reputation isn’t all bad. In Scotland, if a black cat appears on your doorstep, it is an omen of future prosperity while a black cat at a wedding is a portent of future children. For, despite the bad press, some traditions remember black cats as symbols of fertility. For in Scandinavian mythology, Black cats pulled the chariot of Freya, the goddess of fertility- a belief that spread about Viking occupied areas of Northern Europe.

There is no such ambiguity surrounding the unluckiness of damage to the next item of superstition.

The Origins of 10 Ancient Superstitions We Still Follow Today - History Collection (2)

The Evil Eye

The evil eye is one of the most common cross-cultural beliefs in the world. Ancient in origin, it is still a term used and believed in today. For some, especially in the west, it is just a figure of speech, where the phrase ‘the evil eye’ is a way of referring a black or jealous look. However, elsewhere across the globe, there are still people who genuinely believe that the wrong sort of look can harm- or even kill.

Alan Dundes, a Professor of Folklore, obvious believed that the superstition originated in the Middle East. From there, it spread to Africa and Europe- especially the Mediterranean regions where people still take precautions against baleful looks today. Belief in the evil eye seems to have grown up as a way of understanding why people caught- and often died from diseases. This explains why children, who are particularly susceptible to illness, are also believed to be the most common victims of the evil eye.

Dehydration often accompanies many ailments- and its symptoms correspond precisely with those attributed to the evil eye. Vomiting, wasting and shriveling- even death are all taken of signs that the evil eye has struck- especially if the disease was not apparent. Jealousy is often believed to be the motive behind the curse- especially if a child became subject to too much praise or admiration. So, in particular cultures, it is common to touch a child after praising them to remove the effect of any, particularly baleful glances. Meanwhile, in Bangladesh, mothers of particularly attractive daughters still mark the backs of their ears with dark kohl to counteract the curse.

However, while children were believed to be a prime target, older people are also considered to be susceptible to the evil eye. Protection, however, is always at hand. Common repellents include rude hand gestures, spitting, red thread or, as in the Middle East, glass amulets with a blue eye which are hung over doorways to repel any evil intent from the household. Green and specifically blue eyes are particularly associated with the evil eye in cultures where they are not typical indigenous eye color. Thus the superstition of the evil eye becomes associated with another human trait: the fear of the other in society and how those different to the majority of people are somehow deemed harmful and suspect.

Where do we get this stuff? Here are our sources:

10 Historical superstitions we carry on today, Karen Maitland, History Extra, October 13, 2017.

Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Adrian Room, Cassell, 2000

Chambers Dictionary of Beliefs and religions, Ed Mark Vernon, Chambers Harrap Publishers, 2009

The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion, ed. Simon Price and Emily Kearns. Oxford University Press, 2003

The Origins of 10 Ancient Superstitions We Still Follow Today - History Collection (2024)

Black Cats

The Evil Eye

References