Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-02-09
Superstitious in Spite Curse es-By Frederic j. Haskn

SuperStitionS upon the educated adult mind
may be explained largely by the fact that
they acquired in childhood-"that plastic
period when the mind is most receptive and
the critical faculty most in allegiance. The
folks tales of the nursery and the kitchen,
he says, "the superstitious saying OF the old
er members of the family circle make ire
mendOus impression on the mind of the
child. This would not matter so much were
it not for the fact that impressions of child
hood especially "hCn they appeal strongly
to the emotional man, are apt. to persist
throughout life"
He also points out that superstition has
played an important part in the development
of all religions and governments and quotes
a British anthrOpolOgst DR.. j. q. Frazer,
who declares that 'the salutary principle OF
respect for government can be traced, in part,
at all events, to the superstitious reverence
with which primitive peoples have always re-
garded their chiefs, holding them in awe as
persons possessed of supernatural powers.
This attitude, still much in evidence among
savage tribes, seems to have been shared by
the ancestors of Ill Aryan peoples; while in
England lingering relic of it remained un-
til as late as the eighteenth century in the
notion that scrofula could be healed by
touch of the kings hand.
Similarly, respect for property was vastly
streng thened by that form of superstition
known as taboo by which the supernatural
power supposed to reside in the person or
the cheftain was transmitted tC his movable
property-his clothes, tools, weapons. orna-
ments, in fact, to everything he touched
Respect for human life was long promot-
ed by the worldwide belief in the ability OF
the ghost of murdered man to haunt his
slayer.
Religions Font of SuperstitiOns
Many of our most popular superstitions to-
day have been traced to religious sources as,
for instance the unlucky nature of Friday
and the number IS. The dread of the num-
Der thirteen is well-nigh universal In Rome
and Florence it is never used in numbering
houses, nor on theater boxes nor in making
up lottery lists. In India the 18th year is
feared like plague. In Persia people care
fully refrain" from pronouncing the number,
and in Turkey it is avoided as far as pos
sible in conversation 1t is thought that 13
acquired it's unfortunate reputation at the
Lords Supper when thirteen men sat at Ia
BILE The last to tak3 his place is supposed
to have been Judas. Yet there is no proof
that Judas was h, last to be seated, and,
furthermore, there is considerable evidence
to show that the evil thirteen existed long
before the Christian era 1t is generally &C.
copied, however that Friday is held to be
unlucky because Christ was crucifed on that
day.
The history of superstition, indeed, pre-
sents some fascinating aspects, but it is not
at all flattering to the race 1t shows that
in spite of all our railroads AM motor cars
and gas bombs and airplanes, we are emo
tionally just about as primitive as we were
when the race was young. We still gaze
cautiously at the new moon over the proper
shoulder, and we till cherish half-ashamed
belief in the power of charmc.