WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Are Any Superstitions Universal?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio HII brain Stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lauren boglebamb and today's episode is another classic from

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<v Speaker 1>the archives. We humans are a superstitious lot. Heck, even

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<v Speaker 1>our distant cousins monkeys have been shown to have superstitious biases,

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<v Speaker 1>But in humans, those biases tend to be around certain

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<v Speaker 1>numbers or objects, which got us wondering are those objects

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<v Speaker 1>ever the same across cultures?

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<v Speaker 2>Hey, brain Stuff, I'm Lauren boglebomb And even if you

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<v Speaker 2>don't believe in the power of superstition, you may sometimes

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<v Speaker 2>find yourself knocking on wood, crossing your fingers, or wearing

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<v Speaker 2>your lucky baseball cap during the World Series. Although we

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<v Speaker 2>know scientifically that these things don't actually affect the outcome

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<v Speaker 2>of anything, we still find them comforting. A twenty fourteen

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<v Speaker 2>study by behavioral scientists at the University of Chicago suggested

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<v Speaker 2>that when people perform a physical action to avoid bad

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<v Speaker 2>luck or harm the ritual their mind. Superstitions span cultures, countries,

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<v Speaker 2>and centuries. Every culture has its own unique set of superstitions. However,

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<v Speaker 2>this raises an interesting question, are any superstitions common across cultures?

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<v Speaker 2>Superstitions revolving around numbers are abundant worldwide, the specific numbers

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<v Speaker 2>may vary. For example, the number thirteen is widely regarded

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<v Speaker 2>to bring bad luck in Western cultures. There's even a

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<v Speaker 2>name for this fear, Triskai decophobia. Other cultures have superstitions

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<v Speaker 2>about different numbers. In China and Japan, it's the number

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<v Speaker 2>four because the pronunciation is similar to words for death.

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<v Speaker 2>The number nine in Japan is feared because its pronunciation

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<v Speaker 2>sounds like a word for torture. Some Italians consider Friday

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<v Speaker 2>the seventeenth to be bad luck because the Roman numeral

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<v Speaker 2>for seventeen x VIII can be rearranged to VIXI. A vixi,

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<v Speaker 2>translated from Latin, means my life is over. In many

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<v Speaker 2>parts of the world, the appearance of a black cat

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<v Speaker 2>is considered bad luck. Although this isn't true across all cultures,

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<v Speaker 2>black cats still hold a place in global superstitions. In

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<v Speaker 2>ancient Egypt, cats were worshiped as gods and kept in

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<v Speaker 2>homes to bring prosperity. In Italy, if your cat sneezes,

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<v Speaker 2>good luck is on the way. In some parts of Europe,

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<v Speaker 2>a black cat crossing your path is good luck. However,

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<v Speaker 2>in the New World, Puritans believed black cats were related

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<v Speaker 2>to witches and therefore were considered a bad omen. The

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<v Speaker 2>action of knocking on wood or touching wood for good

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<v Speaker 2>luck goes back millennia and exists across the world. Some

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<v Speaker 2>people's believed fairies or spirits lived inside trees, and they

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<v Speaker 2>would knock on or touch the tree once to request

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<v Speaker 2>a wish and one more time to express thanks, or

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<v Speaker 2>they believed that the knocking would distract any evil spirits

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<v Speaker 2>living there. Similar expressions to knock on wood exist today

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<v Speaker 2>in Arabic, Brazilian, Finnish, German, Czechoslovakian, English, Greek, and Finnish.

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<v Speaker 2>Other superstitions across cultures include crossing your fingers for good luck,

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<v Speaker 2>four leaf clovers as lucky charms, and sneeze is causing

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<v Speaker 2>some change in luck, it good or bad. As human beings.

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<v Speaker 1>In an often chaotic world, we all try to control

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<v Speaker 1>our destinies one knock, number or bless you at a time.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article are any superstition's

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<v Speaker 1>universal across cultures? On how Stuff Works dot com, written

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<v Speaker 1>by Deborah Rnca. Brainstuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership

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<v Speaker 1>with how stuff works dot com and is produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts My Heart Radio, visit the

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