WEBVTT - Are Any Superstitions Universal?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. And even if you don't believe in

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<v Speaker 1>the power of superstition, you may sometimes find yourself knocking

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<v Speaker 1>on wood, crossing your fingers, or wearing your lucky baseball

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<v Speaker 1>cap during the World Series. Although we know scientifically that

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<v Speaker 1>these things don't actually affect the outcome of anything, we

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<v Speaker 1>still find them comforting. Study by behavioral scientists at the

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<v Speaker 1>University of Chicago suggested that when people perform a physical

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<v Speaker 1>action to avoid bad luck or harm, the ritual calms

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<v Speaker 1>their mind. Superstitions span cultures, countries, and centuries. Every culture

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<v Speaker 1>has its own unique set of superstitions. However, this raises

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<v Speaker 1>an interesting question, are any superstitions common across cultures. Superstitions

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<v Speaker 1>revolving around numbers are abundant worldwide. The specific numbers may vary.

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<v Speaker 1>For example, the number thirteen is widely regarded to bring

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<v Speaker 1>bad luck in Western cultures. There's even a name for

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<v Speaker 1>is fear triski decaphobia. Other cultures have superstitions about different numbers.

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<v Speaker 1>In China and Japan, it's the number four because the

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<v Speaker 1>pronunciation is similar to words for death. The number nine

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<v Speaker 1>in Japan is feared because its pronunciation sounds like a

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<v Speaker 1>word for torture. Some Italians consider Friday the seventeenth to

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<v Speaker 1>be bad luck because the Roman numeral for seventeen x

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<v Speaker 1>v I I can be rearranged to v i x

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<v Speaker 1>I VIXI, translated from Latin means my life is over.

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<v Speaker 1>In many parts of the world, the appearance of a

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<v Speaker 1>black cat is considered bad luck. Although this isn't true

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<v Speaker 1>across all cultures, black cats still hold a place in

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<v Speaker 1>global superstitions. In ancient Egypt, cats were worshiped as gods

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<v Speaker 1>and kept in homes to bring prosperity. In Italy, if

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<v Speaker 1>your cat's sneezes, good luck is on the way. In

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<v Speaker 1>some parts of Europe, black cat crossing your path is

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<v Speaker 1>good luck. However, in the New World, Puritans believed black

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<v Speaker 1>cats were related to witches and therefore were considered a

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<v Speaker 1>bad omen. The action of knocking on wood or tie

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<v Speaker 1>chingwood for good luck goes back millennia and exists across

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<v Speaker 1>the world. Some people's believed fairies or spirits lived inside trees,

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<v Speaker 1>and they would knock on or touch the tree wants

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<v Speaker 1>to request a wish, and one more time to express thanks,

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<v Speaker 1>or they believed that the knocking would distract any evil

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<v Speaker 1>spirits living there. Similar expressions to knock on wood exist

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<v Speaker 1>today in Arabic, Brazilian, Finnish, German, Czechoslovakian, English, Greek, and Finnish.

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<v Speaker 1>Other superstitions that cross cultures include crossing your fingers for

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<v Speaker 1>good luck, four leaf clovers as lucky charms, and sneeze

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<v Speaker 1>is causing some change in luck, be it good or bad.

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<v Speaker 1>As human beings in an often chaotic world, we all

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<v Speaker 1>try to control our destinies one knock, number or bless

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<v Speaker 1>you at a time. Today's episode was written by Deborah

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<v Speaker 1>Rnka and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this

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<v Speaker 1>and lots of other lucky topics, visit our home planet,

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<v Speaker 1>pastaff works dot com