Superstitions can be treated either as an inevitable part of religion or as a way poorly educated people think. Nevertheless, British studies report that scientists and acknowledged academics believe in superstitions too. If we hear that the Nobel Prize-winning physicist keeps the horseshoe at home, we may think that an old man started to lose his grip. Or may be superstitions are more immanent to humans than we think? After all, there is some logical explanation why so many of us believe in phenomena stimulated by some unknown forces.
Apparently, humane fear is the major cause behind superstitions. Each of us has something to loose. Besides, everyone knows that their life greatly depends on the outer circumstances that cannot be easily predicted. Prejudice starts to act as soon as we hear of it. For instance, imagine children watching their old granny carefully putting her mirrors back to a drawer. She taught them not to play with these objects because breaking a mirror was a bad luck. As time passed by, children grew and got this obsessive thought out of their head. But every time a mirror is broken, a trace of anxiety is glimmering in their eyes – however much people discover in their life, the fear of unknown will always chase them. Especially, if a superstition takes its roots in the childhood.
Believing that ordinary objects have extraordinary properties may be a sign of social and cultural memory. Every culture or ethnic group has their own “good and bad signs” that possess a symbolic meaning. Believing in superstitions, people frequently pay tribute to the old ways and preserve their cultural identity.