Black cats, Friday the 13^th, and broken mirrors are some of world’s famous superstitious beliefs that have been passed across generation.

Superstitions are generally long-held beliefs that appear to be rooted in coincidence or cultural tradition rather than logic or facts. 

Recently, a post of Awuor Oselu, one of the victims who perished in a ghastly accident on Friday evening along the Londiani- Muhoroni stretch, stirred a controversial debate.

During Valentine’s Day, Awuor posted a photo of yellow banquet of flowers. She wanted to know the meaning behind receiving yellow flowers at a time when everyone else was receiving red roses. “What do yellow roses mean because I just got them when everyone else is getting red flowers?” she captioned the photo.

Some of her followers wrote that yellow flowers are meant for funerals. Others said it is a colour of mourning. They signify end of something. A week later, she lost her life. The accident also claimed her sister, famous Tiktoker Baba Mona and his daughter.

Superstitions have always existed in our society, one of them being 13 as an unlucky number.  Surprisingly, that is why many architects won’t design stairs that end with 13 steps or buildings with 13 floors. This fear is so real that there’s a name for this phobia —Triskaidekaphobia. 

Alex Ochieng shares that his fear of the number 13 extends to Friday the 13th. “Though its origin is shrouded in mystery, its impact is quite evident. Many people will purposely avoid doing anything significant such as business meetings believing that the day is cursed and is a source of ill fortune,” he says.

Another one is the famous superstition on black cats. Most people have heard the saying that if a black cat crosses your path it means bad luck. This superstition finds its origin in the middles ages due to the misconstrued belief that single, mostly elderly women who associated themselves with many cats were actually witches who could become cats themselves. 

An itchy right palm means that you will receive money. An itchy left palm means you will have to give money. If an owl sings outside your house means someone close to you will die. Also, if your dogs starts howling outside your house, something bad is bound to happen to you. If you wear red clothes, you are more likely to be struck by lightening. If you trip over a stone, someone is gossiping about you. You don’t say ‘goodbye’ at night – otherwise it is assumed the person you tell goodbye might die!

They had their place in society 

Saying ‘Bless you’ after someone sneezes is not only a gesture of politeness, but a way of welcoming someone back to life as it is believed that when one sneezes, the soul leaves the body and the heart momentarily stops. 

In the West part of Africa, they believe that if they share an egg with somebody, it affects the effectiveness of a charm either good or bad. The catch of this phrase is that it only applies to a boiled egg because it is used for spiritual cleansing, so if you happen to share a boiled egg, it would mean that you are sharing your riches with someone else.

Geoffrey Wango, a psychologist and lecturer at University of Nairobi says most of the times, superstitions were meant to promote a positive attitude. This was either by teaching people certain core values or just an understanding that it was wrong to do certain things.

For children, superstitions were used as a means of making them toe the line, finish portions served to them, and sleep early, among other things.

However, he says that many psychologists consider superstitions to be expressions of inner tensions and anxieties. 

“Although there is no reliable clinical correlation between superstitious beliefs and mental illness, some people are quick to point out that people who believe in such are mentally ill,” he says.

Breeds fear

Though these beliefs have been shown to help promote a positive mental attitude, they can lead to irrational decisions, such as trusting in the merits of good luck and destiny rather than sound decision-making. Carrying charms, wearing certain clothes, visiting places associated with good fortune, preferring specific colours and using particular numbers are all elements of superstition. And although these behaviours and actions can appear trivial, for some people, they can often affect choices made in the real world.

Superstitions can also give rise to the notion that some objects, colours, days and places are cursed, hence making people live in fear.

On his part, Professor Benson Agaya, a sociologist says that traditionally superstitions are focused on people’s cognitive shortcomings. 

He explains that, superstitions are not true owing to the fact that they have been integrated to our day to day activities.

“In many occasions, a community forbid something specific for community’s prosperity. But in the actual sense, none of that actually was true,” he says.

He says superstitions may or may not have risen from the religious or cultural beliefs.  However, the minor understanding of superstitions is that they are more cultural than religious because of wide varieties of people from different faiths believes in superstitions.

“Growing up, we had a belief that once we cut a lizards tail, then days could go really fast. So, when in school we searched for lizardd to slash their taild,” he says. 

The fascinating thing about superstitions is that we often believe in them despite knowing, on some level, that they can’t be true