Superstitious beliefs are present across all the societies in the World.
In Goa, if a crow cries repeatedly near any house in the morning, then it is believed that some guests would visit that house on that day. Similarly if an owl , a bird with large eyes and active at night, keeps on crying then it is feared that some unhappy incidents would take place during the following day. In any Western country, if someone sneezes , then people say ‘Bless you’. This is because in the Middle Ages a substantial number of Europeans succumbed to a dreadful disease then called black plague. And the first symptom of that pandemic was a sneeze. In some regions of northern India if someone sneezes then that person hurriedly puts a twisted thread or any similar thing in his nostril and by tickling it, manages to sneeze once again. This is because, a single sneeze is considered as a sign of ill omen there. On the contrary, in our Goa, if someone tells something to somebody and a third person sneezes there, just simply, then all those who are present there say, ‘Saat Kharen’ meaning very true. It means that whatever the narrator is telling is hundred per cent right!
If a person yawns again and again then it is believed that that person is remembered by someone somewhere. Likewise, if a person thinks of another person, say his friend and if by chance at that very point of time, he sees his friend coming towards him, then he greets his friend with these words : ‘you would live a long life of hundred years’!
Normally , a person has only one crown on his head. But if any person has two crowns on his head then people say that that person is destined to have two wives. Usually, people are reluctant to eat twin bananas. This is because it is believed that the one who eats twin bananas would be a parent of twins!
Again, crossing of a person’s path by a black cat is regarded as ominous. It is believed that blinking of right eye brings good fortune to a male and misfortune to a female whereas blinking of left eye brings good fortune to a female and misfortunate to male.
It is said that the custom of saying ‘touch wood’ and doing just that to prevent from harming any person by any misfortune is derived from Christian tradition. And it refers to the wood of Christ’s Cross. To serve the above purpose of warding off bad luck, there is an age-old practice of waving a pinch of salt around a person or thing and then throwing that salt in fire.
In many Hindu families in Goa, if someone misplaces something, say a bunch of keys, and does not find it even after a long search, then an elderly member in house, say mother invokes God. She prays, ‘O God Rupebhagat, please make my son find his lost keys. I would offer you jaggery worth one pai.’ Pai is the name of a coin that was in vogue in olden times. One pai equaled to one third of paisa. The above named deity is said to be super-specialist in finding the misplaced belongings. Many people tie knots to saris or to other materials as a measure of finding the lost things.
It is true that all the above instances are of superstitious beliefs. But it is equally true that their presence add spice to life.
