Free Essay Example: Superstition Presentation

Superstition refers to practices or beliefs that are considered supernatural or irrational (Lea, 2019). Often, these beliefs arise from the ignorance of individuals, positive beliefs on fate, fear of the unknown, or misunderstanding of science. Superstition is commonly applied to the practices associated with spiritual beings, prophesy, or luck. These practices make the believers believe in the foretelling of future events through specific unrelated prior events. The term superstition has also been used across the globe by religions to refer to the practices by other religions that do not conform to their norms (Lea, 2019). This paper explores the different existing superstitious beliefs in different cultures across the globe and the reasons behind these beliefs.

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The beliefs in superstition have mainly been promoted across the world due to the belief that charms promote good luck as well as protect individuals from bad luck. For the superstitious individuals, engaging in such behaviors provides them with a sense of control and help them in reducing anxiety, for this reason, the levels of superstitions always tend to increase in times of angst and stress.

Cultures across the globe practice different kinds of superstition, some of the superstitions observed by these cultures include not celebrating people's birthday before the day which is believed to bring bad luck, not placing two mirrors opposite to each other which is believed to open ways to evil in Mexico, not pointing chopstick straight up or to other people in Japan. The Japanese believe that if chopsticks are pointed straight up, they make the utensils look like the unlucky number four, which is associated with death while pointing them to someone is rude.

Black cats, breaking mirrors, the number 13, and walking under the ladders are some of the most shared superstitions across the globe (Mocan & Pogorelova, 2017; Westjohn, Roschk, & Magnusson, 2017). These beliefs are shared among those who believe in them as well as those who do not believe. In most countries, tall buildings have their 13th floor numbers as 12A, 14A, M, or 14 instead of floor number 13 because of the existing superstition around number 13 (Lea, 2019). The superstition around the number 13 is also reflected in most of the airlines such as the Air France as well as the Lufthansa which does not have the 13th row in their planes. These superstitious beliefs are vital in promoting a positive mental attitude across generations. Nonetheless, over-believing in them may also lead to irrational decisions such as trusting the merits of destiny and good luck rather than weighing the existing odds and coming up with a sound decision.

Elements of superstitions such as carrying charms, visiting places associated with good fortune, wearing specific types of clothes, using particular numbers, and preferring specific colors have been used over time by individuals. Considering the fact that these practices might appear trivial to some individuals, a higher percentage of people who are superstitious are always considered while making decisions in the real world, thus bringing in their effect.

Some of the existing superstitious beliefs often give the notion that certain places and objects are cursed (Mocan & Pogorelova, 2017). A good example of a cursed object that has been used in movies is the Annabelle doll in The Conjuring, Creation, Annabelle Comes Home and many other movies. The doll is believed to have been inhabited by the spirits of a dead girl. In some cultures, numbers have also been associated with curses, such as figure 666 (Westjohn, Roschk, & Magnusson, 2017). Having such a figure in a vehicle's number plate is always a sign of misfortune such as the famous plate number ARK 666Y, which caused bad vibes and mysterious vehicle fires.

Superstition is also common in sports. Most of athletes do engage in superstitious activities to increase their chances of winning. The athletes have demonstrated that the use of superstition before participating in athletics has helped them to reduce tension and provide them with control, especially in unpredictable situations. Footballers have been known to wear their lucky numbers at the back of their jersey's, while some of the famous athletes such as Michael Jordan wore his lucky North Carolina Short under his Chicago Bulls kit to increase his chances of shining and his team winning.

In the photos provided, the designer took the superstitious beliefs of individuals into consideration. In accordance to the color theme as a design element, the choice of colors ranges from black which is mostly used to represent unhappiness or evil, red which represents love or excitement, blue which is used for calmness and sadness, yellow which is for warmth and energy, white which is for purity and innocence, and many others. The color theme as a design element remains constant across the pictures.

The pictures also make use of shapes. The shapes used in the pictures are drawn from different regions across the globe, such as India, the United Kingdom, Serbia, Japan, Romania, and others. These regions practice different cultures which have their own superstitious beliefs. Thus, every shape used in the pictures is a representation of a belief system within the culture from which it is drawn. The texture and the typography used across these pictures are constantly making the designers idea to remain organized across the pictures.

References

Lea, H. C. (2019). Superstition and force. Ardent Media.

Mocan, N., & Pogorelova, L. (2017). Compulsory schooling laws and formation of beliefs: Education, religion and superstition. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 142, 509-539.

Westjohn, S. A., Roschk, H., & Magnusson, P. (2017). Eastern versus western culture pricing strategy: Superstition, lucky numbers, and localization. Journal of International Marketing, 25(1), 72-90.