Yes, they areRecently I was sharing with friends what each one of us was going to do on this New Year’s Eve. Some said they’d scream their heads off at the stroke of midnight, others said they wouldn’t lend a dime out even if a friend begged with a bleeding heart. As we came to the end, one girl who had kept quiet throughout the session suddenly said: “I promise you, if Hassan forgets to kiss me at midnight, I’m going to chuck him!” While I hoped that somebody tips Hassan to do the needful tonight, I somehow understood the sense in all these superstitions... why on earth would Hassan be doing anything else other than kissing his true love on such an important night? Nonsensical as they may seem, New Year’s superstitions are performed all over the world by both the educated and unlearned. Although it can be argued that some African societies overdo it, the story is not so different in Europe or America. The only difference is that in those countries, people think they are more modern than us, so they assume that all superstitions they perform are out of courtesy; but the fact remains that they are actually part of the superstitious society. Personally, I am not a very superstitious person, but I know that superstitions help very many people to have a reason to live, a reason to love and a reason to look forward with anticipation for blessings and fruitful New Year. Go to any psychologist and they will inform you that; hope is the only thing that prevents people from committing suicide. As long as someone practices something, although it may seem unintelligent, it will keep him smiling, with faith that something good will come of it. There is a family friend of mine who narrated to me once about how he fell out with his mother on New Year’s. The mother had instructed everyone in the house not to carry anything out that night- as part of her superstitious routine that taking anything out of the house on New Year’s night, causes lack and poverty. Stubborn as he was, my friend deemed his mother’s story silly and decided to take some trash in the dustbin outside. His mother got so infuriated that she spent close to a month without exchanging words with him. She took a whole term without visiting him at school until he apologized. Had he just let go and adhered to his mother’s voice, it wouldn’t have cost him anything; indeed he would have shared a fantastic relationship with her. Life is not all about intelligence, or about right and wrong. As a matter of fact, if we limit ourselves to the kind of questions that intelligence or science can ask, we miss out on very many other interesting aspects about life. If you practice a particular superstition (hoping it’s not witchcraft or some form of voodoo), I say go on and have fun with it tonight- find out what the year has in store for you. Happy New Year! mugishaivan@yahoo.com
