Henrietta Hay's Column

Don't walk under that ladder. Don't let the black cat walk in front of you. Never step on a crack in the sidewalk. Prepare for the worst this coming Friday - the 13th. Would it be wise to pull the covers over your head and stay in bed all day, or would it be better to leap out and expect all kinds of good things to happen? Or does it really make any difference?

Of course, I don't believe in any of that stuff. Really! Practical souls, like me, who have to see it to believe it, tend to walk under a ladder and look up to see who is standing on it. Superstition is as old as humankind, but in our enlightened civilization it is surely disappearing - isn't it? Well!

Webster defines superstition as "a belief or attitude based on fear or ignorance, that is inconsistent with the known laws of science or with what is generally considered in the particular society as true and rational . . . or any action or practice based on such a belief or attitude."

That's a pretty formal definition, so I headed for my usual source of all wisdom, the Mesa County Public Library for some information on the origin of some of them. And I wish I had never started this. I quickly discovered that superstition, myth and religion are so intertwined that I was in trouble before I ever began. So let's back up and punt and forget origins.

I was completely amazed at the extent and variety of superstitions still held by Americans. The weirdest of all came from that great state of Texas - a fact which should surprise no one. In a book called Mirrors, Mice and Mustaches by George D. Hendricks, we learn that Texans have a wide variety of what we might call unusual beliefs. Red headed farmers raise more carrots than anyone else, and the best red peppers. Nine live red ants worn in a bag around the neck will help the baby in teething. (I should think so. It would certainly take the baby's mind off his teeth.) When you see a car with only one headlight, either slap someone or kiss someone. Count red convertibles with boys driving. The hundredth car contains the boy you will marry. (But by that time you might be too old to care.) If you open a can of paint on July 30, you will go crazy. So much for Texas.

Some superstitions are merely practical, like the ladder one. After all, painters have been known to drop open cans of red paint from the top rung. But the sources of others are buried way back in primitive mythology and before. One version of the 13 taboos that I like goes back to the days when humans first learned to count. Using their ten fingers and their two feet, which they regarded as units, they arrived at the number 12. Beyond that lay the unknown - the mysterious - the frightening.

As Americans we can't forget witches. In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 the good citizens accused 141 men and women and hanged twenty-three women for the "crime" of witchcraft. They obviously didn't get them all, because according to a modern witch in Salem there are now 2400 witches in the town. Since the city's 1980 population was listed at about 38,000, that's a pretty hefty percentage of witches. Wonder what sort of Halloween they have there.

Superstitions have been shown over the years to be based on fear and ignorance, but they still persist. Eggshells must be completely broken after the eggs have been removed or witches will use them for boats, go to sea and sink ships. Cake batter must be stirred in a circle in the direction the sun and the clock move or the cake will be spoiled. It is unlucky to spill milk at the table. (If your mother doesn't get you, bad luck will.) If someone gives you food, it is bad luck to return the dish empty. (That one worries me a little!)

Sometimes manners are based on superstition. Today it is merely polite to cover one's mouth when yawning. But once people feared that evil spirits could enter the open mouth and cause death.

Of course I don't believe any of this stuff. But after a very difficult week, I think that Friday I'll just pull the covers up over my head and stay in bed.