Superstitions & Attitudes
The Scarlet Letter; Salem 1640
History
Superstition is a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation. Everyone has superstitions, or has heard of them. "Don't open an umbrella inside" or "Knock on wood". Superstitions are ideas that people have brought about because they don't understand why superstitious or supernatural things happen. Fear of the unknown per-say. Most superstitions imply that if you don't say or do them, then you'll have bad luck. Opening an umbrella inside is bad luck, or walking under a latter. Some of the main superstitions that are still used today originated in the era of Puritans and Salem in 1640.
Superstitions
Other superstitions during the Scarlet Letter era:
Carrying rabbit’s foot would bring people good luck, because there was a superstition that witches sometimes took the form of rabbits.
It was bad luck for an unmarried girl to sit on a table, because then she would never get married.
Cats were watched because their behavior predicted luck, either good or bad. They were also taken along on ships, to get rid of mice and also so that they could warn the crew of inclement weather.
It was bad luck to be buried to the north side of a church.
To pour gravy out of a spoon backwards/backhanded was unlucky because it predicted that a quarrel would brake out.
Attitudes
Works Cited
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<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/attitude> "Attitude." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
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<http://endtimepilgrim.org/puritans03.htm> "Puritan Belief." Puritan Belief. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/09/witches-burned-salem-witch-trials/> "No Witches Were Burned During the Salem Witch Trials." Today I Found Out RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
<https://www.etsy.com/listing/80140505/black-cat-photo-halloween-decor-cat-art> "Black Cat Photo, Halloween Decor, Cat Art, Cat Eyes, Bad Luck Superstition, Urban Black and White Photography." Etsy. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.