10 Indian Superstitions and their real logic

This entire world is full of Superstitions. India also has a lot of them.

So the story began in my childhood. Hair oil was compulsory in school. And it often happened that I had to apply hair oil on Saturday for the school. Now, if you are an Indian, you must be knowing that one should not apply hair oil on Saturdays. Because it is a day of Lord Hanuman and we offer him Oil on this day. Now, according to an article, the logic behind this was to help the poor by donating the oil to them instead of using the same. But people associated it with God and the superstition came into being. 

This blog post will talk about such 10 superstitions and real logic behind them. This will help you to decide if you should follow the same today or not.

1. Cutting nails on certain days
2. Sweeping the floor at night
3. Yogurt before any activity
4. Menstruation Restrictions
5. Bath after a Funeral
6. The Black Cat crossing the path
7. Spilled Milk
8. Twitching Eyes
9. Throwing coins in the river
10. Nazar Lagna (Bad Eye Influence)

• Cutting Nails on Certain Days
  

Back in childhood, I was often told not to cut my nails on certain days. Even my father used to cut his nails only on Sunday. I could never question because questioning is not a trend basically. However, my curious mind could stop me to find the reason behind it. So when I searched online, I landed up to an article, that explained an astrological viewpoint to this that has been transformed into a superstition.

• Sweeping the floor at night
  

Second, most heard superstition is not to sweep the floor at night. This used to leave me in a confusion that how can living with filth be a good omen or cleaning a bad omen. I mean why would God make such a rule. So, I jumped on to our Super Google to find the answer. And guess what? I found it. In the early days, there was no electricity. This is why people didn't sweep the floor at night in those days so that nothing important gets swept in the dark. But our smartness turned it to a belief with no logic and we still follow this despite of having led lights. This is funny, isn't it?

• Yogurt or Curd before leaving the house

During the summer, the environment of India is very hot. Curd has some cooling properties in it and sugar has glucose which is important for energy under the sun. This is the only logical reason behind having curd mixed with sugar before stepping out. However, we have considered it as a sign of good omen.

• Menstruation Restrictions

Being a girl, I know what all pain we have to go through during the periods. The cramps are at times so terrible that you feel completely restless. You can neither sleep nor sit. Besides the hormonal changes in your body gives rise to several mood swings. This is enough to say that a girl is not in a healthy condition to work in those days which was why the people provided the girls with a separate room to rest along with the needed necessities in those days. But again people associated this with a superstition without finding the logic behind it. Hence, the girls and the women of the present day are compelled to follow the rules and live untouched every month for her menstrual period throughout her life.

• Bath after a Funeral

Funeral means gathering and gathering means a huge crowd. Now, in ancient times there were no vaccinations available. So people were prone to get infected by a person with a contagious disease and to avoid this, they made it a habit to have a bath after attending the funeral in order to remain disease-free. However, we have also attached this to a belief and do not touch anything until we take a bath.

• The Black Cat crossing the path
  

Alright, so it was not that easy to find a logic behind this but this is one of the funniest superstitions I have heard. I mean just imagine, a cute tiny cat when passes your path, how can that be a bad omen? So when I dug in to search, I discovered on a website, that in the old days when people lacked battery lights and they had to pass through a forest, the presence of wild cats like leopard or cheetah used to create fear for the travelers. Hence, to make people aware of the presence of those wild animals and to stop them from taking that route, they probably would have told this which gradually turned out to be a black cat superstition.

• Spilled Milk

After realizing that there is a hidden or basically undiscovered logic behind every superstition, it is quite obvious to understand the logic behind the spilled milk. However, since we are talking about it, I will share it. In earlier days, having a cow was having the status of the richest because milk was very costly in those days. So it was prominent that they could not afford the wastage of milk. Now, wastage means loss and how can loss be good? So people must have said this so as to avoid the wastage of milk which eventually became a superstition. However, I wish this to be believed for years.

• Twitching Eyes
  

If we look at the biological side of the twitching eyes, it can happen due to multiple reasons like stress, alcohol, allergies, strain or simply, dryness. Any of these is not good. Thus, being a symptom of an imbalance in the body, people connected it to several beliefs. However, this is not right because one of the beliefs says that the twitching of the eye is good. Moreover, for the beliefs that say that it is not good, they believe it for an omen because none of us are aware of this biological reason and this is why they do nothing about it.

• Throwing coins in the river

This was something that actually my mind never noticed. Being an Indian resident, I have visited several temples and so as the attached wells or rivers nearby. I even saw numerous coins in them but I never thought about this practice. However, when I was exploring the cogency behind the superstitions, I happened to find this. So the reason is very scientific. Since the coins in the olden days were made of copper, people used to throw copper coins in potable water. And many of us might be aware that copper is good for our health. This was the only reason why people threw coins in water in those days. But now it's a mere belief.

• Nazar Lagna (Bad Eye Influence)
  

Now, we all know that a family where something good occurs, jealousy is bound to arrive. And when there is jealousy, one cannot expect how far they can go with their jealousy. So, when a baby is born in a house, the loved ones apply a black dot using Kajal basically the Kaala Teeka so that the baby looks ugly and remains safe from the evil eyes. The logic might be practical in those days but I don't know about the present day because babies are still being kidnapped or killed out of enmity or revenge. 

These were some of the most popular superstitions that I had been living with to date. However, there are many more superstitions all across the world and I would love to know them and their cogencies.

So please feel free to share them as well.