Myth or truth

The Indian culture is rich with myths and superstitions. “Black cat is considered to be unlucky!”, “Don’t cut your nails in the evening!”, we all have heard these phrases throughout our life so let’s decode them. Here are a few:

Cutting nails in the evening

In ancient times, when artificial lighting was limited, it was safer and more practical to avoid cutting nails in the evening as it might lead to injuries and accidents. Over the time this evolved as a superstition about attracting bad luck. In modern times, with ample lighting there is no reason to avoid cutting nails in the evening.

Black cat crossing your path

Black cats were often associated with witches and black magic. It probably originated from the fear of unknown and persisted over time. However, in today’s time encountering a black cat is simply a natural phenomenon and has nothing to do with one’s luck or fortune.

Sweeping at night

Sweeping at night is often related with loss of wealth and prosperity. But, it was again a precaution to avoid losing precious stones and other items due to the lack of artificial lighting at night time, hence it was advised to avoid sweeping the floor at night. However, today it is totally irrelevant because of the ample lighting.

Sneezing before leaving the house

This superstition may have originated from the belief that sneezing expelled evil spirits or negativity. However, with our understanding of hygiene and medical science, sneezing is just a normal bodily function and has no supernatural significance.

Deepshikha, Class X, Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Sidhpur