duminică, 12 iulie 2009

Eye of a Toad and Tail of a Lizard

I have recently read a very interesting book. But before I tell you about it I should probably say that I am interested in all that involves traditions, myths and superstitions. All those give important inside into people's values and priorities in life. I'm not talking here about people who live in the big cities because as important as they are economically they fail to represent the heart of a nation. I also live in a big city so I include myself when I say that. This is just something that I've noticed while traveling.

Now, getting back to the book I read, the interesting thing I learned is that, apparently, eighty percent of the swear words today are actually contractions of old curses. That makes you wonder a little bit, doesn't it? How many people have you cursed today?

The strength of a curse was given, not only by the magic of the spoken word but also by the social status of the person who would say it. So, the more important you were in the community, the more powerful was believed to be your curse.

I found that the belief that words, pronounced in the right manner, can alter the universe is present in many cultures; the most common would be the prayer. In Torah, for example, it is said that if the word Adonai is pronounced properly the world as we know it will disappear. Thank god no one succeeded.

On daily basis we pray to get to work in time or we swear the horrific traffic but we are all, from time to time, in touch with our superstitious selfs, rather we realize it or not.

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