Mix Fix
The faith in us Turkish superstitions
Responsibility to all the communities
by Muhammet Şahin Akkaya
There are many superstitions today. Different from each other. Is there any superstition
that sounds very different to you? Or let me ask you, have you ever thought about how different the superstitions can be in Turkey?
What is superstition?
Superstitions are beliefs or practices that are
found in different forms in many societies, usually stemming from ignorance, lack of scientific knowledge, and fear of the unknown. Superstitions are often associated with luck, divination, and certain spiritual beings. It is known that some superstitions bring good luck, some superstitions bring bad luck, and some are just for protective beliefs. Perhaps these superstitions are similar in most parts of Europe, but we need not go far to look for slightly different superstitions. If we take a look at the easternmost part of Europe, at Turkey, we can see that there are different and interesting superstitions.
Protective superstitions
feature in Turkish culture. In Turkey, they call it “Nazar Boncuğu”. They believe that the blue beads, designed to resemble the shape of an eye, are protective for everything and everyone, animate and inanimate. The people attach them somewhere to the person or the object. It is quite common to see a person carrying a blue bead in Turkey, or to see a blue bead on top of a Turkish friend’s house.
Another protective belief of Turkish culture is
to pour a bucket of water on the back of a person going on a long journey. While the water is pouring from the back of the person to go, the following words are said. “Go like water, come like water”. As it is said, it is a hope that the person will go and return like the flowing of water.
Let’s start with the most well-known, the blue You may have heard before that Turks are kind
bead, which is thought to have a protective and friendly. So much so that this is even reflected in their superstitions. When they are giving a knife or scissors to another person, first they spit on it and then hand the knife to the other person. Although it doesn’t sound like a very hygienic, it is believed that this spitting is done to discredit the knife. Since the knife is a tool that people have used for centuries to kill each other, it is considered a tool to start a fight. For this reason, the knife is vilified by spitting on the knife in order to maintain permanent peace and friendship between the two sides.
Blue bead
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© Engin Akyurt @pixabay
