Good luck? Bad luck? Superstitions give action to belief.

Alexandra: [Introduction and music] Hi I’m Alexandra. Today we’ll be exploring superstitions. Superstitions are commonly defined as widely held but unjustified beliefs — more specifically — something supernatural leading to certain consequences of an action or event, or a practice based on such a belief.

Even if you don’t consider yourself superstitious, some of your day-to-day practices might stem from what were once superstitions. For example, saying “bless you” after someone sneezes is just good manners, right?

Actually, that’s not the case.

Saying “bless you” dates all the way back to 6th century Europe, when people would congratulate anyone who sneezed, thinking evil spirits were leaving their body. To bring the topic of superstitions closer to SPA, I interviewed faculty and students about their superstitions; however, in today’s world, their superstitions had to do a lot more with daily activities than evil spirits.

First I interviewed Upper School math teacher Mr. Sheffert.

Mr. Sheffert: The biggest superstition that I have, whenever I am watching a football game, I have two dogs and in every game one of them is the good luck dog, and one of them is the bad luck dog. I make sure that I am always petting the good luck dog.

Lily: My name is Lily Malloy and I am a junior. My pronouns are she/her.

Alexandra: Lily is a ballet dancer who performs a lot, and is currently preparing to perform the Nutcracker this winter.

Lily: Right before a show, I write down encouraging lyrics inside my pointe shoes.

Lindsay: My name is Lindsay and I am a junior.

Alexandra: Lindsay is the starting goalie of the girls varsity soccer team. They were extremely successful this season and almost made it to state.

Lindsay: Well during soccer games or at the start every half, well I am goalie, so I’ll go up and jump and touch the top of the crossbar just for good luck.

Alexandra: There are more superstitions at SPA than you might think. Ranging from watching sports, to playing them, to performing. While superstitions can be harder to find these days, they’re certainly out there.

Thank you for listening to superstitions at SPA.