Old World Beliefs

Illness can bring up irrational stories

“When One Family Member Arrives, Another Leaves”

In old world mountain communities, deaths and births were often coincidental events. The timings of a grandparent’s death near a grandchild’s birth are interpreted as spiritually related.

It turns out that my mom has this epigenetic superstition in her programming. It hurt to see her suffer from this irrational burden as she tried to make sense of her cancer diagnosis. However I wasn’t really surprised when she mentioned this fear as I grew up hearing all sorts of similar expressions.

To help comfort her and dispel her irrational fear, I first had to break its hold on my own mind. I relied on the rational observation that the global population has steadily increased over the last century’s history.

Here are a couple more superstitions I recall:

Don’t put a knife on edge – bad luck – uses fear to instill a safety practice

Don’t put shoes on a table – bad luck – uses fear to instill a hygiene practice

What epigenetic superstitions does your family harbor?