Monday, 14 November 2011 16:04
The Evil Eye. Photo courtesy of todohechizos.com.
Do you belive in the evil eye or in the spell of the black cat and owl? Or in the luck that brings you a horseshoe or jet? Maybe you don’t believe in it, however, a majority of the Cubans is familiar with superstition which belongs to our rich oral culture and which – according to experts – is part of the European inheritance in general and the Hispanic one in particular.
Born on the Antilles islands, we have a special vocation: We search (and sometimes find) an interpretation to everything and even to things that do not have an explication at all.
Which Cuban has not heard that looking at yourself in a broken mirror or spilling salt causes bad luck? Or that the dogs bark around a sick or even that the pure thinking of bad things can bring us bad luck. Well, if we always carry a rabbit’s leg or put an elephant for decoration with his back towards the main door or if a strange dog follows us, the good luck will come back to us.
Yes, we live in the 21st century with access to a vast amount of information, data and other recent discoveries and innovations (very different from our ancestors’ ones), and although we are still familiar with superstition, I think that nowadays it only has a minor impact on the way we live and think. Still, many people, including a friend of mine, shout out loud “Solavaya” (a Cuban expression used to defend oneself in situations of danger) when hearing an owl or seeing a hearse. If a mirror breaks they would throw it away to get a new one, to spilled salt they add water and if a ladder crosses their way they would find another one.
For these kind of situations (and for almost all situations in life) it’sgood to remember and apply the following very useful phrase Cubans use: “MÁS VALE PRECAVER QUE TENER QUE LAMENTAR“ (“BETTER AVOID INSTEAD OF REGRET”).
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