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Leseverstehen

The power of traditional beliefs

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A group of young people are sitting around a table when one of them scratches his nose. “Ah, my nose is
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itchy,” he says. Then he hits his mates lightly and everything is fine again.
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If you know something about Irish superstitions, you’ll understand that traditionally an itchy nose is a sign of
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an upcoming fight, and that a fight for fun should be carried out to make sure that a real fight will not happen.
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Many of us hear superstitions like these in the schoolyard or around the family dinner table and carry them
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on into adult life.
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How many others can you remember, now you’re thinking about it? Itching on the inner side of your hands –
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a sign of money to come. Itching on the temples – something will make you cry.
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But it’s not all about itching. A gap between the front teeth is a sign of a beautiful singing voice. A black spot
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on the tongue is a sign of telling lies. Many Irish parents who want their children to tell the truth, tell them:
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“Stick your tongue out so I can see if you’re lying”. If your ears are “burning”, someone is talking about you.
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If it’s the right ear that feels extremely warm, people are talking about you positively, but if it’s the left ear, the
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talk is negative.
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In Ireland, the word for superstition is piseog, but the word does not only describe simple sayings and
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unusual beliefs. In old stories everything connected with magic is believed to be a piseog.
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A classic piseog was connected to May Day morning. For Irish people May Day was the turning of the year
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from winter into summer, a time for changes. An unkind person could go out on this particular morning and
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hide old meat in the hay, or old eggs everywhere on your farm. If you didn’t find these things, your luck would
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turn bad. May Day was also a time for good changes – washing one’s face with dew on this morning would
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provide people with fresh beauty throughout the year.
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These old beliefs, or superstitions, may seem silly to us now, thinking about them in the light of modern
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science, but they show our psychological needs. And they show how we as humans have thought, felt, and
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interacted with the world around us and with each other.
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Though we can understand the logic behind the origins of some piseogs, they survived because of
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repetition, not because they made sense. When something is done again and again, down through the
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generations, it becomes not a superstition but a tradition. Traditions are links to the past and a connection
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through the generations. Based on them, each new family creates their own rituals.
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Maybe the old piseogs save us from bad luck and bring about good luck, or maybe they don’t. We don’t
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know for sure, so it’s up to you to decide what to believe in.
Your English class is doing a project on the strange things people in the English-speaking world believe in. You decide to take a closer look at Ireland. The online article above gives you some information.
Tick the correct box and give one piece of evidence by quoting short passages from the text.
1.
In Ireland, an itchy nose stands for future...
a) joy.
b) trouble.
c) friendship.
One piece of evidence from the text:
2.
In Irish belief, itching can also mean future wealth.
This statement is... true false
One piece of evidence from the text:
3.
In Ireland, you ask someone to stick their tongue out to check for...
a) illness.
b) honesty.
c) bad thoughts.
One piece of evidence from the text:
4.
Your ears can tell you what...
a) the weather will be like.
b) path your future will take.
c) other people think of you.
One piece of evidence from the text:
5.
The Irish expression piseog stands for something that is real.
This statement is... true false
One piece of evidence from the text:
6.
People played tricks on other people on May Day to...
a) make fun of them.
b) force them to clean up.
c) cause problems for them.
One piece of evidence from the text:
7.
Today we know that old beliefs tell us a lot about people.
This statement is... true false
One piece of evidence from the text:
8.
Old beliefs still exist today because they...
a) make sense to us.
b) explain lots of things.
c) are practised regularly.
One piece of evidence from the text:
9.
How people practise these beliefs can vary.
This statement is... true false
One piece of evidence from the text:
10.
Finally, the author wants the reader to...
a) choose what to think.
b) pass on the old beliefs.
c) forget about superstition.
One piece of evidence from the text:

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