Better leave it in the foyer, closed, until it's needed. Everyone knows it’s bad luck, right? But why? Stevens explains that, since an umbrella is an object related to bad weather, bringing it inside is akin to inviting the storm in. Take the ubiquitous superstition: opening an umbrella inside. As a result, each culture has created rituals, ways that capture the transition and transformation from outside to inside. The inside of a home should be peaceful and comfortable, to counteract the potentially risky and unpredictable outside world. When it comes to the home, certain cultural do's and don'ts are tied to the idea of universal order-balance and harmony, the yin and the yang. The idea that an action or an object can prevent something bad from happening is a type of magical thinking. "Superstitions give one a sense of control in a complex, apparently impersonal, and largely unpredictable world," says Phillips Stevens, Ph.D., professor of Anthropology Emeritus, State University of New York at Buffalo and author of forthcoming book Rethinking the Anthropology of Magic and Witchcraft (Routledge). In one way or another, these behaviors are linked to capturing positive energy. Or you keep an amethyst crystal on your nightstand in hopes of absorbing anxiety to help you nod off. Maybe you’re the type of person who knocks on wood to stop yourself from jinxing.
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