TURKISH SUPERSTITIONS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 109, 22 April 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

TURKISH SUPERSTITIONS.

Of all the many nations of Europe there ate none which do not still retain some vestiges ,of the superstitions ot their ancestors, and in many of the superstitions of those nations which arc most closely allied to one another by ties of race and blood we find a striking similarity. But turn to Turkey, and we aie bound to notice that the weird beliefs of its inhabitants are quite different, and savour strongly ot the far East.

To begin with, most Turks have

A DREAD OF THE CAAIERA,

which, they say, “ extracts the soul, cr part of it, from the body, and shortens life.” They have an equal horror ol portrait painting for the same reason, and so deeply imbedded in their minds is this absurd notion, that it is positively dangerous to go into some rural districts of Turkey with'a camera. The superstition of the Turk extends even to matters of law. He will be sure to win his case, he thinks; if the ether party can be made to enter the court with the left foot first. So he frequently hires someone to make his adversary stumble on the threshold, or will even arrange that the left leg shall be pulled into court first by main force.

Should a Turk desire the death of an enemy, he may have recourse to the extraordinary means of carefully

MEASURING HIS SHADOW

with a long stick, muttering strange words the while. Then he places the stick in the road, and waits for a wag-

gon to run over it. As this happens, lie repeats the magic phrases again, and then goes his way secure in the knowledge that his enemy will die some day, as no doubt he will. The magic, unfortunately, refuses to fix dates. In some parts of the Turkish Empire, a dwelling m which a death has recently occurred, is promptly whitewashed, or painted in a different colour to what it was before This step is taken toward off ghosts. The idea is that the ghost of the departed, in looking for its old abode, will be misled by the new colour of the dwelling, and pass it over. Many of the superstitions of the Turks are of Arab origin, and shared in common with Oriental races.