Is Santa Afraid of Black Cats and the Number 13? [Ice Cream Sundae]
Did you believe in Santa when you were a child?
I really did, and I guess I still do in a way.
I just spent a lovely Christmas with family, and of course the Santa part is vivid for the benefit of my two little nieces. One is six years old, and the younger one is three. I vividly remember scenes from Christmas when I was six years old, my mom’s family visited. On Christmas Eve, my aunts took us kids for a walk to go spot Santa’s sleigh in the sky. We examined the sky for signs and portents of Santa’s passage and I was awed with the possibility of spotting him at work.
My aunts worked in the possibly supernatural, along with mundane clues and interpretations. Was that thing in the sky Santa’s sleigh? Maybe, or it could also be a shooting star or a satellite. What’s that blinking? It could be a plane, or possibly Santa. After a few of these dubious sightings, my aunt confirmed whatever we had last seen or heard was almost definitely a flying sleigh drawn by reindeers, driven by Father Christmas himself. I was super excited.
Invariably year after year, gifts were under the Christmas tree by the time we came back from our walk. We’d just missed Santa; he was in a hurry with all these other children to distribute gifts to. That year we had a puppy. We called him Dinky. There’s more to write about him and pets, that’ll be for some other time.
Now I’m the uncle taking my little nieces for a walk to spot Santa, history repeating. The older one is asking more questions about this mythical figure. I saw her listening to the grown-ups speaking around the dinner table. I wouldn’t be surprised if she caught a couple of careless comments about gift buying. Suspicions and rumours about the true origins of those gifts might be whispered around the playground as soon as school resumes. I think the myth is showing a couple of cracks already, but for now the Christmas causality is still sound enough. Their mom visited the Santa Claus village in Lapland and told them the story as we walked around, providing credibility to the legend, keeping the tough truth at bay a little while longer.
Superstition is often defined by the incorrect assignment of cause and effect. There are gifts under the tree because a jolly old man dropped them there, as a result of children’s good behaviour.
Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines superstition as “a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation.”
In some ways it’s a pretty harsh definition. Superstition is a strange phenomenon. Unfortunately, it is often thought of in a pejorative fashion these days. I don’t believe I’m superstitious but I can casually say something like “knock on wood” and then knock the closest wooden thing around. I’m passing the Santa story on. Superstitions can be things some people truly believe in that others might consider really superstitious, or things they don’t believe in but still occasionally act upon, maybe just in case, out of habit or even tradition.
I believe we are all superstitious; we make connections between things by nature and for many reasons, regardless of the actual cause and effect between them. We all have little rituals to regain at least an idea that we’re in control of a situation. We bathe in a cultural background filled with superstitions and we’re almost bound to occasionally repeat one of them without even thinking. Sometimes we might do that thing “just in case”. It doesn’t hurt. I don’t really believe in it, but what if brings luck to my side. No harm in wearing a lucky piece of clothing for that game, a date, or an important client meeting for example.
I was crushed when I learned Santa wasn’t real. As I’m sure is the case with many children, I heard about it from others at school. They said it was the parents who bought the gifts. A few others and I were mocked for defending what our parents had told us. When my parents admitted Santa wasn’t real it felt like a betrayal. It was upsetting, though following that we had another talk. I can’t remember the details; it was something about the importance of believing in myth and magic.
I’m all for rational science-based behaviour, with some child-like wonder to balance it out though. Sure Santa isn’t real, but who really knows? That’s what I remember the lesson to be. Leaving a little doubt gives room for imagination, discovery and perhaps a little less space for arrogance or even hubris. As for many tricky questions, more recommended wisdom on the topic could be found in a few selected Calvin and Hobbes Christmas cartoon strips.
There are some things we know aren’t really true and we carry on with them anyway, like the Santa business, but there are also people dead serious about their superstitions. You probably picked up on the fact this is the thirteenth Sundae newsletter. In addition to being a cool sounding word triskaidekaphobia is a real phenomenon: fear of the number 13.
The reasons may or may not be real, but the behaviours and meaning attached to such as superstition are. Quite a few buildings omit or rename the thirteenth floor; elevator buttons go from 12 to 14. In different parts of Asia where I’ve travelled and worked, both and 4 and 13 are often missing from building floors. In Chinese culture 4 is also considered unlucky, in Mandarin the word “four” is very close to the word “death” in pronunciation.
There are a few different stories about the origins of the unlucky 13, such as The Last Supper. They were thirteen around the table and one of those betrayed Jesus Christ. Another one talks about the Knights Templar who were arrested, tortured and killed on Friday 13th, 1307 by order of King Philip IV in France. These are relatively recent interpretations though, and I mentioned the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism last week, it turns out they believed the number 13 to be sinister and wicked. It is considered one of the oldest religions the world, a thousand years before Christ, though more written information about it dates from 500 BC and earlier.
There are many other ancient examples of the number 13 holding importance one way or another. The main theory for this lies in the lunar-solar calendars used. There are slightly more than 12 lunar cycles per year, every so often a year would have 13 full moons (approximately every four or five years). They’d discuss the potential meaning for this, and somehow created a few superstitions around the phenomenon. Monks in charge of calendars and unexpectedly counting a thirteenth full moon in a year were the kind of people to make up or add to these superstitions; it apparently also messed with their scheduling of religious events.
Aside from the number thirteen we can find year round, it is a ripe time of year for superstitions. A major one in the form of Santa just went, and another one called “New Year resolution” is coming up. How much of a New Year resolution is a superstition? One doesn’t have to believe in the resolution to make it happen, or believe in the cause and effect so maybe it isn’t one. However the declaration of the resolution is an integral part, otherwise it isn’t one, so isn’t there some measure of causation there? It explains both failure and success.
Just last week I was talking to a friend who told me he’d stopped smoking a year ago so I naturally asked him how. He replied that it had been his New Year’s resolution. Given that answer superseded any other explanation, I think it’s fair to say there’s some causation there.
I’ve also read a couple of articles in preparation for writing this about experiments to research the existence of superstitions in evolutionary biology. In one article, a thought experiment mentions risks and worthwhile bets, as in a field mouse might see high grass moving. The animal knows from experience grass moving might be a cat or the wind. Ducking doesn’t cost that much and can be life saving so it’s a good bet. It’s a likely origin or at least continued existence of superstitions.
We have also learned that cause and effect can be challenged as we learn more and expand our perspective. The world believed for a long time the sun revolved around the Earth because our sight and experience told us so. However the feeling of knowing and being in control thanks to a superstition can also ward of uncertainty, make us feel good and really encourage us to achieve whatever it is we set out to. So maybe New Year resolutions are a good idea. Maybe a trick to achieve them is to be truly committed. The wishful thinking kind of things we believe we should do or say is often the resolution that doesn’t last very long. Figuring out what you’re really committed takes some thinking, and filtering out the wishful stuff. I’ll probably take some time and write a list of what I think is important for me in 2016.
In the conversation I had with the game designer John Wick for my podcast, he said he started doing New Year mottos instead of resolutions. He chooses a motto, a simple phrase like “be nice to people” and sets it as a practice for the year. Once he feels he’s integrated it, he chooses a new one to practice. I like the idea.
Are you taking on a New Year resolution? Don’t keep it to yourself. I’d be happy to hear about it, you can reply to the email, or send me a tweet to tell me. Share your resolutions and share this newsletter with someone else if you enjoyed reading it, I’d love for more people to read it.
If you’re looking for more to read I published a blog post with some thoughts about applying the Pareto principle to writing a creative brief. I’d be glad to have some feedback about it.
Thanks for reading, enjoy the rest of your Sunday! Have a fantastic New Year’s Eve!
’Til next week,
Willem
This newsletter was originally published via email on the 27th December 2015. You can also sign up to receive Ice Cream Sundae on the Ice Cream for Everyone website.
