Stevie Wonder once sang that superstitious notion is " when you conceive in things that you do n’t understand . " And , possibly he ’s ripe . ill-use on a crack , fall apart your mother ’s back . Break a mirror , get seven years of spoilt luck . We ’ve all heard the rime , but how many of us really know what they intend , or , more significantly , where they come from ?
In the year 2000 , one in four Americans admitted to being " very " or " passably " superstitious [ source : Gallup ] . Superstitions rise to our thinker when we desire more control or certainty about something . We want an explanation for why matter go wrong – or right – and , for whatever reason , we ’re quick to assign success or failure to something seemingly innocuous , like arabbit ’s foundation or a cent . psychologist consider that when we contain items like these , they actually have a placebo outcome , fuel confident cerebration . Conversely , if we lose that lucky object , we suppose negative opinion [ source : Albert ] .
You likely wo n’t find out a more superstitious mathematical group of people than sailors and fishermen . Their present superstitious beliefs date back several centuries and admit these prominent example : It ’s bad fate tosailon a Friday . If you whistle or sing into the fart on a gravy holder , a storm is certain to be . Sailors who tire earring or havetattooswon’t drown . It ’s big luck to havewomenonboard because they make the sea wild or green-eyed . rat impart a ship are a signaling of trouble . ( really , that ’s no superstitious notion . You probably should compensate those fleeing rats some heed , as you ’ll learn inHow to Survive a Sinking Ship . )
Crab gravy holder fishermen are a especially superstitious lot . Perhaps it ’s because their jobs are so inherently serious – commercialcrab fishingis one of the venomous industry in the world . Or perhaps it ’s because the industriousness has been around for so long , and fishermen have open superstitious notion neuroticism to the next coevals for many , many years .
One matter we do cognize for indisputable : endeavor to add a banana or a suitcase on a crab fishing gravy holder , and you might find yourself roll goodbye at the loading dock . We ’ll tell you why on the next page .
Bananas and Suitcases – Fishing Folklore
Two of the most enduringcrab boatsuperstitions have to do with , of all thing , bananas and suitcase . In both cases , these items are strictly proscribed onboard .
Many charter fishing gravy holder gang have unfaltering restrictions about bringing banana on the boat . In fact , they ’ll return to the dock to vomit the offending yield [ germ : ESPN ] . Some charter go so far as to disallow Banana Boat brand sunscreen or Banana Republic brand clothes onboard . fisherman have even been get it on to object to Fruit of the Loom underclothing ( one sport fisher claim he ’s treated wearer to wedgies and then cut the recording label out ) [ rootage : LA Times ] . curiously enough , the Fruit of the Loom graphic does n’t even have a banana on it , and some say the banana was left off because of this very superstition [ source : Brincefield ] .
There are many theories on why citizenry believe bananas are bad luck for a gravy boat . One superstition is that boats carrying bananas do n’t trance fish . The root of this feeling go steady back to the Caribbean barter of the 1700s . The woodensailing boatsof that meter had to move quickly to render banana before they mollycoddle , and fisher had a strong time trolling for Pisces on such fast - move boats , which is how the superstitious notion came about . Another superstition that originate during that clock time is that banana tree will do a boat to sink . This impression developed after many boats never made it to their name and address , and all of the doomed boats were carrying banana .
One of the creepy superstitions is that banana cargo could actually kill a man . In actuality , ferment bananas do give off methane gas , which could conceivably get trapped below deck and kill any work party member ill-starred enough to be working in the delay . Another pop possibility was that venomousspidershitched drive in bananas , and once those bananas were onboard , the boat would be master of ceremonies to any bit of lethal critter . And then , of course , there ’s the theory that banana peels have crew members to splay and accrue on pack of cards [ source : Attah ] .
travelling bag onboard is a fishing gravy holder no - no as well . Even when camera crew board crabmeat sauceboat to film Discovery Channel ’s reality series " Deadliest Catch , " they were necessitate to give their equipment suitcases on the dock [ generator : Deadliest Catch ] .
The origins of the suitcase superstitious notion are turbid , and the superstition has variations . For example , some sailors are superstitious of all baggage ; some only ban black grip and bags . But everyone seems to agree that a suitcase is a harbinger of death or sickness . mordant traveling bag are considered risky because Black person is the people of color of death and a metaphor for the depths of the dark , cold sea . Some fisher say that travel bags resemble body bags , another obvious symbol of expiry .
Why do pubic louse gravy holder maitre d’hotel and gang hang on to these superstition ? likely for the same reason the superstitions begin . Even with modern understanding of science and weather patterns , we still perceive the sea as a occult and treacherous place . Beliefs and superstitions are passed down from propagation to generation , from fisher to fisherman , and it ’s a audacious sailor who turns his ( or her ) back on tradition . Would you be unforced to see what happens when you reject a one C - former superstitious notion ?
Yes , we have no bananas – but we do have some interesting connection below .
