What would happen if you peeked, and tried to see the magical creatures that come in the night bringing gifts?  The colorful Easter eggs, the Christmas presents, the quarter placed where a tooth had been left under a pillow–would the spell be broken, the spirits gone, the gifts forever changed?  Long after I was certain that they were simply childish fictions, I would keep to the no-peek rule, as if pretending I didn’t know better would make a difference.

Beliefs about women’s health and the moon are particularly strong. 

Later on, there were other stories:  knock on wood for good luck, spilled salt over your shoulder is bad luck but tossing a pinch over your shoulder reverses it,  a black cat crossing your path is bad luck (or worse–a broken mirror for seven years of bad luck), don’t let the groom see the wedding dress before the big day, beware the Ides of March.   The number seven is lucky, thirteen unlucky, and everyone has a lucky number that will bring riches if bet upon.  When a pigeon nested in the plantar box on our balcony, Google told us this was supposed to be lucky. When the nest was abandoned, was that bad?

And the stars!  Although the solar system has gradually moved in relation to the stars over the past couple thousand years, and “your sign” has correspondingly moved on, why do we stubbornly stick to believing we are, say, a September Virgo? And take heart in the explanation of why things are going badly, when we know that Mercury is in retrograde? If we believe it, it may be so.  Ask someone suffering from a voodoo curse.

Working in medicine, particularly the emergency room, it was well-known that a full moon would bring out the crazies.  When it got busy with strange, challenging, and aggravating situations on a full moon night, that would explain it.  The term “lunacy” comes from the long-standing superstition about the moon’s effect on people.  The effect of the moon is such widespread lore that I once saw a paper that examined that theory, correlating medical visits with phases of the moon;  alas, it concluded there was actually no demonstrable relationship.

For many years I included obstetrics in my practice, both amazing for the wonder of new life and terrifying for the potential for things to go wrong.  Unsurprisingly, pregnancy and birth have many beliefs and cultural overlays.  Holding a ring on a string over the pregnant belly could predict the sex of the child. Ice or cold water could be forbidden. Experiences of the mother pass on to the child (not illogical).  I once had the pleasure of watching a crying newborn quieten and then turn smiling to his father, who had started to play guitar and sing softly.  Had he sung to the child during the pregnancy?  Of course. Beautiful.

The delivery ward also subscribed to the theory that the full moon boded ill. Of course, women’s monthly (as in each moon) menstrual cycles are in fact affected by light, and mood can be affected by hormonal shifts, so perhaps that is why the beliefs about women’s health and the moon are particularly strong.  One night I had the sad duty of caring for a woman who had arrived for delivery full term, but the baby was without a heartbeat.  Such a stillbirth is devastating, especially when there is no clear cause.  That night there had been a full lunar eclipse, a “blood moon”, and in her stoic deep sorrow, the young mother whispered “el eclipse”.  I hope her belief in the supernatural gave her some solace as she tried to make sense of the unexplainable loss.