Introduction
The History Club wanted to find out if people are less superstitious today than in the past and to see if Chinese superstitions are likely to disappear. In order to investigate this issue, one hundred students and their grandparents were asked about their superstitious beliefs and their knowledge of different superstitions in order to compare the results. This report presents the findings and conclusion and recommendations resulting from this investigation.
Findings
It was found that for both students and grandparents, a large number of them considered themselves to be superstitious. For grandparents, three quarters of them considered themselves to be superstitious, while 15 percent of them considered themselves not to be superstitious and 10 percent of them did not know if they were superstitious. For students, about two-thirds of them considered themselves to be superstitious, while 20 percent of them considered themselves to be superstitious and 14 percent of them did not know if they were superstitious. Moreover, it was found that more grandparents considered themselves to be superstitious than the students. 75 percent of grandparents but 66 percent students said that they were superstitious.
The survey also showed that both students and grandparents knew most about the Chinese superstitions of Chinese New Year. Grandparents knew an average of ten superstitions of Chinese New Year while students knew about eight of them. However, it was found that students did not know much about superstitions of marriages. Students only knew about two superstitions of marriages but grandparents knew about seven superstitions of marriages. Students knew some about superstitions of births and deaths. They knew about four superstitions of births and six superstitions of deaths. However, students still knew fewer superstitions of births and deaths than the grandparents who knew seven and eight superstitions of births and deaths respectively. The overall result showed that students had less knowledge about Chinese superstitions than the grandparents.
When asked if they have ever done anything because of superstitions, the survey found that for both students and grandparents, a large majority of them have worn red clothes for good luck. Also, a majority of both students and grandparents have chosen something with the number eight. Comparing the responses of the students with that of grandparents, it was found that students have done slightly fewer things due to superstitions like avoiding giving a clock as a present and avoiding washing hair on Chinese New Year’s Day.
Conclusion and recommendations
Based on the above findings, it is concluded that although young people are less superstitious with less knowledge about Chinese superstitions, some of their actions are still affected by superstitions. Therefore, Chinese superstitions are not likely to disappear. It is suggested that education about Chinese superstitions should be given to the young people even though they are not so superstitious so that the Chinese superstitions will not disappear completely in the future.