Superstition – habit or tradition

Every society has its superstitions as a system of believes, descended by ancestors. For one look, it seems all of them have mystical definition, but indeed superstition is an element of folklore.

In Georgia people believe in many strange things. Mostly superstitions, scattered in Georgia are connected with fear of death, love, hate, money, marriage, ghosts and etc. There are things, which can be considered as an object of superstitions in many nations: just take salt or black cat. It’s not easy to find society without superstition associated with salt or cat.

In Georgia people believe, if the black cat crosses your way, that day would be wretched for you, but for British people this is a sign of happiness. In fact this superstition connects with an ancient pagan believe – cat as an incarnation of goddess. But after adoption of Christianity this animal has lost its icon. As for ill-fated date, Georgians consider that a person with unlucky life and bad characteristic can damage your own energy. That’s why Georgians are accustomed to blame others in their crash. The latest usually associates with money. It’s very familiar habit to scratch left palm and kiss it, which means soon you’ll get money. But if right palm is itches, you would lose something. Another superstition about poorness is to clean bread crumbs from the table with hand.

According to the old superstition, when man talks about unpleasant things, he should knock on the wood three times and spit out, to avoid something bad. It’s not only Georgian custom to knock on the wood to stay away from dangerous. It’s said, that this voice terrifies devils, reminding them about crucifixion of Jesus.

The whistling also has very strange and mystical definition. Every Georgian child can remember how parents used to prohibit them whistle in the house. “It brings poorness in family” they were telling them. But old people claim that whistling in the house is discouraging behavior. According to the oldest Georgian and Russian superstition, whistle can call up the demons.

Many mysterious and unpleasant things are connected with mirror. It’s considered, if the mirror had been broken, someone would certainly die in the family. Mirror is important thing even after someone’s death. It’s approved to cover mirrors with white bad sheet till funerals to preserve house from the ghost. It’s said, spirit can dwell in the mirror. This superstition became tradition in Georgia.


Salt is also very familiar object for the superstitious people. If the salt spread on the table, someone should pour water on it to avoid conflict in the family. Salt can also define unmarried girls’ fate. This superstition has progressed to a ritual in Georgia. In the last week of February unmarried girls bake the salty cookie with 100 gr. flour, 100 gr. salt and water. In the midnight they stand on the cross-road, eat this cookie and go to bed. According to the old superstition, those who have done this ritual could meet with their future husband in their dreams.

It can be listed a lot of superstitions, spread in Georgia, such as telling nightmares to the water, lucky date, gingers and etc. Some people think that superstition is a holy foolishness, but for someone it could be the most important phenomena in the world.

A new discovery of NASA

NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has made the first all-sky maps of the heliosphere. As BBC correspondent declares, the scientists and map researchers were more than surprised, when they discovered that the map was bisected by a bright, winding ribbon of unknown origin. They think, "the ribbon is not a source of light, but rather a source of energetic neutral atoms." Till here, researchers have known that the solar system is surrounded by a huge bubble of magnetism, called heliosphere, but this incident has changed the widely-spread theory of astronomers. The complete information was published today on NASA’s website. "This ribbon winds between the two Voyager spacecraft and was not observed by either of them," notes Eric Christian, the NASA’s scientist. Also, he thinks, that all the astro-researchers must observe this so called cosmos-event.

The NASA’s researching group is eager to see if the ribbon is changing permanently. So they are planning to make a second sky-map

The Eight Dream Borrowers

It's not a story about Milorad Pavich's novel. This is a small report about medical research.

A very big part of society suffers with insomnia. The topic, called “Eight Biggest Night Stealers” is about eight major factors that cause it. .

The 1st is so called work stress that comes in many forms. Usually it is characterized for people with daily routine.
The 2nd one is a strong emotion that involves tossing and turning all night. Sometimes it can lead us to depression.
The 3rd is so called “Not Enough Time”. The psychiatrist Jason Henry says, that when people think, they have too much to do, but have too little time to accomplish it, they secret adrenaline that puts obstacle in somebody’s sleep.
The 4th one is very strange argument indeed. It is to invite guests in midnight. Maybe this point is about people, loving bohemian life.
The 5th is a temperature in the sleeping room. Sometimes high temperature makes a person restless.
The 6th is sugar and caffeine. It’s said in the topic, that sweet coffee and even tea disrupt human’s sleep.
The 7th is an alcohol.
And at lasts, the 8th one is irregular biorhythm. Mostly this point is for the young mothers. The irregular sleep hours are very dangerous for our health and also memory.

Positive Emotion V.S. Heart Disease

The doctors consider that happy people suffer with heart disease much less than the people, who have a stern temper.
The experiment has studied 1 739 healthy adults over the ten-years and concluded, that happiness has a so called “positive affect” on their heart health. The author of this project was a group of scientists of Columbia University Medical Centre. According to their words, they need some more medical trials to open new theory in the modern medicine – how the positive emotion can improve a human’s health and heart disease.
The cardiologist Iain Simpson says, that the most important is to reduce the risk of diabetes and cholesterol in the blood. However, he conceded that anything that can cure people from heart disease or preserve them from it couldn’t be rejected.

მარგარეტი

მარგარეტ ბიუარკ-უაითი დაიბადა 1904 წელს, ნიუ-იორკში. 1922 წლიდან სწავლობდა კოლუმბიის უნივერსიტეტში ბიოლოგიის ფაკულტეტზე. სწორედ ამ პერიოდში გაუჩნდა მარგარეტს ინტერესი ფოტოგრაფიის მიმართ. რამდენიმე წელიწადში მან მიიღო მონაწილეობა ფილმის გადაღებაში, რის დროსაც შეიმუშავა გადაღების ახლებური მეთოდები ფოტოგრაფიაში.

1929 წელს მარგარეტი მოწვეულ ჟურნალისტად იწყებს მუშაობას გაზეთში "Future". ის იყო ერთადერთი დასავლური სამყაროს წარმომადგენელი ფოტოჟურნალისტი, რომელსაც შეეძლო საბჭოთა კავშირში ჩასვლა და დოკუმენტური მასალების ოფიციალურად მოძიება. ასევე მარგარეტი იყო ერთადერთი ქალი ფოტოგრაფი, რომელმაც დაიწყო მუშაობა "Live"-ში თავად ჟურნალის რედაქტორის ინიციატივით. მოგვიანებით კი მას ერგო პირველი ქალი კორესპონდენტის ”სტატუსი”. მისით ინტერესდებოდნენ ისეთი ცნობილი და გავლენიანი გამომცემლები, როგორებიც იყვნენ ჰენრი ლუისი და სხვანი.

მარგარეტის ბიოგრაფია სავსეა საინტერესო ფაქტებით. ყველაზე მნიშვნელოვანი და გადამწყვეტი ფაქტი მისი ბიოგრაფიისა არის მეორე მსოფლიო ომი. ამ ფოტოებმა მარგარეტი აქცია მსოფლიოში ერთ-ერთ ყველაზე ცნობილ ფოტოჟურნალისტად. მარგარეტი თავისი ფოტოებით გვიამბობდა იმდროინდელი ევროპის ტრაგედიაზე, იმდროინდელ სოციალურ მდგომარეობასა და დეპრესიაზე. მისი ფოტოების ციკლი გამოხატავს ომის პერიოდის და აგრეთვე ომის შემდგომ ვითარებას მთელ ევროპასა და ამერიკაში.
მარგარეტ ბიუარკ-უაიტი იყო ნოვატორი დოკუმენტურ ფოტოგრაფიაში. იგი დღემდე საკულტო ფიგურას წარმოადგენს როგორც ფოტოჟურნალისტებისთვის, ასევე ფემინისტური იდეოლოგიის მიმდევართათვის.

1963 წელს მარგარეტმა გამოსცა თავისი ავტობიოგრაფიული რომანი სახელწოდებით “ჩემი პორტრეტი”.

მარგარეტ ბიუარკ-უაითი 1971 წელს გარდაიცვალა პარკინსონის დაავადებით.