"Break a Leg!"

From the articles we read this week and also from the book Guests of the Sheik, I really got how important and prevalent rituals are in culture and our everyday lives. In the two articles on America’s favorite past time, baseball, it was entertaining to read how many players have several rituals, as well as taboos, they believe will help them play better or keep them from bad luck. These rituals ranged from eating chicken to watching movies to stepping on a particular base, and the taboos of which the players avoided were also widely ranged including avoiding base lines. In these two articles it was very clear how superstitious our cultures can make us. In Guests of the Sheik, their rituals are heavily religious, but also shape their culture and gender roles. The women and men are pretty much separate, women wearing abayahs or coverings because for a man to see her without would be taboo. Although their religious rituals and taboos seem unusual to us, it was clear throughout the novel the rituals brought them joy and the taboos they avoided kept them out of bad luck, so to speak. Rituals whether religious or part of a game really become a part of a person and their culture and guide the way they think and/or do.
So after reading about many other peoples rituals and taboos, I began to think about mine and how they shape my everyday life or activities. The first rituals and taboos I thought of were the ones I learned growing up in the theatre. The first always say “Break a Leg!” (this ritual brings luck to performers), however on the flip-side the taboo would be to say “Good Luck!” to anyone before they step on stage. Another verbal taboo, “Macbeth”, that’s another no-no in the theater, unless you want it cursed. My theater in particular had it’s own ritual, we had to have a red rose painted on every set of every show we did (the reason and myth behind it can’t be revealed...it would be a taboo), but anyways the rose brought us luck and guidance throughout a production. I can think of one a set almost went without a rose, and half an hour before the show started our two story house, lost it’s second story, so as the wood and that mess was being cleaned up, we were sure to get that rose on the set before anyone stepped foot on the stage again. This occurrence only reinforced our ritual, we believe it brings us luck because of events like that one. I also had many pre-show rituals, I had to listen to a certain song every night, then find my own quite place backstage and just sit until it was go time. I really believed these rituals worked, and they shaped my theatre experience and culture, much like the baseball players rituals in the articles and the religious rituals in Guests of the Sheik.
It’s easy to get caught up in rituals and taboos, because they are all around us. Common taboos such as don’t walk under a ladder, or crack a mirror cause me to be cautious on a daily basis around both a ladder and a mirror. Even getting ready in the morning for the day, I know it’ll be a good day if I go through my little morning ritual of listening to Jason Mraz, getting ready, and putting on my lucky necklace and ring. It’s these rituals that give us confidence and joy to walk through our own lives and cultures. Although at times they seem silly, these many rituals and taboos seem to shape culture and give people joy...so what the heck seize the day and “Break a Leg!”