The performing arts have always been the most reliant on superstition and propiatory rituals, to ward off the negative side of that uncertainty which is inherent in all situations where one person is trying to make an effect upon/get reaction from an audience of unknown composition and sentiment. One can't simply control all those other minds and what they feel (at least not generally), so one attempts to structure and influence the probability field around them, either with talismans/acts of perceived positive fortune, or those which are intended to deflect the envy of fate (mal occhio) by not tempting it with reference to "good luck" (or "Macbeth"--this was brilliantly played-on in an episode of The Simpsons).
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Date: 2006-10-01 06:52 am (UTC)