Family curse

A family curse or an ancestral curse, a generational curse, hereditary curse, is a curse, on a family. The belief in them crosses many religious beliefs. Many deny that they even exist.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, with his wife, Jacqueline, and Texas Governor John Connally with his wife, Nellie, in the presidential limousine, minutes before Kennedy was assassinated. A family curse, or just bad decisions?[1]

Religious beliefs and family curses

Christianity and Judaism

Christianity and Judaism have somewhat conflicted views of generational curses,

19 Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live. 20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

— Ezekiel 18:19–20, King James Version[2]

However,

18 The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

— Numbers 14:18, King James Version[3]

Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, the Erinyes exacted family curses.[4][5]

Hinduism

Some holy writing in Hinduism states,[6]

The thin bamboo rod in the hand of the Brahmana is mightier than the thunderbolt of Indra. The thunder scorches all existing objects upon which it falls. The Brahmana's rod (which symbolizes the Brahmana's might in the form of his curse) blasts even unborn generations. The might of the rod is derived from Mahadeva.

— Anushasana Parva

Hinduism has family curses, elsewhere.[7]

Japanese Shinto

Family curses occur, in Japanese Shinto.[5]

Witchcraft

The term witchcraft is not well-defined, but within at least factions, the belief in family curses persists.[8]

Historical examples

Nathaniel Hawthorne felt his family was cursed, due to his ancestors, John Hathorne and his father William. William Hathorne was a judge who earned a reputation for cruelly persecuting Quakers, and who in 1662 ordered the public whipping of Ann Coleman. John Hathorne was one of the leading judges in the Salem witch trials. He is not known to have repented for his actions. So great were Nathaniel Hawthorne's feelings of guilt, he re-spelled his last name Hathorne to Hawthorne.[9]

Family curses in fiction

As he lies dying, in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Mercutio says, "A Plague O' Both Your Houses," blaming both the Capulets and Montagues. As the play progresses, his words prove prophetic.[10]

There is a family curse, in the The House of the Seven Gables.[11]

In Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, there was a feeling the Baskerville's family had legendary family curse, of a giant black hound, "... a foul thing, a great, black beast, shaped like a hound, yet larger than any hound that ever mortal eye has rested upon."[12][13]

Skeptical views

Modern skeptics deny that curses of any nature, including family curses, even exist,[14][15], if some fervently believe.[16]

Famous examples

See also

References
  1. Carroll, Robert (December 19, 2013). "Kennedy curse". skepdic.com. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  2. "Ezekiel, Chapter 18, King James Bible".
  3. "Numbers Chapter 14, King James Bible".
  4. Banducci, Laura (2007). "Family Curses in Modern and Ancient History".
  5. "Family Curses in Modern and Ancient History".
  6. "SECTION XVII".
  7. "The Aitareya Brahmanam of the Rigveda, containing the earliest speculations of the Brahmans on the meaning of the sacrificial prayers, and on the origin, performance and sense of the rites of the Vedic religion".
  8. "The Family Curse: What Modern Witches Need to Know". February 18, 2016.
  9. Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice (September 15, 2011). "The Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne".
  10. "Why Does Mercutio Say "A Plague O' Both Your Houses"?".
  11. Smiley, Jane. "A house divided".
  12. "The Hound of the Baskervilles".
  13. "The Hound of the Baskervilles Sir Arthur Conan DOYLE (1859 - 1930)".
  14. "Why Do People Believe in Curses?". September 2019.
  15. "Why do people believe in curses?". August 30, 2019.
  16. Mariani, Mike (November 19, 2015). "Science Is Proving That Tragic Curses Are Real".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.