TL;DR: Huge old tree was growing at the pilgrim trail to Jasna Góra. On the nearby church wall there is portrait depicting st. Apollonia, saint of aching teeth. So, pilgrims started to literally bite the tree because it supposedly helped on their teeth pain… And it wasn’t just few cases, there was solid fence erected because they significantly endangered the tree (and this did not stopped some of them)
So even the really silliest superstition remain strong despite XXI century and all the science and reason.
I was speaking rather about change in mainstream culture where they abandoned the creepy memento mori and such. Frankly pretty understandable since it does follow general western aesthetics and beside how many times you can whip you sheep into doomerism frenzy after it was absolutely clear the messiah is not in much hurry to come again.
Well in Poland this happened.
TL;DR: Huge old tree was growing at the pilgrim trail to Jasna Góra. On the nearby church wall there is portrait depicting st. Apollonia, saint of aching teeth. So, pilgrims started to literally bite the tree because it supposedly helped on their teeth pain… And it wasn’t just few cases, there was solid fence erected because they significantly endangered the tree (and this did not stopped some of them)
So even the really silliest superstition remain strong despite XXI century and all the science and reason.
I was speaking rather about change in mainstream culture where they abandoned the creepy memento mori and such. Frankly pretty understandable since it does follow general western aesthetics and beside how many times you can whip you sheep into doomerism frenzy after it was absolutely clear the messiah is not in much hurry to come again.