“When you believe in things that you don’t understand/ Then you suffer/ Superstition ain’t the way” – Stevie Wonder

When I think of superstition. I think of witches, potions, and herbs with an odd aroma filling a cottage enveloped in vines. Though some people may find it odd in modern times to find highly superstitious people, I think their fascinating. Nowadays, everyone seems to feel the need to see before they believe anything. Everyone seems to feel the need to prove things scientifically to everyone else. It is rare to find people that just accept what is said and done without the need for some fancy explanation. Which is why I was overcome with delight when I stumbled across this article in the weird news section of the San Francisco Chronicle.

To ensure good weather for the Quick Chek New Jersey Ballooning Festival , festival organizers don’t buy weather insurance like the average man today would. Instead, they use a virgin. No, she isn’t sacrificed; as her presence is needed again next year to perform the pleasant weather bringing ritual, in which she “drives a golf cart to the four corners of the festival site, picks up some grass, mumbles some random words, then penetrates the produce with a knife before jamming it and the knives to the ground.” Yeah, I know, it sounds like fun. Though some people may call this crazy, I think that the ritual shows that this town has some personality; some spunk. I mean, it’s not often that one finds a town in America where an ancient ritual involves a golf cart.

But though it sounds crazy, the roving of the gold cart by the 28-year -old Mormon virgin worked. It had been predicted that the weekend would be filled with rain, but thanks to their ritual, the skies were clear and blue and filled with balloons at this year’s festival. – Maahum Chaudhry