Superstitions

What are superstitions? How did they come into being in the first place? Have they been abolished (atleast that is what is claimed by the so called Civilized Society) ? These were the questions I asked myself and started thinking about them as to whether I or my family or friends are superstitious. The answers which I found were pretty surprising.
I shall now pen down the reasons for the surprise I shall give my understanding of superstitions and their eventual evolution. To me superstitions are nothing but the routines or habits we have cultivated which we believe if disturbed will cause things to go wild. Some of you may argue that I do not believe in this but ask yourself if you are ready to move away from your routine and habits.
These routines and habits taken to a bit extreme causes superstitions such as Sati etc.
Keeping this in mind I must say that I am superstitious and so are my parents. We have cultivated certain routines which we are not willing to do away with. It is the case with most persons. We will allow some tolerance but that is too minimal.
I would very much like to see all your comments on this.