China bade goodbye to the Monkey and welcomed the year of the Rooster. The Chinese believe that washing or cutting hair, cleaning clothes, sweeping floors and buying or gifting books on New Year’s day will bring bad luck. Those beliefs pale in comparison with some superstitions we nurture.
One of my neighbours has a ‘shagun’ fixation. If he is venturing out of his house, he stands at his gate to see who is coming opposite to him. If a beggar or a widow or a black cat approaches, he aborts his journey. When cyclone Vardah ravaged Chennai, a large bougainvillea tree in his portico fell down. Cutting it off was a difficult task, as it had thorns which injured the cutter’s hand. I asked him why he preferred the plant over other less cumbersome, ornamental ones. He said it was to ward off maleficent glares which might harm his house.
Truck drivers hang a piece of rock or lemon or coconut from a black rope in front of their vehicles. They have more faith in such talisman warding off evil eyes than on the hundreds of components in the automobiles. Nevertheless, road accidents persist.
Some communities believe that if a person dies on a Saturday, the soul will not go alone to heaven or hell. The departed soul will take another with it to keep company in the afterlife. Relatives of the dead person who are not keen to join the departed soul, tie a rooster to the funeral pier. The rooster is cremated or buried with the corpse to keep company during its arduous journey to the nether world.
In some villages, people proceeding on a journey peruse a panchang to arrive at an auspicious day for travel. Sometimes, people are forced to travel on inauspicious days. There is a custom of packing one’s personal belongings in a suitcase and depositing it with a neighbour as if the person has already commenced his journey at an auspicious time. Next day, the traveller picks up his luggage from the neighbour’s house and resumes his journey at an inauspicious hour.
Many consult astrologers before marriage. Astrologers look into the horoscopes of boys and girls and decide if they can get married without coming to any harm. Some astrologers even predict that a groom may lose his first wife and may have to marry a second time. In such cases, the remedy is to tie a mangalsutra on a plantain tree as if the groom married the tree first. Then the tree is hacked to denote the demise of the first wife. The groom then marries the chosen girl as if it is his second marriage. A fine way of thwarting destiny!
Email: mailpsubramanian@gmail.com