All World
Gayatri Pariwar

Abandon Blind Faiths and Customs

People have held on to a number of blind faiths and meaningless practices for centuries to ensure that auspicious events unfold in life and unpleasant situations get warded off. Blind faiths are the baseless ‘convictions’ which are accepted without logic and thoughtful considerations. Science has made a tremendous progress; even then in every corner of the world and in our society too there are so many customs, practices and faiths which are completely baseless.

There is no dearth of people who get impressed by orthodoxies and blindly accept these beliefs. A very common belief is regarding an evil eye (burº nazar), which stands for negative or harmful powers. People adopt various practices to save themselves from these.

For example, people in India apply a small black mark to ward off evil eye. Both in India and Pakistan lemon is considered auspicious and is supposed to have the potential to protect from negative powers. So many people stitch together seven green chillies and a lemon in a thread and hang them in front of their homes or shops to protect them from the evil eye. These are called ‘nazar battu’ and they are replaced daily, weekly or fortnightly. On festive occasions, people in India like to add a rupee to the cash they offer as a gift and call it ‘sagun’.

It is believed that sagun adds good luck; it is called as a blessing and love of elders and is considered auspicious for the start of a new phase of life. In India as well as many other countries in the world it is believed that by throwing coins in the rivers it is possible to ward off misfortune. In olden times, the coins were made of silver or brass, and both these metals cleanse the water and kill bacteria. The main source of drinking water in earlier times only used to be the rivers, and so throwing coins in rivers was called auspicious. In today’s scenario throwing coins is nothing but a blind belief. Many people consider 13 as an unlucky number. If a Friday falls on the 13th of the month, the day is considered really inauspicious.

When a person steps out of home for some work, asking him where he is going is also not considered auspicious. It is believed that this interruption results in failure of the task which the person has set out for. Similarly, if anyone sneezes once at the time of stepping out it is considered inauspicious, while two sneezes are considered a good sign. All these are also due to orthodox, non-scientific thinking. Like this there are many blind beliefs prevalent in our country. For example, wearing a white shirt for an important meeting or work brings success. Hanging a picture or poster of a girl with tears in eyes brings misfortune.

It is not good to keep shoes or sandals below the cot because they bring bad dreams in sleep. If a new dress is worn and an unhappy event unfolds that day, then the dress should not be worn again. Entering house or office with the right foot first is auspicious. If a wall lizard falls on a person, it is an indication to be careful for the next few days. If a spider climbs on a person, it indicates that new clothes will be bought soon. Using white bed spreads for sleeping and white sheets for covering up brings an early death. A clock that has stopped working should be taken off the wall immediately because a stopped clock indicates that further progress in life would come to a standstill.

Japan has won a lot of acclaim in this modern technological era, but Japanese people still carry some convictions that are a bit strange. For example, they consider the numbers 4 and 7 as inauspicious. If Japanese is offered room number 4 on the 4th floor of a hotel, he does not stay there. Taiwanese also regard number 4 as inauspicious. So they never have room number 4 on the fourth floor of their hotels. A blind belief in Taiwan is that number 4 is linked with sudden death. In Taiwan, red colour is linked with happiness and joy. So in marriages, along with the bride’s dress, her footwear, and bridegroom’s handkerchief and tie are also red in colour. Japanese believe that if a person even once in his life gets to see a white snake, his life gets filled with luxuries and successes. So they hang pictures of a white snake on their walls and see it daily. They also believe that if snakeskin is kept in purse or locker, it would always remain filled with money.

In Thailand it is commonly believed that if a snake wrangles a person tightly in a dream this means that the person is going to get married pretty soon. They also have a blind faith that number 6 always gives adverse result. Since number 6 on inversion becomes 9, so with number 6 all the good luck can easily get changed into bad luck. Japanese and Koreans consider a gift wrapped in white paper as inauspicious. So they never wrap their gifts in white paper. Europeans consider exchanging bouquets of flowers as auspicious, as long as no brown coloured flowers are in them. Chinese do not like to gift each other wall clocks. Koreans believe that lovers must not give footwear like shoes, sandals etc. to each other as gifts, otherwise their love and friendship may come to an end. They also believe that during examination days one must not wash hair because when water is poured over head, all that is memorized for exam also gets washed away. Turkish people believe that if someone wishes for something standing in between two people with identical names, the wish definitely gets fulfilled.

They also believe that if one feels itchy on the right palm, he would receive money and if he feels itchy on the left palm he would have to part with money. There is also a belief that if food falls on clothes while eating it is a sign that some guest will be arriving. People in Argentina believe that if a coin is found on street it should be kept carefully because it will open doors to good fortune and bring a lot of riches. According to a belief in Brazil if you put sugar in the cup before putting coffee you can get very rich. In Russia looking at oneself in a broken mirror is considered inauspicious.

Another belief is that if someone forgets something at home and has to return to pick it up, he should see himself in mirror before restarting as this brings success. People in Italy believe that if someone ventures into water after eating he can die. South Koreans believe that if they sleep under a switched on fan they can die. As a result, their fans always have a timer so that the fans get switched off automatically after some time. Russians believe that if a bird dirties a person, he will acquire fame. In several countries, a black cat cutting across the way is considered inauspicious and it is advised to take seven steps back before starting again. There are many such blind faiths and beliefs prevalent all over the world and people believe in them seriously.

In this progressive world people should reject such false beliefs and move ahead by adopting discretionary wisdom.