Nationality: Indian (Tamilnadu)
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Sunnyvale, CA
Performance Date: 4/22/15
Primary Language: English
Language: Tamil
- Main Piece: It is said that you should not cut your hair or nails on Fridays
- Informant Background:
- Why: Because Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) comes to your house on Fridays, and if you’ve cut your hair or nails, you’re unclean and Lakshmi won’t visit you if you’re unclean.
- Where did you learn it: My mother
- What does it mean to you: This is a superstition that doesn’t hold much meaning to me. My parents both grew up blindly following it and they similarly passed it on to me and expect me to blindly follow it as well. It means a lot more to my grandparents, who have a more firm belief in such such superstitions. Since it doesn’t require much effort to abide by, I don’t find it difficult to just simply follow it.
- My Thoughts
- There are many superstitions that people blindly believe in without really knowing the backing behind the story. For example, people blindly follow the belief that spilling salt is bad luck – however the root of this was the high value of salt centuries ago (equaling the value of gold). Once a belief is put into practice naturally, the reason for the practice becomes irrelevant – it becomes habitual to follow. Such habits that have a superstitious belief is very commonly handed down from parents to kids. There are many folk beliefs that follow the same sense of blindly following.
