Whenever Andy used to drive in the car with his sister, his sister used to kiss her hand and touch the roof of her car when she went through a yellow light. By touching the roof of her car, it would guarantee safety as she went through the intersection. Andy and his family always touch the roof of their car when they go through yellow lights. However, one time specifically, Andy’s sister went through an intersection at a yellow light and did not touch the roof of her car. That specific time she did not touch the roof of her car, she got into a car accident. Since that day, Andy’s sister and her whole family always kiss their hand and touch the roof of their car when they drive through a yellow light at an intersection. They now consider it very bad luck to not kiss your hand and touch the roof of your car when going through a yellow light.
Tag Archives: Protection
Sign of the Cross Scuba
Whenever my friend Kenny and his Dad go scuba diving, they dive down to the bottom of the ocean and kneel on the sand. They both perform the sign of the cross, where they take their right hand and touch their forehead, move their hand down to their sternum, and then cross to their heart and the opposite side of their heart. After they perform the sign of the cross, they look up to the sun. They perform this ritual every time they go diving together in order to keep them safe while they are under water.
Lock the House for Scary Movies
Dylan and his friends always lock every door in their house and close every window before they watch a scary movie. They believe that if you leave a door unlocked or a window cracked, there is a high chance that something evil will come into their house. Before putting on any scary movie, Dylan in his friends need to lock the doors and windows or they cannot start the movie.
One night, which happened to be Friday 13th , which is known as a very unlucky night, Dylan and his friends forgot to lock all the doors before they watched a scary movie. Halfway through the scary movie, a burglar snuck into his house. The robber knocked over a lamp downstairs in the house. He left by the time Dylan and his friends made their way down the staircase to see who was there. Because the one time they forgot to lock all the doors in the house and a burglar came in, Dylan and his friends can never watch a scary movie again without checking to make sure that all the doors are locked and the windows are closed.
The Kitchen God and Chuang Mu
This story was told during the daytime at a friend’s home. Sitting in front of the shrine her family keeps to honor the ancestors and the deities of Buddhism, it was told in order to explain the reasoning behind some of the rituals done on specific Buddhist holidays. She learned about these beliefs from her parents, who are strong Buddhists, and they are part of her self-identification. To her, they are fully real and are the reasons why luck and fortune come and go out of people’s lives. They are also why she believes that honoring the dead and the deities are so important and can never be neglected without severe consequences. Having lived this way her entire life, it also means her way of living to her as well.
The Kitchen God and Chuang Mu are said to keep you safe from evil spirits and misfortune. As deities of the house and home, they take care of the inhabitants if they are respected. As his name implies, the Kitchen God’s domain is the kitchen, but kitchen is very important in meaning to a house. Chuang Mu means the Mother of Beds, and she is the spirit that sits on beds and watches over you to make sure bad dreams and misfortune stays away. Their protection, however, is only bestowed if they are pleased with you and your family. If you anger them through disrespect or neglect, then they will withdraw their protection from your household. As a result, in order to show that you are respecting them and that you have not forgotten about them, you have to burn incense and give offering to the Kitchen God and Chuang Mu every few months.
This piece of folklore shows how much religion is a part of daily life, which is remarkable. It emphasizes respect for the dead and for the gods which is definitively part of Asian culture. It also shows how real religion can be to individuals and how deeply it can be associated with someone’s identity.
Japanese Customs of Good Luck, Bad Fortune, and Protection
I collected this from a friend who happened to be studying this for another part of a Japanese cultural festival. He learned them from his parents, who had learned it from their parents as well. To him, they originally sounded very foolish and nonsensical. However, after looking into the context of what they were based on, he said that he understood why the people acted that way. To him, words have a lot of power, especially in the Japanese language. By not being careful with what you say, then it could have truly harmful effects on other people. It is very traditional and a part of his culture, so he was glad to share it. It was collected prior to the cultural festival, but it was at nighttime. The lights were on in the room we were in, but they were dim and the air was stale because the windows were closed.
You are not supposed to clip your toenails at night. By doing so, you will be cursed by spirits so that you will not be with your parents when they die. A variant of this is that you are not supposed to clip your fingernails at night. It will have the same effect of cursing you so that you will not be able to be with your parents in the event that they die. This is because it sounds like “yo o tsumeru,” and that sounds awfully like “to cut short a life.”
You are not supposed to do anything related to the number 4, which sounds like the word for “death.” One application of this is that you are supposed to avoid sleeping in a room that has 4 somewhere in the room number. Another is that when giving gifts, you don’t want it to have 4 parts to it, or else it will bring bad luck.
You are not supposed to sleep facing north. Dead bodies are placed so that their head orients to the north. By sleeping in the same way, it invites you to die because you are now in a similar position to the dead bodies. Malicious spirits might attempt to take advantage of that.
When a funeral car passes by, you must hide your thumb. In Japan, the thumb is called the “Oya yubi,” which means “parent finger.” By not hiding your thumb, it means that your parents will be taken away by a funeral car very soon.
You are not supposed to step on the cloth border of tatami mats, because that will bring misfortune to you.
You do not stick chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice. That is symbolically done when you are offering food to the spirits of your ancestors. In particular, this tends to happen more at funerals. However, by doing that elsewhere, it is disrespectful and you are inviting ghosts into your home, which may have a catastrophic effect on your life.
You are not supposed to give potted plants to ill people at the hospital. That will curse them, because it means that they will be rooted to the hospital, extending their illness. As a result, they can be given cut flowers, but not potted plants.
After attending a funeral, you must be sprinkled with salt so as to purify the spirit of the dead that may have followed you home.
Mirrors must be covered in a home, and must not be placed in front of a window. At night, it is possible that a ghostly woman will come out of the mirror to steal your soul or to eat away at your life. By placing mirrors in front of a window, the good energy that is coming in from the sun will be reflected back out, leaving you with no good energy at all.
You are not supposed to be able to see stairs that go up to the second floor when you look through the front door. It means that good luck will fall down the stairs and will continue to stumble right out the door, leaving you behind with absolutely no good luck
By going to a shrine, it is possible to acquire charms that are blessed in specific ways, such as “getting into a good university” or “always having good friends.” They are blessed by the priests, and usually have a lasting power of 1 year before they must be renewed again.
A branch of a peach tree is known to have purification effects. Keeping one with you is said to help ward away evil spirits so that they cannot get close enough to you to harm you.
There is a game called shiritori which requires two people. The last syllable of the word the first person says has to become the first syllable of the word the second person says. The cycle continues as each person takes the previous last syllable and makes that their first. That is supposed to actually be a charm to keep away evil spirits in the night if you are walking with a friend and there is no one else there.
Sea salt is actually a very strong purifying item. Throwing it at evil spirits will make them flee from you or be exorcised.
Some of these traditions are shared with the other Asian countries, so they felt very familiar and understandable to me. They are also part of my own culture as well, which is why they have significance to me. I understand that people act this way, and I understand why. These superstitions do sound silly at times, but they also have good intent. They are warnings to ensure that a positive future can be acquired. Either that or they are ways of gaining good fortune and keeping away evil spirits.