Common New Year Superstitions

It is generally believed that whatever you do on the first day of the year will set the pattern for that whole year.

• Open the doors at midnight for the quick and easy escape of the old year and to allow wisdom to enter.
  
• Wear new clothes on New Year day to enjoy getting many new garments during the year.
  
• To bring prosperity, fill up all cup boards, wallets, etc.
  
• Don’t cause damage to anything on the first day.
  
• Don’t weep or cry.
  
• Don’t use foul language.
  
• Don’t take a head bath.
  
• Don’t wash clothes and dishes.
  
• Eating black eyed peas and greens brings good luck and prosperity.
  
• Cutting a long noodle into smaller bits may bring bad luck and may shorten life span.
  
• Eating twelve grapes at midnight of the New Year eve will convert all the following twelve months into happy months.
  
• A baby is lucky for ever if born on the first day of a year.
  
• Receive money, jewelry, precious items etc, but don’t allow them to go from your house on the first day. Nothing is to go out from home.
  
• Don’t go out of your house before the entry of someone.
  
• It is good if the first person entering our home appears physically fit. He is called ‘lucky bird’.
  
• The first person who comes in should bring gifts.
  
• Clear all debts before the arrival of New Year.
  
• Make loud noise during the New Year celebration to scare evil spirits away.
  
• Undertake easy job as the first job.
  
• Drain out the last remnants of a hot drink bottle on New Year day, to bring good fortune.

Happy New Year.

Funny superstitions part II

• A spoken statement is considered true if a wall lizard makes a sound on completion of the statement.
• Bulls will chase if a person is in red dress.
• If you step on a lemon coated with turmeric or kumkum, which is kept intentionally on a 3 way junction, ghost will enter you.
• Don’t enter a house with your left foot first. Always step in using right foot.
• It’s bad to cut hair and nails on Tuesdays.
• If any dog howls at night, it may be suspected that someone may die in the vicinity.
• If you carry non vegetarian food at night, carry an iron nail or a piece of charcoal along with it so as to avoid attracting ghosts.
• If a crow crows near your house guest will arrive.
• Seeing of a fox in the morning is a good omen.
• If a looking glass (plane mirror) is broken on Tuesday, it is a bad omen.
• Never look at a mirror at night.
• Throw a coin or many coins in the river, when you cross it.
• Incidents happen in an early morning dream will happen in real life.

Funny superstitions

The following superstitions are funny.

• If a black cat crosses your path, cancel your journey.
  
  
• If a cat crosses you on your way from left to right, it’s ok to proceed. If it crosses from right to left, go three steps backwards and then proceed.
  
  
• Don’t step on a lemon which is on the road. Bad things will occur.
  
  
• Wearing of burnt clothes, falling of lizard on some parts of the body, hooting of an owl, crow comes in flight and touches your head, and dog howls like fox are bad omens.
  
  
• If you slip or if anyone sneezes while going out, you should return, sit for a while, drink some water and then proceed.
  
  
• Tying a lemon in front of a truck and a slipper behind the truck will make it to run without any problem.
  
  
• Never ask anyone 'Where are you going?'
  
  
• If you drive over a pig, sell the vehicle.
  
  
• Seven years of bad luck if you break a mirror.
  
  
• Never buy any metal object on Saturday. It brings bad luck.
  
  
• While starting for a journey, if you see anyone carrying wood, get back home and start with a delay.
  
  
• Never eat during an eclipse.
  

Day wise Superstition

Monday's child is fair of face;

Tuesday's child is full of grace;

Wednesday's child is full of woe;

Thursday's child has far to go;

Friday's child is loving and giving;

Saturday's child works hard for a living.

But the child that is born on the Sabbath day

Is fair and wise, good and gay.

Deepavali (Diwali) Gambling

• Gambling is a ritual during Diwali.
  
• It is believed that gambling in the night prior to Deepavali will bring prosperity throughout the year.
  
• Therefore people, especially in North India gamble throughout the night.
  
• Some may continue even after the sunrise.
  
• No one seems to worry about any loss.
  
• Great amount of money used to be involved.

Coconuts smashed on Devotees' heads

On 04 August 2009, at the Mahalakshmi temple of Mettu Mahadanapuram near Krishnarayapuram, Karur district, Tamilnadu, India, a traditional annual ritual of breaking coconuts on the heads of devotees in fulfillment of a vow and in a plea to the gods for health and success was performed. This was the main part of the second day function of ‘Aadipperukku’. Thousands of people from many parts of Tamilnadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andra Pradesh participated. They crowded around devotees and a priest smashed a coconut each on every registered devotee’s head. As the coconuts broke into pieces, some devotees rubbed their heads and others collected the broken pieces of coconuts as a holy offering.

Marriage of donkeys

On Sunday, July 16, 2006, a group of villagers presided over the marriage of two donkeys.

The wedding took place in the Sri Thirumoola Natha Swamy temple at Poovalur village near Lalgudi of Tamil Nadu, India, in a bid to promote world peace and prosperity. The ceremony was attended by about 3,000 villagers.

The ‘bridegroom’ was wearing a traditional silk dhoti and the ‘bride’ was wearing a silk sari. Both were wearing garlands. The nuptial knot was tied on behalf of the groom around the bride’s neck. The Priests were chanting verses from religious texts.

The donkey ‘couple’ was taken in procession through the village. A feast was also organized, in which more than 1,000 people took part.

Finally, both the donkeys were donated to the temple.

Superstition: Frog marriages.

In India:

• In the month of Jun 2009, villagers in Chipoha village of Assam, India, married off frogs in a unique custom to please the Rain God, asking for an early monsoon.
• It's a traditional belief that when a frog marriage is performed, Rain God is pleased and it rains.
• Residents of the entire Chipoha village turned out to witness the unconventional marriage ceremony of the two frogs.
• The frogs caught by the villagers were decked up with fine clothes.
• The female frog was gifted a necklace by the village women.
• The marriage was conducted by a priest according to traditional Hindu rituals.
• The residents believed that the marriage would bring plenty of rainfall to their village.
• The marriage was a desperate measure by the villagers to get rainfall in the parched region.
  
  
• In the same month (Jun 2009), a number of farmers seeking rainfall in a suburb of Nagpur city, Maharashtra of India, organized wedding of two frogs, picked up from different ponds on Saturday to please the Rain Gods and hoped their region would soon receive monsoon showers.
• Tradition dictates that if frogs are married off with full Vedic or Hindu rituals, the Rain God is pleased and the heavens will open within days.
• People blew trumpets and sang songs, as the priest solemnized the marriage to the chanting of Hindu hymns by putting streaks of vermilion on the female toad's head.
  
  

In Bangladesh:

• Earlier, in the month of Mar 2009, people from two neighboring villages in Bangladesh conducted a marriage ceremony between two frogs as part of a custom believed to bring rain to the region.
• The two frogs came from two neighboring villages in northern Bangladesh, about 110 kilometers from Dhaka.
• Villagers organized the ceremony after both villages suffered severe water shortages because of lack of rain.
• More than 250 men, women and children attended the wedding, danced and sang.
• The “frog marriage” ceremony was conducted like a typical marriage ceremony and the guests were served a traditional wedding fare containing rice, fish, beef, lentils and sweets.
• The bride and the groom were in special wedding dress. They were blessed and finally released in a nearby pond.
• The ceremony worked and it was raining the next day.

Superstition: Physically challenged children were buried during solar eclipse

Several physically challenged (disabled)children, who were suffering from paralysis, polio, etc., were buried by their parents up to the neck level in a pit during solar eclipse in July 2009, leaving their heads out side of soil, with a belief that this type of burying during solar / lunar eclipses will cure them from ailments. This incident has happened in Gulbarga area of Karnataka, India.


The children remained in the pit for the burial treatment during the entire period of the eclipse.

Superstition: Minor girls married off to frogs

In Jan 2009, two minor girls were married off to frogs. This happened in a village in villupuram district of Tamil Nadu, India. The ceremony, an annual feature during the Pongal festival was conducted ‘to prevent the outbreak of mysterious diseases in the village.

• The girls dressed up in traditional bridal sarees and gold jewelry, married the frogs in separate ceremonies at two different temples in presence of villagers.
  
• The frogs were tied to long sticks decorated with garlands for the marriage ceremonies.
  
• The temple priests garlanded the brides and tied the magalsutras on behalf of the frogs saying the two as wives of the amphibians before the sacred fire at the auspicious hour.
  (The groom ties the Mangalsutra, a sacred thread of love and goodwill, around the neck of the bride on the day of the marriage, signifying their union. Mangalsutra is also called Thali / Thaali.)
• Villagers of the western part of the village acted as relatives of the brides. Eastern part villagers acted as relatives of the grooms.
  
• The ceremonies had all the usual elements of a traditional marriage including a sumptuous feast.
  
• Finally, after the ceremony, the frogs were thrown back into the temple ponds.