southindian wrote:This one is a Mama's boy

Vidya Bagchi wrote:Why is it bad to start something new on Tuesdays? Never heard of this superstition.

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:

Vidya Bagchi wrote:Why is it bad to start something new on Tuesdays? Never heard of this superstition.

You want a *reason* for the superstition?!

Vidya Bagchi wrote:Why is it bad to start something new on Tuesdays? Never heard of this superstition.

indophile wrote:

Vidya Bagchi wrote:Why is it bad to start something new on Tuesdays? Never heard of this superstition.

A few other superstitions I came across.
- Don't start something new on Tuesdays, don't wear new clothes on Tuesdays (but a wedding night on a Tuesday is okay). In the North Tuesdays are auspicious for everything.
- Don't dispense cash on Fridays, but paying with a credit card is okay.
- Don't buy and bring oil ino home on Saturdays, but carryout from a restaurant (dosas, somosas, etc., dripping oil) is okay.
- Don't get a haircut on a Thursday if you have seemantini (suhag) sisters.
And I am not an Iyer.

indophile wrote:
- Don't get a haircut on a Thursday if you have seemantini (suhag) sisters.
And I am not an Iyer.

Propagandhi711 wrote:one of the many ills foisted upon india by the douches...dont let anyone else learn scriptures, eliminating competition but teach them all this superstitious nonsense that dissipates their meager energies further. and then there are douches online and elsewhere that want to preserve status quo

Jeremiah Mburuburu wrote:

Propagandhi711 wrote:one of the many ills foisted upon india by the douches...dont let anyone else learn scriptures, eliminating competition but teach them all this superstitious nonsense that dissipates their meager energies further. and then there are douches online and elsewhere that want to preserve status quo

you forgot to mention forcing "junnu" down the throats of little girls so that the plastic gods may bring her a wealthy husband.

southindian wrote:Iyer superstition? Maybe provided by Mama through generations?

Propagandhi711 wrote:

Jeremiah Mburuburu wrote:

Propagandhi711 wrote:one of the many ills foisted upon india by the douches...dont let anyone else learn scriptures, eliminating competition but teach them all this superstitious nonsense that dissipates their meager energies further. and then there are douches online and elsewhere that want to preserve status quo

you forgot to mention forcing "junnu" down the throats of little girls so that the plastic gods may bring her a wealthy husband.

betichod, you still hanging onto that old truthism like it were anywhere close to truth? you must think junnu is something like the thing the father (the church kind) stuck in your mouth when you were a choir boy. but you're too old and constipated to learn anything new so keep at it. also dont forget to masturbate to fantasies of playing with boobsies of boys in keeping with your religious obligations.

indophile wrote:

Vidya Bagchi wrote:Why is it bad to start something new on Tuesdays? Never heard of this superstition.

A few other superstitions I came across.
- Don't start something new on Tuesdays, don't wear new clothes on Tuesdays (but a wedding night on a Tuesday is okay). In the North Tuesdays are auspicious for everything.
- Don't dispense cash on Fridays, but paying with a credit card is okay.
- Don't buy and bring oil ino home on Saturdays, but carryout from a restaurant (dosas, somosas, etc., dripping oil) is okay.
- Don't get a haircut on a Thursday if you have seemantini (suhag) sisters.
And I am not an Iyer.

Jeremiah Mburuburu wrote:

Propagandhi711 wrote:

Jeremiah Mburuburu wrote:

Propagandhi711 wrote:one of the many ills foisted upon india by the douches...dont let anyone else learn scriptures, eliminating competition but teach them all this superstitious nonsense that dissipates their meager energies further. and then there are douches online and elsewhere that want to preserve status quo

you forgot to mention forcing "junnu" down the throats of little girls so that the plastic gods may bring her a wealthy husband.

betichod, you still hanging onto that old truthism like it were anywhere close to truth? you must think junnu is something like the thing the father (the church kind) stuck in your mouth when you were a choir boy. but you're too old and constipated to learn anything new so keep at it. also dont forget to masturbate to fantasies of playing with boobsies of boys in keeping with your religious obligations.

i'm awfully sorry that i hurt your feelings. is "betichod" a telgu word? "truthism?"

Idéfix wrote:

indophile wrote:

Vidya Bagchi wrote:Why is it bad to start something new on Tuesdays? Never heard of this superstition.

A few other superstitions I came across.
- Don't start something new on Tuesdays, don't wear new clothes on Tuesdays (but a wedding night on a Tuesday is okay). In the North Tuesdays are auspicious for everything.
- Don't dispense cash on Fridays, but paying with a credit card is okay.
- Don't buy and bring oil ino home on Saturdays, but carryout from a restaurant (dosas, somosas, etc., dripping oil) is okay.
- Don't get a haircut on a Thursday if you have seemantini (suhag) sisters.
And I am not an Iyer.

Another taboo I was raised with: don't get a haircut or clip your nails on Tuesday. No reason was given other than that it is inauspicious to do those things on Tuesday. As a teenager, when I wanted to break the taboo, my parents told me all barber shops would be closed on Tuesday on account of lack of business. I went out and tried anyway, and they were wrong. The barber shop was open, and was doing good business as usual. So I realized that only brahmins believed this nonsense.

Idéfix wrote:

southindian wrote:Iyer superstition? Maybe provided by Mama through generations?

This superstition is followed by Telugu brahmins as well. My guess is that it extends to most southern Indian brahmins, if not to other castes as well.

Impedimenta wrote:

Idéfix wrote:

indophile wrote:

Vidya Bagchi wrote:Why is it bad to start something new on Tuesdays? Never heard of this superstition.

A few other superstitions I came across.
- Don't start something new on Tuesdays, don't wear new clothes on Tuesdays (but a wedding night on a Tuesday is okay). In the North Tuesdays are auspicious for everything.
- Don't dispense cash on Fridays, but paying with a credit card is okay.
- Don't buy and bring oil ino home on Saturdays, but carryout from a restaurant (dosas, somosas, etc., dripping oil) is okay.
- Don't get a haircut on a Thursday if you have seemantini (suhag) sisters.
And I am not an Iyer.

Another taboo I was raised with: don't get a haircut or clip your nails on Tuesday. No reason was given other than that it is inauspicious to do those things on Tuesday. As a teenager, when I wanted to break the taboo, my parents told me all barber shops would be closed on Tuesday on account of lack of business. I went out and tried anyway, and they were wrong. The barber shop was open, and was doing good business as usual. So I realized that only brahmins believed this nonsense.

I never had any such superstitions thrust on me, growing up! i just realized that after reading this thread. i think that is a big deal and i attribute it largely to my mom's parenting than anything else. in retrospect, i now know that she was well ahead of her times! miss her a lot now, espcially given how much drama goes on in this country for mother's day

Idéfix wrote:

southindian wrote:Iyer superstition? Maybe provided by Mama through generations?

This superstition is followed by Telugu brahmins as well. My guess is that it extends to most southern Indian brahmins, if not to other castes as well.

Vidya Bagchi wrote:

Idéfix wrote:

southindian wrote:Iyer superstition? Maybe provided by Mama through generations?

This superstition is followed by Telugu brahmins as well. My guess is that it extends to most southern Indian brahmins, if not to other castes as well.

I once knew a gult who concluded his girlfriend was unlucky (for him maybe) coz he got 2-3 speeding tickets when driving to her place every week. Not sure what to make of that.

My Sindhi boyfriend left me for the same reason, (that i bring bad luck) and he tried to convince my next ex the same too. Ya I mean he may be right but still... wishing the next ex listened to him. I might have been leading a happier life.

goodcitizn wrote:

Idéfix wrote:

southindian wrote:Iyer superstition? Maybe provided by Mama through generations?

This superstition is followed by Telugu brahmins as well. My guess is that it extends to most southern Indian brahmins, if not to other castes as well.

Superstitions are rampant in every culture through the centuries. Just google and you'll be surprised. I am superstitious about just one thing. I never want to walk under a black cat (putting two superstitions together).

Idéfix wrote:

goodcitizn wrote:

Idéfix wrote:

southindian wrote:Iyer superstition? Maybe provided by Mama through generations?

This superstition is followed by Telugu brahmins as well. My guess is that it extends to most southern Indian brahmins, if not to other castes as well.

Superstitions are rampant in every culture through the centuries. Just google and you'll be surprised. I am superstitious about just one thing. I never want to walk under a black cat (putting two superstitions together).

Hahaha!

That's right, they are rampant in modern American society as well. The one that grinds my gears is the lack of number 13 in elevators.

Hellsangel wrote:

Idéfix wrote:

goodcitizn wrote:

Idéfix wrote:

southindian wrote:Iyer superstition? Maybe provided by Mama through generations?

This superstition is followed by Telugu brahmins as well. My guess is that it extends to most southern Indian brahmins, if not to other castes as well.

Superstitions are rampant in every culture through the centuries. Just google and you'll be surprised. I am superstitious about just one thing. I never want to walk under a black cat (putting two superstitions together).

Hahaha!

That's right, they are rampant in modern American society as well. The one that grinds my gears is the lack of number 13 in elevators.

For a frequent flyer, have you seen row 13 on a plane?

Hellsangel wrote:

Idéfix wrote:

goodcitizn wrote:

Idéfix wrote:

southindian wrote:Iyer superstition? Maybe provided by Mama through generations?

This superstition is followed by Telugu brahmins as well. My guess is that it extends to most southern Indian brahmins, if not to other castes as well.

Superstitions are rampant in every culture through the centuries. Just google and you'll be surprised. I am superstitious about just one thing. I never want to walk under a black cat (putting two superstitions together).

Hahaha!

That's right, they are rampant in modern American society as well. The one that grinds my gears is the lack of number 13 in elevators.

For a frequent flyer, have you seen row 13 on a plane?

Propagandhi711 wrote:

Vidya Bagchi wrote:

Idéfix wrote:

southindian wrote:Iyer superstition? Maybe provided by Mama through generations?

This superstition is followed by Telugu brahmins as well. My guess is that it extends to most southern Indian brahmins, if not to other castes as well.

I once knew a gult who concluded his girlfriend was unlucky (for him maybe) coz he got 2-3 speeding tickets when driving to her place every week. Not sure what to make of that.

My Sindhi boyfriend left me for the same reason, (that i bring bad luck) and he tried to convince my next ex the same too. Ya I mean he may be right but still... wishing the next ex listened to him. I might have been leading a happier life.

this is a superstition I could get behind as it appears to have a basis in reality. maybe this said girlfriend has a juicy clam that propels the said large dong-an to drive faster as he gets closer to her place or maybe the cops are extra ticket happy where she lives. all valid reasons to think she is no good in the long run.

in your case, you need to take an audit of how all the men that came into contact with you fared in their life. that will tell you the truth. in data you must trust

Idéfix wrote:Another taboo I was raised with: don't get a haircut or clip your nails on Tuesday. No reason was given other than that it is inauspicious to do those things on Tuesday. As a teenager, when I wanted to break the taboo, my parents told me all barber shops would be closed on Tuesday on account of lack of business. I went out and tried anyway, and they were wrong. The barber shop was open, and was doing good business as usual. So I realized that only brahmins believed this nonsense.

Propagandhi711 wrote:...maybe this said girlfriend has a juicy clam...

Idéfix wrote:

southindian wrote:Iyer superstition? Maybe provided by Mama through generations?

This superstition is followed by Telugu brahmins as well. My guess is that it extends to most southern Indian brahmins, if not to other castes as well.

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:

Idéfix wrote:

southindian wrote:Iyer superstition? Maybe provided by Mama through generations?

This superstition is followed by Telugu brahmins as well. My guess is that it extends to most southern Indian brahmins, if not to other castes as well.

You are wrong... YOu should see the superstitious behavior of Goundars, Vanniars, and Naidus..

They will not step out into the street when they see a SINGLE Brahmin walking towards them. They will wait for him to cross. ONE example.

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I grew up with very very few superstitions -

1. Don't start anything during sunday rahukAlam - 4.30 to 6 pm.
2. Don't cut nails after dusk (made sense, nails might drop on the floor and difficult to pick up for trashing)

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I grew up with very very few superstitions -

1. Don't start anything during sunday rahukAlam - 4.30 to 6 pm.
2. Don't cut nails after dusk (made sense, nails might drop on the floor and difficult to pick up for trashing)

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:

Idéfix wrote:

southindian wrote:Iyer superstition? Maybe provided by Mama through generations?

This superstition is followed by Telugu brahmins as well. My guess is that it extends to most southern Indian brahmins, if not to other castes as well.

You are wrong... YOu should see the superstitious behavior of Goundars, Vanniars, and Naidus..

They will not step out into the street when they see a SINGLE Brahmin walking towards them. They will wait for him to cross. ONE example.

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I grew up with very very few superstitions -

1. Don't start anything during sunday rahukAlam - 4.30 to 6 pm.
2. Don't cut nails after dusk (made sense, nails might drop on the floor and difficult to pick up for trashing)

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I grew up with very very few superstitions -

1. Don't start anything during sunday rahukAlam - 4.30 to 6 pm.
2. Don't cut nails after dusk (made sense, nails might drop on the floor and difficult to pick up for trashing)

the title of the thread is interesting re its contents.

in any case, i might have found this thread exciting some twenty five years ago when the rebellion against the orthodoxy was still raging strong inside of me and i found the need to act on it like sending out the JEE application during the rahukAlam to make a point. i find it unnecessary to act like a douchebag and make the remaining elders of the previous generations unhappy just so i can feel good about myself. if i am in their presence and if it doesn't affect my life in any significant way, i go with whatever makes them happy on such matters.

Impedimenta wrote:

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I grew up with very very few superstitions -

1. Don't start anything during sunday rahukAlam - 4.30 to 6 pm.
2. Don't cut nails after dusk (made sense, nails might drop on the floor and difficult to pick up for trashing)

ya, don't cut nails after dark is more of a common sense thingie:--) also, the hair tie up theory in the kitchen. It's the best and I follow it religiously now. I used to have long hair most of my growing up days and still do have fairly long hair and so does my daughter and the rule in my home is - no hair down in the kitchen. nothing to do with superstition.

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I grew up with very very few superstitions -

1. Don't start anything during sunday rahukAlam - 4.30 to 6 pm.
2. Don't cut nails after dusk (made sense, nails might drop on the floor and difficult to pick up for trashing)

you call that few? i grew up with many. the only one i can remember is don't visit the hair salon on thursdays. i observe none save saturday. how many of the "few" do you still observe?

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I grew up with very very few superstitions -

1. Don't start anything during sunday rahukAlam - 4.30 to 6 pm.
2. Don't cut nails after dusk (made sense, nails might drop on the floor and difficult to pick up for trashing)

you call that few? i grew up with many. the only one i can remember is don't visit the hair salon on thursdays. i observe none save saturday. how many of the "few" do you still observe?

After waking up at 11:30 am after a snowstorm on a Sunday, I might languidly hit the bagel shop for honey-walnut spread on an cinnamon-raisin bagel toasted twice, hazelnut coffee and absent-mindedly touch the two-day old stubble on my chin and realize it is time for a haircut and shave. Heading back home and procrastinating, due, in part to some racy B-grade movie on TV, I might decide at 4:30 PM that some onion pakoras and ginger chai might rouse me up to head to the local Russian lady barber who uses warmed up shaving cream on the back of my neck for old-school blade-wizardry. Coming back home at 6 PM, smack dab in the rAhukAlam, I might pick up a NY'er article and head to the bathroom and cut my nails just after dark. And then, I might wonder who it is, exactly, that you refer to, when you talk of 'wussy iyer boys' - and wonder the magnitude of whupping that must have preceded that pejorative string of words.

Hellsangel wrote:

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I grew up with very very few superstitions -

1. Don't start anything during sunday rahukAlam - 4.30 to 6 pm.
2. Don't cut nails after dusk (made sense, nails might drop on the floor and difficult to pick up for trashing)

you call that few? i grew up with many. the only one i can remember is don't visit the hair salon on thursdays. i observe none save saturday. how many of the "few" do you still observe?

After waking up at 11:30 am after a snowstorm on a Sunday, I might languidly hit the bagel shop for honey-walnut spread on an cinnamon-raisin bagel toasted twice, hazelnut coffee and absent-mindedly touch the two-day old stubble on my chin and realize it is time for a haircut and shave. Heading back home and procrastinating, due, in part to some racy B-grade movie on TV, I might decide at 4:30 PM that some onion pakoras and ginger chai might rouse me up to head to the local Russian lady barber who uses warmed up shaving cream on the back of my neck for old-school blade-wizardry. Coming back home at 6 PM, smack dab in the rAhukAlam, I might pick up a NY'er article and head to the bathroom and cut my nails just after dark. And then, I might wonder who it is, exactly, that you refer to, when you talk of 'wussy iyer boys' - and wonder the magnitude of whupping that must have preceded that pejorative string of words.

What local Russian Barber is open at 4:30 PM on a Sunday (especially after a snowstorm)?

indophile wrote: If someone sneezes as you step out it's bad, but if he sneezes again (teo sneezes) it's very good. Many more like that.

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:

The Jewish one, of course!

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I grew up with very very few superstitions -

1. Don't start anything during sunday rahukAlam - 4.30 to 6 pm.
2. Don't cut nails after dusk (made sense, nails might drop on the floor and difficult to pick up for trashing)

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:And then, I might wonder who it is, exactly, that you refer to, when you talk of 'wussy iyer boys' - and wonder the magnitude of whupping that must have preceded that pejorative string of words.

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:

Huzefa Kapasi wrote:

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I grew up with very very few superstitions -

1. Don't start anything during sunday rahukAlam - 4.30 to 6 pm.
2. Don't cut nails after dusk (made sense, nails might drop on the floor and difficult to pick up for trashing)

you call that few? i grew up with many. the only one i can remember is don't visit the hair salon on thursdays. i observe none save saturday. how many of the "few" do you still observe?

After waking up at 11:30 am after a snowstorm on a Sunday, I might languidly hit the bagel shop for honey-walnut spread on an cinnamon-raisin bagel toasted twice, hazelnut coffee and absent-mindedly touch the two-day old stubble on my chin and realize it is time for a haircut and shave. Heading back home and procrastinating, due, in part to some racy B-grade movie on TV, I might decide at 4:30 PM that some onion pakoras and ginger chai might rouse me up to head to the local Russian lady barber who uses warmed up shaving cream on the back of my neck for old-school blade-wizardry. Coming back home at 6 PM, smack dab in the rAhukAlam, I might pick up a NY'er article and head to the bathroom and cut my nails just after dark. And then, I might wonder who it is, exactly, that you refer to, when you talk of 'wussy iyer boys' - and wonder the magnitude of whupping that must have preceded that pejorative string of words.

Idéfix wrote:

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I grew up with very very few superstitions -

1. Don't start anything during sunday rahukAlam - 4.30 to 6 pm.
2. Don't cut nails after dusk (made sense, nails might drop on the floor and difficult to pick up for trashing)

Yes, the nails after dusk thing made sense before the invention of electricity. Now I clip nails only in the bathroom, because I find that convenient. Back then, before the invention of indoor plumbing, they didn't have bathrooms inside the main house.

IMO, most superstitions are heuristics that were useful around the time they were devised. Some of them had a practical underpinning, and others were based on elaborate theories that we now know are not true (like the ones about Tuesdays). Even those that did not have a practical basis made people feel good, and in that sense they had a useful purpose. I guess if observing such superstitions today makes someone feel good, and it does not inconvenience others, there may be no harm in them.

I recently read an excellent hypothesis on one of the reasons for the origin of superstition / religious belief (in Jared Diamond's The World Until Yesterday). It is that human beings develop elaborate rites and observances that impose a cost on them for things that bring with them a high degree of uncertainty. An example illustrates this best: when farmers in New Mexico have to decide where to dig a well for water, they consult an expensive "dowser" who uses a forked twig and performs some rituals to identify the "right" spot to dig. But farmers in the Texas panhandle merely drill the well nearest to where the water is needed; no one uses dowsers. What is the difference that accounts for the more superstitious nature of the New Mexico farmers? It turns out that the water table in the Texas panhandle lies at a uniform depth of 125 feet, and the soil is predictable, so there is little to no uncertainty in the outcome if you dig a 125-foot well: you will hit water. In New Mexico, OTOH, the water table is unpredictable, and there is no knowing where you will hit water and where you won't. It is the uncertainty of outcome, not innate predilection for superstition, that drives the New Mexico farmers towards superstitious behavior. When faced with risky outcomes from an activity that takes a lot of effort, people resort to costly superstition to give them an illusion of certainty. This hypothesis does a good of explaining how many of our old superstitions came to be.

Idéfix wrote:

Muezzin-Bar'chu wrote:I grew up with very very few superstitions -

1. Don't start anything during sunday rahukAlam - 4.30 to 6 pm.
2. Don't cut nails after dusk (made sense, nails might drop on the floor and difficult to pick up for trashing)

Yes, the nails after dusk thing made sense before the invention of electricity. Now I clip nails only in the bathroom, because I find that convenient. Back then, before the invention of indoor plumbing, they didn't have bathrooms inside the main house.

IMO, most superstitions are heuristics that were useful around the time they were devised. Some of them had a practical underpinning, and others were based on elaborate theories that we now know are not true (like the ones about Tuesdays). Even those that did not have a practical basis made people feel good, and in that sense they had a useful purpose. I guess if observing such superstitions today makes someone feel good, and it does not inconvenience others, there may be no harm in them.

I recently read an excellent hypothesis on one of the reasons for the origin of superstition / religious belief (in Jared Diamond's The World Until Yesterday). It is that human beings develop elaborate rites and observances that impose a cost on them for things that bring with them a high degree of uncertainty. An example illustrates this best: when farmers in New Mexico have to decide where to dig a well for water, they consult an expensive "dowser" who uses a forked twig and performs some rituals to identify the "right" spot to dig. But farmers in the Texas panhandle merely drill the well nearest to where the water is needed; no one uses dowsers. What is the difference that accounts for the more superstitious nature of the New Mexico farmers? It turns out that the water table in the Texas panhandle lies at a uniform depth of 125 feet, and the soil is predictable, so there is little to no uncertainty in the outcome if you dig a 125-foot well: you will hit water. In New Mexico, OTOH, the water table is unpredictable, and there is no knowing where you will hit water and where you won't. It is the uncertainty of outcome, not innate predilection for superstition, that drives the New Mexico farmers towards superstitious behavior. When faced with risky outcomes from an activity that takes a lot of effort, people resort to costly superstition to give them an illusion of certainty. This hypothesis does a good of explaining how many of our old superstitions came to be.