Superstition & Rituals

I am sure most of you must be remembering this very popular song of the 60’s by Don Costa and his Orchestra.
Since my article today is on why a particular day is suitable for a certain event, I have reproduced the whole song below just to bring back memories.

Oh, you can kiss me on a Monday, a Monday,
A Monday is very very good
Or you can kiss me on a Tuesday, a Tuesday,
A Tuesday, in fact I wish you would
Or you can kiss me on a Wednesday, a Thursday,
A Friday and Saturday is best
But never ever on a Sunday, a Sunday,
A Sunday, cause that's my day of rest

Most anyday you can be my guest
Anyday you say but my day of rest
Just name the day that you like the best
Only stay away on my day of rest

Oh, you can kiss me on a cool day, a hot day,
A wet day, which ever one you choose
Or try to kiss me on a grey day, a May day,
A pay day, and see if I refuse
And if you make it on a bleak day, a freak day,
Or a week day, well you can be my guest
But never ever on a Sunday, a Sunday,
The one day, I need a little rest

We have all come across such situations in life when we cannot do any particular thing on any particular day.

We Marwari’s do not cross the River Hooghly to enter Kolkata on any Tuesday.
I have tried explain to my people that the trains do not come empty to Kolkata on Tuesdays but to no avail. Even educated people are not willing to take the risk.

Similarly, our people did not set out on journeys on Wednesdays.

We try to avoid purchasing iron articles on Saturdays and avoid making payments on Thursdays which is considered inauspicious for Lakshmi (Godess of wealth) to go out of the household.

There is no basis for the above superstition but we still fear to oppose them although there is a reason why Don Costa may have wanted to take a one-day rest from continuous kissing.
Kissing after all is strenuous exercise, as any newly married couple would vouch.

There are certain beliefs, which do have a basis.
We avoid taking salt on Sundays since time immemorial. It is only now that doctors are telling us to avoid salt to control B P.
We take curds before setting out on any journey or going on any important assignment.
We all know that curds prevent excessive movement of your bowels, which would be embarrassing on such journeys.

I am sure all of you will be able to come up with some such superstitions/beliefs in your own surroundings.

Here is one which is slightly amusing

A little girl was watching her mother prepare a fish for dinner.
Her mother cut the head and tail off the fish and then placed it into a baking pan. The little girl asked her mother why she cut the head and tail off the fish.
Her mother thought for a while and then said, "I've always done it that way - that's how Grandma did it."
Not satisfied with the answer, the little girl went to visit her Grandma to find out why she cut the head and tail off the fish before baking it.
Grandma thought for a while and replied, "I don't know. My mother always did it that way."
So the little girl and the Grandma went to visit Great Grandma to find ask if she knew the answer.
Her Great Grandma thought for a while and said, “Because, in my day, we had only a small kitchen, and my baking pan was too small to fit in the whole fish.”

We are lucky here that the ritual went back only two generations and the little girl was enlightened.
Sometimes the mystery goes back for so many generations that the rasons are all lost.