Special Superstitions 談迷信與禁忌 Johnson Wen 溫 在 春 November 28, 2011

Special Superstitions 談迷信與禁忌
Johnson Wen November 28, 2011
Are there any special taboos in your country? The way I mean are there things I should be careful about saying or doing. I do not like to offend anyone. I read a book introducing the taboos of western countries, the taboos are as follows :
1. Opening an umbrella indoors.
2. Walking under a ladder.
3. Breaking a mirror.
4. A black cat is on your path.
5. The number 13 or black Friday.
Would you please to tell me what the implications for these things are? In Taiwan or Mainland China, we have some taboos, such as,
1. Number 4
It sounds like Chinese word 死(syy) (It means death). In our navy, we do not have had any ship which ship’s number is four or the sum of ship’s number is four since 1954. Because we had a destroyer escort which ship’s number was 22. Two plus two is equal to 4. It was attacked by a PLA Navy’s ship in 1954. This ship finally sank in the Taiwan Strait. Most of the crew died during this battle. 2. In the Ghost Month, getting married is unlucky.
3. In the period of Chinese Lunar New Year, we always avoid putting the head of a chicken toward any subordinate during the year-end banquet(尾牙). It implicates he will be fired very soon.
4. Don’t give any umbrella or handkerchief as a present to any friend. It implicates that you will have no opportunity to meet again.
5. Don’t give a clock to your friends as a gift. The Chinese pronunciation of clock is 鐘(jong). It sounds like another Chinese word 終(jong) (It means death).
All of these special taboos should be respected and so not to offend people .
The End!