Cultural superstitions, interpretations, and proper behaviors

[SilentMute]

Last month, I started a YouTube video series on my personal 31 day Learn-a-language Challenge. I picked Japanese. I was curious how much I could actually learn in 31 days. Of course, for the moment, I'm actually only focusing on the speaking...though I do plan to learn the writing.

I've been learning a lot of interesting things about the Japanese culture as a result. One thing that continues to amaze me is how varied cultures can be. Frankly, I feel pretty good about humanity...for it really is amazing we don't have more wars. You can guarantee that somewhere in the world, there is a culture that thinks opposite of your culture. What you think is inappropriate, they think is proper--and vice versa.

For instance, in Japan--from what I've read--they consider it proper to wear a face mask if you have a cold so you don't spread it to others. Though people don't appreciate you coughing on them in the States, I think if we saw a person wearing a face mask...we would either fear they have something more contagious and deadly than a cold, or we would think they were a robber or killer.

In Japan, the number four represents death--and it is quite common for hotels not to have a room 4. I think in the States, we used to feel the same way about the number 13, though I don't know if that is the case anymore.

The Japanese also have a different interpretation of Aesop's Fable the Grasshopper and the Ants. The tale I heard when I was younger, the grasshopper was considered idle and foolish. My mom and I heard two versions. My mom--who lived in a time that didn't believe in sugar-coating things--heard the grasshopper died when winter came. By the time I was growing up, there was a concern about tales being too violent or scary...and so I heard that the grasshopper was saved by the kindly ants. However, the moral was the same: the grasshopper was foolish not to prepare for the future.

The Japanese interpreted it differently. The grasshopper was honored for keeping the ants entertained while they worked all summer. I have to admit, I rather like their interpretation better...since it gives a place for everyone in society.

Anyway, I started this thread hoping others will share things they have learned about other cultures--or things in their culture.

[cafolini]

In the Orinoco basin of Venezuela there lives a very dark native who would tell you that God took the dark pigment away from the white man to punish him for many reasons.
Very good post.

[cacian]

In the Orinoco basin of Venezuela there lives a very dark native who would tell you that God took the dark pigment away from the white man to punish him for many reasons.
Very good post.

That is intriguing. I wonder wether the opposite superstition would also apply.

[tonywalt]

In the Orinoco basin of Venezuela there lives a very dark native who would tell you that God took the dark pigment away from the white man to punish him for many reasons.
Very good post.

Funny! Is being White a punishing experience?

[Maximilianus]

For instance, in Japan--from what I've read--they consider it proper to wear a face mask if you have a cold so you don't spread it to others. Though people don't appreciate you coughing on them in the States, I think if we saw a person wearing a face mask...we would either fear they have something more contagious and deadly than a cold, or we would think they were a robber or killer.
I perceive the Japanese as respectful people, something that sadly I cannot say about many of my kin. Here, if you wear a face mask many would fix their eyes on you as though glued with cement, and never stop staring until your silhouette gets lost beyond the horizon.

The other day I tripped, fell and almost got a few ribs broken, which fortunately for me did not happen. Anyway, when I got to the doctor I was using a cane out of difficulty to walk on my own. Just when I was getting out of the car, aided by said cane, someone from a passing car yelled something in the lines of "Wow, we seem to be doing pretty badly!"

Then, when you tell someone that you had an accident, many would laugh in your face. Note that I'm not saying everyone, but many. I don't really know if these people mock you out of sheer malice, or if they suffer from cultural retardation, but I suspect it's fifty-fifty. And I can't help feeling puzzled by their easiness to laugh at any given reason no matter how disrespectful to others it might be. In conclusion, I do believe they are evil retards carrying out a plot to make you feel even more miserable than you already feel after the accident.

[tonywalt]

That's awful! Was the person from Peru? I loved Buenos Aires, but Lima was not that nice - and the people were agressive. I do love the architecture in Argentina -soooo European, amazing.

[Maximilianus]

The people I know best are the locals from this northwestern corner of the country where I have always lived. Most people are nice and hospitable, but many have this irritating tendency to laugh or stare at you in amazement whenever your conditions are out of the normal thing, like when you are injured or wearing a face mask. Whatever is out of the ordinary triggers the stupidity of a more than enough number of people, and there comes a time when it really gets on one's nerves.

[cafolini]

I perceive the Japanese as respectful people, something that sadly I cannot say about many of my kin. Here, if you wear a face mask many would fix their eyes on you as though glued with cement, and never stop staring until your silhouette gets lost beyond the horizon.

The other day I tripped, fell and almost got a few ribs broken, which fortunately for me did not happen. Anyway, when I got to the doctor I was using a cane out of difficulty to walk on my own. Just when I was getting out of the car, aided by said cane, someone from a passing car yelled something in the lines of "Wow, we seem to be doing pretty badly!"

Then, when you tell someone that you had an accident, many would laugh in your face. Note that I'm not saying everyone, but many. I don't really know if these people mock you out of sheer malice, or if they suffer from cultural retardation, but I suspect it's fifty-fifty. And I can't help feeling puzzled by their easiness to laugh at any given reason no matter how disrespectful to others it might be. In conclusion, I do believe they are evil retards carrying out a plot to make you feel even more miserable than you already feel after the accident.

I don't think they are evil. That's giving then too much credit. But retards indeed. I have seem plenty of them laughing out of inability to discern. They are fixed like every LOCO (localized in vicious circle). They can't grow. They can't evolve.

[cafolini]

Regarding the superstitions of the culture of the Orinoco basin, the "opposite" has been heard more than once in America, in the south, where the white men have said often that the black man was roasted and burned in hell to acquire the color as punishment.

[OrphanPip]

MY mother bore me in the southern wild,
And I am black, but O, my soul is white!
White as an angel is the English child,
But I am black, as if bereaved of light.
My mother taught me underneath a tree,
And, sitting down before the heat of day,
She took me on her lap and kissèd me,
And, pointing to the East, began to say:

'Look at the rising sun: there God does live,
And gives His light, and gives His heat away,
And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive
Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.

'And we are put on earth a little space,
That we may learn to bear the beams of love;
And these black bodies and this sunburnt face
Are but a cloud, and like a shady grove.

'For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear,
The cloud will vanish; we shall hear His voice,
Saying, "Come out from the grove, my love and care,
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice."'

Thus did my mother say, and kissèd me,
And thus I say to little English boy.
When I from black and he from white cloud free,
And round the tent of God like lambs we joy,

I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear
To lean in joy upon our Father's knee;
And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,
And be like him, and he will then love me.

- William Blake

[Calidore]

in the south, where the white men have said often that the black man was roasted and burned in hell to acquire the color as punishment.

Never heard that one before, though I have heard a Klansman say that after Cain killed Abel, God marked Cain (Genesis 4:15) by making him black. People will go to insane lengths to pretend God wants them to do whatever they feel like doing anyway.

[cafolini]

Never heard that one before, though I have heard a Klansman say that after Cain killed Abel, God marked Cain (Genesis 4:15) by making him black. People will go to insane lengths to pretend God wants them to do whatever they feel like doing anyway.

Indeed.

By the way. Have you looked at the top of the Empire State building? Have Fun. And to women: thumbs up.

[SilentMute]

When I was growing up, I also heard that the "mark of Cain" was actually black skin.

I'm sorry to hear about your accident, Max. Feel better soon!

I don't know how accurate South Park'sinformation always is...though generally they seem correct...but I remember an episode about the Mormons where they said that the Mormons believed that God turned the skin of Native Americans red out of punishment for...this is embarrassing, but I don't remember that part.

All cultures have their prejudices, I'm certain. I have come to realize that it is often due to contrasting views about life.

I remember that my parents once had a landlady that was French Canadian. I don't know if this was just her habit or it is common where she comes from. Anyway, once a week she would scrub her sidewalk and porch with bleach.

I have a Spanish neighbor. When he eats something, even though the garbage can is only a few feet away, he will just throw it on the ground. This is rather irritating because it smells, and then often the cats drag it over into my yard--where it might hide in the grass until my lawnmower hits it. However, I have heard that this is common in some of the other countries. Actually, even in the States--white northerners believe in letting their Christmas trees and pumpkins rot after the holidays. Perhaps they use it as compost. Though I don't always appreciate the smells, I've learned to tolerate it.

Anyway, I always think of our old landlady...and how she would have reacted living next door to my Spanish neighbor.

[SilentMute]

Thanks for sharing the poem, Pip. I wasn't familiar with that one from Blake. Nice to see you too! Hope you are well!

[Maximilianus]

I don't think they are evil. That's giving then too much credit. But retards indeed. I have seem plenty of them laughing out of inability to discern. They are fixed like every LOCO (localized in vicious circle). They can't grow. They can't evolve.
Yes, I've come to think so too.


I'm sorry to hear about your accident, Max. Feel better soon!
Thank you! I'm a little better already, though still feeling some residual pains :rolleyes:


I have a Spanish neighbor. When he eats something, even though the garbage can is only a few feet away, he will just throw it on the ground. This is rather irritating because it smells, and then often the cats drag it over into my yard--where it might hide in the grass until my lawnmower hits it. However, I have heard that this is common in some of the other countries. Actually, even in the States--white northerners believe in letting their Christmas trees and pumpkins rot after the holidays. Perhaps they use it as compost. Though I don't always appreciate the smells, I've learned to tolerate it.

Anyway, I always think of our old landlady...and how she would have reacted living next door to my Spanish neighbor.
Some people here also find it problematic to use garbage cans and like containers. We also need to daily perform gracious evasive maneuvers against dogs' poo spread all around our yards and sidewalks, and not only stray dogs' poo but also the poo pooed by the neighbors' dogs. Yeah, the neighbor's dogs' poo takes over our yards and sidewalks.

[jajdude]

For instance, in Japan--from what I've read--they consider it proper to wear a face mask if you have a cold so you don't spread it to others.

In Japan, the number four represents death--and it is quite common for hotels not to have a room 4.


Both of these are also true in China and South Korea. I've also heard the Japanese are raised to not offend others, and to mind one's own business in public. This does not hold true in China or South Korea. For instance, in a crowded Japanese place, it is not common for people to bump into each other. If it happens they apologize. They try their best to avoid this anyway. In equally crowded places in China and Korea being bumped into is common enough, and it is taken for granted, and saying sorry is less common, unless maybe they bump into a foreigner. Many say it is because of the crowds, but Japan proves it may just be the culture.

I've stayed in hotels with no "4th floor" -- 1,2,3,5.. and have seen elevators with buttons 1,2,3,F,5...