Cur.Cust. P.5

CURIOUS CUSTOMS and BIZARRE BELIEFS Around the World, by Wesley M. Wilson, BS, MBA, JD

India, trucks are protected France, sermi-nudity is common on French beaches

against the evil eye

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Fertility Symbols

Drawings or carvings often show a female with exaggerated breasts, hips, and genitalia, or a male with exaggerated genitalia. A woman wanting a baby in Ghana carries an akuaba or wooden doll on her back for months. In much of the world, including Indians in North America, little girls were given a doll as a fertility and motherhood symbol. In Kenya many tribes give a teenage girl a doll as a fertility symbol. A fat woman doll is a fertility symbol in many cultures. They include the 25,000 year-old Willendorf doll found in Austria, and the fat woman who sat on a stone pillar in the world’s oldest above-ground temple, in Malta. A phallic stone was nearby. The National Museum of Aleppo, Syria, has many ancient fertility dolls. Some, nearly 7,000 years old from the Halaf culture, emphasize the female genitalia and breasts, but are otherwise realistic. The serpent and scorpion were then symbols of fertility and the continuity of life in the Middle East. Snakes shed their skin, apparently renewing their life. Clay figures more than 4,000 years old were made from molds. Many of them show naked women. The Central Bank Museum in Quito, Ecuador has pottery fertility dolls believed to have come from Japan around 2,500 BCE. There is considerable evidence of trading long ago. The spirit house in the Lowlands villages of Papua New Guinea often has a large carved statue of a woman with her legs spread far apart, and many statues of men with an exaggerated penis. A common petroglyph drawing by ancient man in Zimbabwe is of a woman, spread-eagled, with zigzag lines leading to a man. In Egypt and other countries bordering the Mediterranean the bull is a symbol of fertility. The Greek God Zeus is said to have changed into a bull. He carried Europa to Crete, where he fathered cruel King Minos. Celts, as they migrated across Europe to Ireland some 3,500 years ago used bulls’ head with horns as a fertility symbol. Bulls’ heads and bulls’ horns were erected along roads throughout ancient Spain. On Crete, men and women held up both arms, forming a symbol like a capital letter U, signifying a bulls’ horns and fertility. Young Cretan men and women liked to run at a charging bull, vault onto its back, then land on their feet behind the surprised bull!

Amon-Re Temple, Luxor, Egypt, Ramses II making an offering to Min, god of fertility

Mens spirit house, Tambanum village, Papua New Guinea

Inca priests in Cuzco sacrificed animals and old men at an altar like a phallic stone. A nearby stone has a snake--a sex symbol--carved on top. In Luang Prabang, Laos, a Buddhist temple, Wat Si Muang, is dedicated to Si, a pregnant woman who committed suicide under a big rock. Women wanting a baby leave offerings for her. I was surprised to see at least 30 women bring flowers and food to the temple each morning. A truck often takes some of the offerings to another temple that gets fewer offerings. In Hangzhou, China, women sit on the lap of the stone “Lucky Buddha” at the Lingyin Temple to become pregnant. In China’s Shandong province a man and his wife sometimes leave a stone on sacred Mt. Taishan, so she will have a son. The Goddess of Mercy is considered to be more important than Buddha in much of China, she is considered to present a baby to a woman. Women wanting a baby pray to the Goddess of Mercy. In Ninglang, Yunnan, women wanting a baby pray to the Buddhist Goddess of Birth, “who has 1,000 eyes and hands,” and can stop suffering. In Delhi, India, women wanting to become pregnant tie a rag to the gate of the Shrine of Pots. Other believers leave a pot of rice. Many Hindu temples in India have a stone statue of Nandi, the bull that often carried the god Shiva. Women wanting a baby touch the statue of the bull. In Tahiti, Moorea, and other Polynesian islands women guests at a wedding are expected to grab the erect penis of a carved statue of a man, so the bride will have babies. Ancient Druids, the priests of the Celts, believed that mistletoe from an oak tree would make any animal or person give birth. Italians believed that if a woman carried a sprig of mistletoe she would have a baby. Some Chinese want a girl baby. Those women are advised to eat fish, dark chicken meat, tomatoes, apples, and citrus fruits for several weeks before becoming pregnant. A man wanting a daughter is advised to eat potatoes, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, mushrooms, and seaweed before impregnating his wife.

[Excerpt, Curious Customs and Bizarre Beliefs, P. 145-147]:

Names

People in most countries are less casual about names and titles than we are. With an adult in Spanish-speaking and French-speaking countries and in Italy never use the tu form of address, and in Germany never use the du form of address unless you are sure the familiar form will be welcomed. We must also often avoid the first name but use the last name with the formal terms of address, such as señor or señora, madame or messieur, signore or signora, Herr or Frau. If a person has a title, such as the local equivalent of doctor or professor we must use that term in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Italy, and many other countries. But in Iceland the telephone directory lists everyone by first name in alphabetical order, with the last name added. The address and occupation are also listed. Icelanders address each other and foreigners by the first name. In Tonga first names are used. Most Indonesians have only one name. In Italy and other European countries, a person was known by one name plus the village or town he came from. For example, Leonardo, the great artist and inventor, was from the village of Vinci, west of Florence. In Australia, telephone directories usually list only the last name and initials, so it is difficult to determine whether a name is male or female. It is common in Thailand to be called Mister, Mrs., or Miss, and our first name.

In China and many other Asian countries it is common to write and to state the surname or family name before the given or first name. If in doubt, it is better to ask a person you have just met “What do you like to be called?” When a Japanese baby is born it is registered with the city under the name of the father. When a Japanese girl marries her name is transferred from her father’s name to her husband’s name. In Korea the clan, family, or surname name comes first, then the given name. Most surnames are Kim, Lee, Choe, or Kang. In Spain and Spanish-speaking Latin America, the father’s surname is the important one, it is next-to-last in the long string of names. The mother’s maiden surname is last. But in Portugal and Brazil the father’s surname is the last. It is common in Asia to be asked our age, where we are from, and our name. It is not considered to be impolite. Anyone middle aged or older is respected more--the older, the more respect. But some Pacific islanders treat the elderly and infirm as badly as our Western culture treats them.

In some African tribes, such as the Anlo (Ewe) of Ghana and Togo, a wife does not call her husband by his personal name. She calls him “elder brother” or “children’s father.” In many African countries the first-born son has the name of the father’s father, the second son has the name of the mother’s father. Many Asian peoples use their names far less than Westerners. Babies are often given an ugly name so it won’t attract evil spirits. In Thailand, people believe that the phi make a child, and after birth they will try to take the child away. A child is given a temporary name to mislead the phi. In Vietnam children are taught not to give their name to a stranger, it may expose them to evil. In Thailand even adults are reluctant to give their last name to strangers. They use only their first name. In many countries, such as Vietnam and Nepal, the first name is based upon the person’s relation within the family, such as “Mister Two” or “Son Two” for the second son, or “Miss One” or “Daughter One” for the oldest daughter. In Bali, with a modified Hindu culture, the first name indicates both the relation within the family and the class to which the person belongs. My guide said that Putu means “First Son,” and Wawung means “First Son of the Lower Class” of four classes. If a person tries to marry someone of another class “there is much trouble.” In Nepal many people have a caste name: clerks are often Newar, farmers and trail porters are Sherpas, soldiers are Gurkas, others are Rai. In the Marquesas Islands when a couple are married, an elder in the village gives them a new name, replacing their original names. An elder also selects the name of their first child. A boy is often given the name of a god or hero. ”Nicknames” are perhaps common everywhere, but in the Marquesas the nickname must also be used to fully identify an adult. Each of the “Saints,” as natives of St. Helena in the South Atlantic are known, acquires a nickname. Many islanders don’t even know the real name of a friend. Children in the Pacific islands are often casually adopted by someone else in the village, with the consent of everyone involved. The child may casually announce that he has a different surname--that of the adoptive parents. A girl only 11 or 12 years old may also announce to everyone in the village that she has adopted a neighbor girl or boy.

In many Southeast Asian, Pacific, and African countries and among all Indians of the Americas it is forbidden to speak the name of a dead person. They fear that the name will attract the ghost of the dead. Africa’s Masai are careful to never say the name or nickname of anyone who is dead. In Fiji it was taboo to speak the name of a warrior who had gone to fight an enemy--he might be killed. Warriors could be talked about only by calling them birds. Many tribes-people in South America’s jungles will not give their first names to a stranger. They believe that speaking the name shows disrespect for the named person and may attract the attention of evil spirits. On Malaita Island in the Solomons, a woman is isolated during childbirth. When the baby is 30 days old they return to the village and baby is given a name. On Vanuatu’s Tanna Island a boy is given a girl’s name until he is circumcised, at age four or five, indicating that he is then a male, therefore he is more important. In New Caledonia a tribe or clan has the exclusive right to use a particular name for a place or object, even though the name is not currently used. A name has an eternal copyright.

In China a name is very important. It must have an appropriate meaning, it must be pleasant to hear, and the written character for the name must not have negative connotations. Some names, when spoken in a slightly different tone of voice, may connote something highly undesirable. Anyone who spends much time in China should consult a Chinese person before choosing a Chinese name. If you use calling cards in China, Japan, or many other Asian countries, have them printed in English on one side and the local language on the other side. In Malaysia many names--such as a derogatory or insulting name, or for an animal, tree, fruit, vegetable, or professional title, is not legal. The government refuses to register an illegal name, that person will not be eligible for government benefits.

Names of places in China have descriptive, often beautiful, names. Bejing has the “Garden of Harmonious Interests” and the “Pavillion of the Fragrance of Buddha.” Xi’an has the “Big Wild Goose Pagoda” and the “Small Wild Goose Pagoda.” Hangzhou has “The Peak That Flew From Afar,” and the “Watching the Goldfish In A Flowering Pond Park.” Guilin has the “Piled Silk Hill,” the “Two Cocks In Fighting Posture Hill,” and the “Pretty Girl Looking At Herself In The Mirror Hill.” Kunming has the “Reed Flute Cave.” Yunnan Province has the “Tiger Leaping Gorge” on the Yangtze River.

Vientiane, Laos, Wat Si Muang. A woman wanting a baby leaves an offering at this temple

[Excerpt, Curious Customs and Bizarre Beliefs, P. 153-155]:

National and Other Traits

On flights with many Indian passengers, when the plane’s wheels touch the ground, they are on their feet, removing luggage. A flight attendant complained to my wife and me “We make the usual announcements to wait until the plane is at the gate and the seat belt sign is turned off. But they are impossible.” In a conversation with a well-educated middle-age lady wearing a beautiful sari we mentioned a few things that we liked about her country, India. She said “But we have a problem. We can’t control our people.” In Singapore a flight attendant with long experience told me “Japanese have a difficult time making a decision, what to order or drink. People from India are the most independent. They do not follow instructions or rules, and they want the most services.” One of my guides in China said “Thais (from Thailand) are the worse tourists, they don’t respect property and they steal things from hotels.” One of the German families that my wife and I lived with said:

“Heaven is where the police are British, the cooks are French, the mechanics are German, the dancers Spanish gypsies, the lovers Italian, and it is all organized by the Swiss. Hell is where the cooks are British, the mechanics French, the plumbers Spanish, the lovers Swiss, the police German, and it is all organized by the Italians.”

I told one of the families that we lived with in Quebec, in French, that they had several advantages--French cooking, British diplomacy, and nearby American technology. They replied “It doesn’t work out that way. We really have British cooking, French technology, and American diplomacy.”

The experienced wildlife guide for our two weeks in the Galapagos Islands told me her observations: she said Scandinavians are non-expressive, the French ask if each thing is edible, Italians like animals and birds that put on the biggest show, and the Japanese like scenery and landscapes. Many guides have told me that people from the U.S. are the most curious, they ask many questions, but they are also independent, do not follow instructions, and too many Americans wander off on their own.

In Southeast Asia and on some Pacific Islands, hard-working Chinese operate many of the retail and other businesses, often becoming rich. Local Cambodians, Vietnamese, Indonesians, Tahitians, and others are more easy-going but are often envious. In Fiji, Indians, both Hindu and Moslem, operate many businesses, while local Fijians, living on their bountiful land, again are much more easy-going. On Some Pacific islands, such as Tonga, local people returning home after having learned to work abroad, own most of the businesses. In Sri Lanka, Moslems usually live in their own villages and operate many businesses. Like the dour Tamils, the Moslems often work harder than the local majority Sinhalese. In East Africa, “East Indians,” both Hindu and Moslem, operate many businesses and often quietly look down upon local Black Africans. However, some Black tribes, such as the Kikiyu in Kenya and Tanzania, are known for being successful in business. In South Africa, even under Apartheid, Coloureds, with a mixed ancestry often including Indians or Javanese, tended to be more ambitious and had a higher status than the majority 10 Black tribes. In West Africa and North Africa, Moslems tend to be more aggressive than local Black tribes, but in Nigeria some tribes, such as the Ibos, are better educated and more ambitious than Moslems. In the Middle East, Berbers are often nomadic herders, lesser educated than the local majority. However, with their big flocks of sheep, goats, or camels they may be richer than the Arab majority. In Europe, Jews were often hard-working skilled jewelers or money lenders, but many popes, kings, and others discriminated against them. When the Spanish Inquisition chased Jews out of Spain, the Islamic Turks invited them and their skills to live in North Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, all then mostly controlled by Turkey. Russia, under the tsars, discriminated against Jews, particularly in the Nineteenth Century. In the former Soviet Union, Russians were encouraged to live in all 15 republics. Russians were often leaders in the government of the republic, and were military leaders, their children went to separate schools where Russian was the main language, and the local language was secondary. Naturally, the Russians were resented. When the Soviet Union split apart at the end of 1991 the newly independent countries began to pass laws discriminating against Russians. The three Baltic countries decided not to join the other 12 republics in a loose confederation, and their laws encourage Russians to leave. Latvia, where more than one-third of the people are Russian, does not permit Russians to become citizens unless they learn the Latvian language. Local people in Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania have told me that the Russians “don’t know how to work.”

In South and Central America Whites (“Europeans”) tend to be better educated and richer than dark-skinned people who descended from local Native Peoples or Africans. Lebanese operate many restaurants and other small businesses. Whites with German, Italian, or Spanish ancestors tend to be richer than dark-skinned people. In the three former Guianas of northern South America and on nearby islands such as Trinidad there are at least three competing groups: (1) Native Americans often lived in the Bush, when they fled from White colonialists (2) Black Africans were brought in as slaves for plantations. When slavery ended they refused to work on plantations. (3) “East Indians” from India or Java, Moslems or Hindus, were brought in to work on plantations. Some are now small farmers. Blacks often control politics and work for the government....

Latin America

There are great contrasts in much of South America and Central America between the very poor Indians, Blacks, and Mestizos, and a small percent of the very rich, mostly Whites or Mestizos. Unemployment sometimes approaches 50 percent, underemployment is much higher. I have traveled in all countries of South America and Central America. Our fluent Spanish helps my wife and me to talk with local people. Five factors have kept the poor from starving and/or somewhat tranquilized:

many are street vendors of anything that people buy, making a small profit, and keeping them occupied in a "productive" activity,
most of the poor are Roman Catholic, and the Church has told them that they are blessed, that though they suffer much, when they will die they will live in paradise,
they scrape and save Pesos, Bolivars, Sucres, or other currency to enter the national lottery-- some day they will "win the big prize,"
they look forward to the big annual carnival or fiesta, often just before Lent, and
many of the poorest Indians, especially in the high altiplano, chew coca leaves to numb the pain from cold, heavy physical labor, or hunger. The growing, processing, and distribution of coca and marijuana provides a living for many and riches for some.

[Excerpt, Curious Customs and Bizarre Beliefs, P. 178, 179]

Deaths and Funerals

On Pacific islands the dead are often buried in concrete tombs or vaults in the front yard. It is considered to be barbaric to shovel dirt on a woman’s body. The home is not sold, it must be kept in the family for generations. When no one remembers the deceased the burial vault becomes overgrown and may be removed. In Tonga, tombs are often buried in a cemetery near the sea, occupying the best real estate. In traditional villages of the Pacific, a death not from an apparent cause was considered to be caused by a religious fault or the breaking of a taboo. A priest is often asked to determine the cause. In Papua New Guinea some burials are in simple tombs, little marked. Sometimes bits of a yam are sprinkled on top of the grave, for the soul to eat. However, each person killed by “the enemy” in a “payback killing” in Papua New Guinea is buried in a brightly painted tomb like a doghouse, usually made of concrete, along the road, where everyone in the tribe will continue to see it. The death must be avenged. On a 25-mile stretch of rough dirt road out of Tara there are at least 30 recent payback graves. Late in 1996 a battle arising from a payback killing involved around 1,000 warriors on each side, armed with spears or bows and arrows. Hundreds of years ago deep ditches were dug in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea to hide the movement of warriors from the enemy. The ditches are still used by warriors and to mark property boundaries. It is common in Papua New Guinea and much of the Pacific to keep a fresh body in a storage shed and not to bury it for a year or more after death. The bones are usually then buried, but the skull is saved. On Easter Island a dead body was usually cremated in a pit near an ahu. After washing, the bones were then buried elsewhere.

It has been common in many countries to bury a body in a large pottery jar. A hole is often made in the bottom of the jar for the soul to escape. China’s Panpo Museum near Xi’an displays jars with such a hole dated as early as 6,000 BCE. China’s government encourages cremation of a body. With 1.2 billion people and little arable land--only 10 percent of the total--tombs would soon use up all of the land. The bodies of Zhou (Chou) Enlai and the recent president, Deng Xiaoping, were cremated, to set examples for the people. But the body of Chairman Mao was preserved, like that of Russia’s Lenin and Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh. However, I have seen many cemeteries with tombs, sometimes decorated with paper flowers, in more isolated villages. I have watched Hindu cremation ceremonies in Nepal and India. After burning the ashes are swept into a “holy” river. Tibetans traditionally threw, and still throw, entire bodies into a river. Today many Tibetans do not eat fish. Lamas (priests) are often cremated but the bodies of higher lamas are left exposed on a mountain, to be eaten by eagles. Some Tibetans first chop a body into small pieces. The Mosuo near Lugu Lake and Tibet, like many Asians, believe that death is a natural event,, leading to reincarnation, therefore a happy time.

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Cur. Cust. P. 4

Voodoo P. 18

Lome, Togo, fetish market Togo's national monument shows voodoo god, Mahou, & his 2 messengers

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[A Few Anecdotes, from Curious Customs]

Punctuality for a meeting is not expected in Mediterranean or Latin American countries, nor in part of Africa and the Pacific. Time is of little importance in many traditional cultures. In many other countries, to be late for a meeting is considered to be rude.

The metric system is used in nearly every country except the US and a few Lesser-Developed countries. Tourists, business people who travel, and everyone else should learn the metric system, it is easy to work with. Roughly, one meter = 3.3 feet, one foot = 30 centimeters, one kilometer = 0.6 mile, one mile = 1.65 kilometers, one kilogram = 2.2 pounds, one pound = 454 grams.

Eye contact. Most traditional peoples believe that it is harmful, or at least bad manners. Even those who like to flirt avoid eye contact. Those who are taught to avoid eye contact include Blacks, American Indians, and most traditional peoples of Africa, Asia, and the Pacific.

A fortune teller is often consulted before making any important decision, business or personal, in Japan, and in Asia, southwest from Japan, through India. All of the “signs” must be “right” or there is “no deal.”

Before constructing a large building a fengshui man or geomancer must be consulted in China, Japan, and much of eastern Asia. The building must harmonize with nature. The fengshui man tries to find the perfect balance of lines of energy, called qi, said to exist in the earth and in living bodies.

Colors. Some colors represent happiness or weddings, other colors represent unhappiness or death and funerals. These colors are different in various cultures. Colors worn during a period of mourning are often white in Asia, or blue and white in Central Asia.

Islamic banks can’t charge interest on a loan of money--it is prohibited in the Koran. However, the banks can invest in businesses that do not conflict with Islamic values, and banks can accept a share of the profits from those businesses.

Do trees and animals have a soul? Europeans from Scandinavia to Rome had sacred trees and sacred forests until as recently as the Fourteenth Century. Before cutting a tree or killing an animal, a ceremony had to be held to appease its soul. Hunters had to be sure to honor the soul of any animal or bird they killed. Indians of the US Northwest prayed when they caught a deer or salmon. They said “I pray when I use you.” Before they set fires to clear the land they prayed to the souls of the trees, bushes, and land that would be harmed. Our driver in New Caledonia said he “talks with the land” and asks its permission to go hunting on the land. When the “barbarians” of northern Europe adopted Christianity after the Fifth Century they no longer had to pay respect to the soul of a tree before cutting it. With new metal axes they soon cleared the forests and planted crops, permitting a big expansion of the population.

In Vanuatu the spirit of a person who dies is believed to live in the banyan tree. In Papua New Guinea the tree spirit is believed to live in the strangler fig--the same family as the banyan. It starts as a sprig, but in a man’s lifetime it grows to a huge size, strangling and killing a tree with a trunk seven or eight feet in diameter and more than 100 feet tall. Therefore, it is considered powerful. I noticed local men stopping awhile, then quietly passing larger strangler figs. They said they were honoring the tree spirit.

Why do many people refuse to dig or till the earth? Many traditional people, in Africa, Indians of North America, and others believe that to dig or till the soil makes the earth angry. They were/are hunters, grazers, or cattle herders. The Kalash of Pakistan, Parsis of India, and many Buddhists and Hindus of southern Asia do not disturb the earth by burying their dead. Typically, the body is left for vultures, dumped into a sacred river, or cremated.

In southern Asia the spirits are fed daily. In Laos, Vietnam, and Burma each village has a post near the center of the village. Each day rice is put on a small platform on the post to feed the spirits. Many homes in rural Vietnam have a small spirit house in front. In the home’s main room a corner has an altar for Buddha. Another altar honors grandparents and other ancestors, with their photos. In Thailand most homes have a spirit house at the front of the house. Thais never step on the threshold, they believe the spirits live there. In Korea, wealthier families have a shrine, usually in the back yard, to worship ancestors. Many Christians, especially in Poland, Malta, and Goa (India), have a small shrine at or near the front of the house.

Many Asians, Africans, and Pacific islanders believe in magic. I was told in Java “Everyone in Java believes in magic. Magic and the spirits control our lives.” Ancestor worship and spirits seem to be much stronger than the official Islamic religion. Magic is important in all African animistic religions. Medicine men, or juju priests, found in public markets, sell various fetishes to keep away evil spirits.

Polynesians on Tonga, Tahiti, and elsewhere built a stone wall around a big earth-filled marae or platform, some are several hundred feet square. Often a tiki or other statue was erected on the marae. Animals, and occasionally people, were sacrificed on the marae. Today, some people go to a marae on the night of a full moon when the spirits are most active, write down their evil or negative thoughts on a piece of paper, which they burn on the marae. They are then said to be free of evil or negative thoughts. Tikis, carved from stone or wood, large or small, have different meanings in different parts of Polynesia.

Many of the men’s spirit houses in villages of Papua New Guinea, the Solomons, and nearby islands have a small entrance door. That is to be used only by the crocodile spirit. A large mask on the gable end of a spirit house is to keep out evil spirits, especially those spirits that bring illness. Some spirit houses have two large eyes near the eaves, for protection. I visited many large spirit houses. It is taboo for local women to enter a spirit house, but tourist women may be accepted, to look at masks and fetish objects for sale there.

Some villages in the western Pacific have several oval-shape stones five or six feet long stuck into the ground in front of the spirit house. They are bloodstones. Until the late 1960s they received the blood of defeated enemies. Spirits of the enemies are believed to go into the spirit house, and become friendly. Older men told the author some of the bloodstones were captured and brought from an enemy village. One man showed the author five skulls of enemies that he had killed. He said the chief got the first choice in eating the enemies, the killer got the second choice.

Many people, from the Pacific to Europe and the Amazon believe in ghosts. In Tahiti many people leave a light on all night to keep out ghosts. In New Caledonia and many other Pacific islands, spirits live where people are buried and in the site of an abandoned village. The sites are taboo. South Africa’s Zulus believe that spirits of their ancestors live in the pits used to store grain. Some grain is reserved for them.

Many traditional people believe that if the soul leaves the body for more than a few hours, that person will die. Today in Papua New Guinea, local people do not arise immediately upon awakening, they give the soul time to return to the body. On many Pacific Islands people are warned not to change the position of a sleeping person, for the soul may not recognize the body and won’t return to it. Some North American Indian shamans used a carved “soul catcher,” like a big spoon, to catch and return the soul of a sick person.

To protect against evil spirits, in New Caledonia, the local Kanaks plant a reddish ti bush near the front door to protect the home against evil spirits. Little children in Southeast Asia often wear a hat that looks like a bird or an animal, so evil spirits will not know it is a child. Many peoples give a new baby a temporary obnoxious name, to keep away and not attract evil spirits. Many Asians and Pacific islanders do not leave a window open at night, because the evil spirits may enter. In China and Taiwan, buildings have a barrier at the entrance door, requiring anyone to go to the left or the right. They keep out ghosts, “who can go only in a straight line.” Mirrors may be put over doors to repel demons. Bridges in China are curved to keep ghosts from crossing them. In China and Taiwan, women and girls wear a jade bracelet to keep away evil spirits. In Africa men, women, and children wear a ju ju charm made of cowry shells blessed by a shaman, to keep away evil spirits. [The author continues, for many pages, to discuss beliefs around the world about evil spirits, the evil eye, the soul, sorcerers, ghosts, superstitions, and more. Most people find it to be fascinating.]

[Excerpt, Curious Customs and Bizarre Beliefs, P. 34-37]:

Segregation of the Sexes

Boys and girls go to separate schools in many Islamic countries. In the more advanced countries, such as Oman, they may attend the same classes in a university. However, girls sit at the back of the classroom, boys sit in the front. They have separate paths between buildings and separate entrances to buildings. Is this treatment of men and women somewhat like the “separate but equal” rights of Whites and Blacks in the U.S. until the 1950s? Some Islamic countries have mixed classes in primary schools but in higher schools, boys and girls nearly always separated. In Yemen, a girls’ primary school is often adjacent to a boys’ primary school. Older boys and girls are usually not permitted to be alone together in Islamic countries, even if they are engaged. However, they may talk with each other for hours on the telephone. It is not unusual to see a female, covered from head to foot in a black tent, talking on a cellular phone.

It is common in villages in lesser-developed countries or in native reserves in developed countries to have places reserved for males or for females. Ayers Rock, or Uluru, Australia, has long been a sacred place for Aborigines. It is believed to be a major home for their ancestors, the Anangu. Certain caves and niches are reserved for females, others for males, and non-Aborigines are prohibited from entering many. A stranger in a village is usually escorted by a local person, who will be sure that taboos are not broken.

On many of the Solomon Islands, in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, and on parts of other Melanesian islands, men and boys gather or grow their own food and cook, eat, and sleep apart from females. Women sleep with the pigs, not the husband. The mother breast feeds the baby for at least two years. A man is not permitted to have sex with a wife until the baby is at least two or three years old. This helps to keep the population down. The taboo against sex while the mother is breast feeding was strong in Europe through the Eighteenth Century. Among Africa’s Masai a woman does not have sex with the husband until the baby can walk. The taboo against sex for at least six months after a baby was born is common on Pacific islands.

I asked a man in Papua New Guinea how he manages to have sex with any of his wives. He said he usually finds her working in the garden, with her pig tied by the leg to a bush. He kicks the pig, it squeals, she investigates, and he leads her into the bushes. If she is having her period she leaves a big red leaf at the edge of the garden. During mating a man must say protective words to prevent his being weakened by contact with a woman. In Papua New Guinea’s Lowlands some families now live in the same house. Youths and men of the Mosuo minority group in China’s Yunnan province live with their mother, and older girls and women continue to live with their mother. In ancient Sparta of Greece, men and youths also lived apart from women, and they ate in a communal kitchen and dining area. In rural Korea, until recently, each farmers’ house had separate areas for men and for women and children. A boy up to age seven may visit the women’s area, with permission. In warm weather a man slept with a “Dutch Wife,” rather than a real wife. They are used in several tropical countries--they are a big bolster made of woven fibers that permit the air to circulate under bedclothes. Men in Mali’s Dogon tribe do not live with a wife until she has born at least three of his children. A Miao man of southern China and southeast Asia usually does not live with his wife until the first baby is born.

In the small thatch or adobe houses and round huts without a partition, found in much of the world, custom tells where each person should sleep. Throughout Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and sub-Sahara Africa all males and females are often required to sleep in opposite sides of their small home. For example, in Thailand and many other countries it is common that females sleep on the left and males sleep on the right as you enter. In Samoa a newly married couple first make a partition of tapa cloth, made by beating the inner bark of mulberry. I learned how to beat the bark with a hardwood club and to connect small pieces together by beating. Geometric designs are usually drawn with black paint. The partition gives them a little privacy in one end of the parents’ home. Most of the Samoan homes or fales have only a floor and a roof, with open walls--no shades or drapes. People walking down the village street learn not to stare as they observe the neighbors dressing, undressing, and in various other daily acts of living. When my wife and I stayed with a family in Samoa we learned to lean low when changing clothes. Privacy is unknown in much of the world. Japanese homes have folding screens to give privacy within a room.

In many tribes in Togo and Ghana, such as the Anlo (Ewe), males and females live apart. A wife does not have a conversation with her husband unless he invites her to talk. The father and older sons eat in one room, but wives, daughters, and young sons eat in the kitchen. A man who shows affection in public for his wife is ridiculed and called a “kitchen man.” A woman remains a member of her father’s clan and is not absorbed into her husband’s clan.

On islands of Polynesia and Melanesia, it is common that a family wanting a girl select the youngest son and raise him as a girl. The child is dressed as a girl and begins to look and act like a girl. I noticed that one in Tahiti used the women’s toilet. Many of the mahu transvestites become prostitutes. Today in China, a family is sometimes given permission to have a second baby if the first is a girl, since every Chinese couple wants a son to support them in their old age. Many families have a third child, which is given a girl’s name even if it is a boy. The third child, male or female, is often raised as a girl. In much of the Pacific and Africa, where a child lives with several families in the village as it grows up, parents wanting a girl may casually trade a son for the daughter of a neighbor.