Every culture has their own beliefs and with each generation becoming more educated these beliefs have been relegated to the status of superstitions. What could not be explained in olden times have been dissected, analyzed and relegated to either being a superstition or tradition. I am going to try explaining about Malaysian Chinese and their superstitions or taboos the way my mother explained it to me as a child.

Do not open an umbrella inside the house because a snake will come in. I have put that theory to a test and no snakes have ever come into my house so I think that it was just a taboo to prevent the floor from getting wet should the umbrella still hold remnants of the last rainfall.

Do not whistle or play the flute at night because you will attract spirits to you. Although I have not really tested this one out, I have at times done it without thinking and I do not think that I have attracted anything, as yet! My analytical mind would say that this taboo was just to be courteous to the neighbors.

Do not clip fingernails or toenails at night because it will cause you to see spirits. I have a habit of doing this at night because it is the only time when I am really at leisure to indulge in myself and no I have not seen any spirits or ghosts of any kind. I would say that this was a safety issue because of poor lighting and the use of pen knives to trim nails in olden days.

Do not say inauspicious things even in jest as these will come true. I think a lot of Malaysians still adhere to this just because it would be rude and unacceptable in our society to do otherwise. Even among very close friends when we think that jokes can be taken as such, offence is sometimes taken.

The confinement period of a woman after childbirth is very much a Malaysian tradition now even among the Malays and Indians. For the Chinese, the woman is on a special confinement diet of 40 days where she is plied with all kinds of nutritious and heaty foods to build up her energy. She is not to go out into the sun because in the eyes of the Gods, she is just a blob of blood. She is also not allowed to have a fan blowing directly at her as she might get wind’, a very Chinese terminology. She is not allowed to bathe for the entire confinement period and of course no social life of any kind. She is considered dirty’ for the whole confinement period.

I, for one, baulked at all those restrictions. The only thing I agreed to was the food part. Nothing could deter me from going out as soon as I felt strong enough. Again, my analytical mind can only reason that all those restrictions were put in place to allow the woman to recuperate. That dirty part would keep her partner from her bed and not being allowed to do anything at all would mean that she would have time to bond with the baby and regain her strength.

There are just too many superstitions that have either been slowly taken out or forgotten altogether from our culture by the younger generation. Although I do not believe in all the taboos, I strongly believe in preserving knowledge of it as part of our cultural heritage. Too many young ones are forgetting and adopting ways that defy their own upbringing. The way things are now, it wont be too long before all is forgotten be it superstition, myth, tradition or culture