Old Wives Tales in my house

Old wives tales are traditional myths and facts passed down by word of mouth from past generations to the next. While some of these old wives tales are actually true, others can be ridiculously stupid and pointless. I am going to share with you some true, some funny and some pointless old wives tales that are still being practiced in my families. I will add more to the list as I come across them.

Image Credit: Allposters Grandmother Teaching

Women’s taste buds go through some changes during pregnancy and many women often crave for the most unusual things to eat. For e.g. some women crave for ice cream with pickles [I still can’t believe that] but they do. In my culture women who are pregnant always munch on raw mangoes and this is considered as a definite sign of pregnancy. I agree with the fact that they might crave for extremely sourly food types but that definitely cannot be one of the pregnancy symptoms [come on!].

In most of the Tamil and Indian movies, when a girl gets pregnant they often show her craving for mangoes or the husband bringing a basket full of mangoes for his pregnant wife. This is so hilarious to watch though.

Image Credit: Allposters spice of life

This is not just in our families but in most Indian, Sri-Lankan cultures [mostly Hindus] believe that drawing a big black unappealing circle on a baby’s forehead and cheeks will keep the baby safe from evil eyes. Most of the times strangers are not allowed to look at newborn babies and just in case they do, these circles will apparently prevent them from evil people’s curses. The babies are so cute to look at but the black circles are not!

Image credit: Tamil baby with mother

Many of my family members believe in this and it always ends up being true. So I cannot really judge this one until my turn comes. 

Image credit: Allposters glamourous pregnant woman

Some people in my families believe that people who shake their legs asleep always cheat on their life partners. I have no clue why or how they came up with such thing but it definitely is one of the biggest lies told.

Image credit: Allposters Husband and Wife

Yes this one might sound scary and disgusting at the same time but it is actually true in countries like Sri-Lanka and India. Most people living in these countries believe that if a Lizard falls on your head or shoulder, this means something really bad like death is going to happen in that family. 

My aunt belives that, my mother in law believes it and so many other members in my family also believe it because it always somehow endup being true. 

But I think there are far too many lizards in Sri-Lanka and India and the Lizards live on the roof and wall so they might accidentally fall on people.

These lizards are small and usually white and they are disgusting! All the houses in Sri-Lanka [Rich or Poor] will have at least 10 visible lizards on their walls. It is completely disgusting!

Image Credit: Allposters Baby making funny face

After reading the post above you might have wondered why Sri-Lankans and Indians dont attempt to kill Lizards and the reason is because you will be cursed for life if you kill a lizard! They say this and it has been passed on to all the generations. Hence Lizards in these countries have an extremly long lifespan! The amount of sleepless nights i had when I went on Holidays to Sri-Lanka this year because of these lizards! They`re just visible on the wall all the time.

Image Credit: Allposters Witch and her Tame crow