16th February – 如月

日本の迷信　（Nippon no Meishin）‐　Japanese Superstition

<<<Those might help your life better!>>>

There are various superstitions in Japan, not only negative ones as I explained in last blog but also the positive ones. Today’s blog is about the superstitions which have happy meaning!

蛇の抜け殻を財布に入れておくと、お金がたまる

If you put the cast‐off skin of a snake, you won’t have trouble with money

As the snakes repeat molting many times, ancient Japanese people consider as the cast-off skins comes out infinitely. Therefore, they thought putting snakes’ cast-off skin could also increase the money inside the wallet. Another origin could be that snakes are one of the seven lucku gods’ servant, 弁財天様(Benzaiten sama) who is the god of fortune. So snakes were believed to have some power from that god.

ツバメの巣が家にできると、幸せが舞い込む

If the swallow makes nest in your house, the happiness will come to your home

This superstition came from the reason that the swallows eat the pests in the paddy field. Thanks to swallows, the paddy fields where have swallows had a great harvest, so they brought success in the business.

Moreover, the swallows make their nests where many humans are around in order not being attacked by other animals (normally animals does not get close where people are around). They prefer the places where have perfect temperature and humidity. Therefore, the places where swallows make nests are generally good sheltered place, many people come and go, happier than places nobody comes to visit them!

掌に’人’を三回書いて飲み込むと、緊張がほぐれる

If you write ‘人’=Hito, human on your palm and swallow it, it will relieve your stress

When drawing ‘Hito’ on the palm, it will stimulate the acupressure point called ‘労宮＝Roukyuu’ in the middle of the palm. This spot is connected to the heart and by pressing this spot, it will relieve nerves.

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くしゃみ：1回褒められ、2回憎まれ、３回惚れられ、4回風邪

If you sneeze: one time=somebody is complimenting you, twice=somebody is talking behind you, three times=somebody is crushing on you, four times=you have caught a cold

The origin for this superstition is not clear and there are no clue this superstition is actually true. As the other countries have different meaning toward the sneezing, take Japanese one as the option.

In the ancient time, sneezing was believed to be unlucky in the Buddhism. It was considered that the soul goes out when sneezing so it would shorten the life in Japan. When people sneeze, Japanese used to say the spell ‘くさめ＝Kusame’ to relief the curse, but these days most people in Japan does not say this anymore.