Superstitions or Tradition?

Yesterday was 端午节, better known to the English loving Singporean society as the Dumpling festival. So the story goes that this guy jumped into the river for his country (i'm too lazy to get the full picture so do yourself a favour and google about it!) and the people wanted to prevent his body from being eaten by the fishes. The idea was to throw rice dumplings into the river while at the same time riding around in long boats to search for his body.

Here in singapore, we do equally funny things. Fine, MY MOTHER does equally funny things. Here's what happened...

Apparently, the 12pm sun on this day is very 'powerful'. As a tradition passed down by my late grandmother, she decided to hang her wallet out to sun. According to my mother, her mother used to bring EVERYTHING out into the sun at this hour. Of course, now that we live on the 16th storey, that's not possible now is it? Nevertheless, I seriously found it amusing that anyone would do that. I've never even heard of this practice!


That aside, there are other practices that most of us Singaporean youths know of:

1. Eating Dumplings.
EAT YOUR DUMPLINGS! DON'T THROW THEM INTO THE RIVER! While the idea of stuffing rice with random stuff and wrapping in a leaf might not sound appetizing, I assure you that it's a unique taste everyone would love!

2. Dragon Boat races
This has become an annual event. As dragon boats require superior coordination between 20 men, as well as crazy endurance, this event has become an interesting sport to spectate.


3. Showering at 12pm
Similarly for the sun, water at 12pm is also considered powerful. As such, everyone in my family takes a mandatory shower at the sacred time. Even if we're out, we'd make the effort to wash ourselves with a towel or something, maybe wipe the face and arms and stuff.

Anything else?

Fact: One of my grandfathers (both of whom have passed away before I was born) died from eating rice dumplings! Apparently, he was feeling bloated after eating the delicacies and thought that fizzy drinks could aid digestion. A few days later he was announced dead in the hospital. Moral of story? Don't drink fizzy drinks when you're feeling bloated hehe