Cock and bull stories still exist and practiced

KABUL (Pajhwok): The cock and bull stories and some wrong traditional practices taught by elders to their families are still followed and strongly believed in daily life while experts urge people to stop believing them and act according to facts in their lives.

For decades, elders of some families, especially mothers and grandmothers, believe that cutting fingernails and toenails on the same day, sweeping the house at night, looking at the mirror at night, blinking the left eye, washing clothes on Wednesdays, wearing black dress by newlyweds, craving for halva… do not have a good ending, but according to scientists, these beliefs have no scientific basis.

Farakh, 18, a resident of Khurasan City, while disagreeing with wrong beliefs of her elders said:

“There are some rules  imposed by my great-grandmother and my mother and they strictly follow them, and when we disagree, they say you are ignorant and don’t understand.”

For instance she said: “One of the most prominent examples is that my mother never allows me to clip my fingernails and toenails together, and one day I did not comply with, my mother beat me severely, it was the worst memory of my life.”

Naikbakht Ali, the mother of Farakh, said: “My grandmother had advised me that we shall not cut our fingernail and toenail the same day because this practice would bring together joy and grief.”

Fatima is another woman who lives with similar belief and said: “Sweeping at night reduces the age, and if the house is swept after sunset, it will shorten the life of the men in the family; We should not sweep the house when a family member is leaving to travel, it will cause problems for the traveler”

She said her mother had never allowed her to sweep the house after evening and currently she followed her advise.

But Atifa, the daughter of Fatema, is against the belief of her mother and said: “We should not believe in baseless things, cleanliness is part of our faith and it has no time limitation.”

Why should avoid looking in the mirror at night?

From the past until now, in some families, elders, especially grandmothers, have set up a rule that one should not look in the mirror at night.

According to them, looking in the mirror does have consequences.

Kashimira, 20, a resident of Ferozkoh City, said: “My mother says we should not look in the mirror at night because if we look at the mirror at night we will be possessed by demons, and we are also told to never look at a broken mirror because the face of one will not be bright.”

She accepts the advice of her mother.

Mahtab Gul Khanum, the mother of Kashimira, told Pajhwok Afghan News: ‘We have taught our children three things that they should follow, first not to see in the broken mirror, never clean the mirror with skirt and do not see the mirror at night.”

According to her, if they look at a broken mirror, it will lead to wandering, if women wipe the mirror with their clothes, then her husband will marry again, and if they watch the mirror at night the body will be possessed by devil.

She said washing clothes on Wednesday would shorten the day and she had advised her children never to wash their clothes on this day.

Mufti Shams Rahman Frotan, a religious scholar, said in this regard: “Everything is related to belief; the source of it should be Sharia and religion. If religion allows something, we should take the same oath of belief. If the religion does not allow something, we should not believe in some beliefs and cultures.”

He added: “The Prophet (peace be upon him) says “ give good omens and not bad omens because bad omens are not in Islam and good omens are based in Sharia.”

Abdul Jalil Amarkhel, a psychologist, told Pajhwok there were false beliefs among some families that were not logical at all.

He added such beliefs were not logical, and those who believed in them suffer from psychological problems. He asked people to remove irrational beliefs from their lives and live based on facts.

nh/sa/ma

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