OK, here's a questian for all you Indian friends (India Indians) out there:
Tonight the really smelly (i.e. sour week old curry-sweat) Indian guy came into the bath just as I was heading out. Nice body, not overweight, shapely longer face, good teeth.
And... He had loosely tied around his waist two strings of differing hues of red.
I didn't bother to stop him and ask him face-to-face with both of us singing the theme song to "Free Willy" but nonetheless I am curious.
Can anyone out there enlarge my ... perspective on different cultures, please? After all there are all kinds of different strokes for different folks. Namaste.
I love you!
Cammywood
Went to the Google and found this answer to the question from Yahoo answers:
ReplyDelete"I used to wear on of those, when I was younger. When I asked my Mum she told me it was to rid me of bad spirits and bad luck. To protect me from harm and keep me away from the receiving end of another's jealousy or envy. She also said that it was just part of Indian culture, and sometimes there's no meaning behind it at all. Some people wear is just to feel closer to God, some just to feel protected. It all in the sense of mind.
It’s just culture, it’s nothing bad or anything. I swear :]"
Now i need to look up and see if it's the same as the string bracelets i see on some of my clients... i think they were Indian. Wonder if it's the same idea.
Isn't Google the greatest invention since air conditioning (can't think of any better these days with temps hovering around 97 - 100+F)?
As Greg is fond of saying: "there's no excuse for not knowing anything with Google!"
Namaste
The string is for good juju! :~}
ReplyDeleteSounds a little bit like the red strings that Madonna and others wear who practice Kabbalah.
ReplyDeleteAs for the smell, that because of all the turmeric and other spices the Indian culture tend to dine on, their body sweats out toxins much easier than western diets do. That too is a good thing, although something we are not always accustomed to. I learned that last week when the Homeopathic Dr came to lecture.
Here is an excerpt from a website about the Red String,
ReplyDeleteItalians and Mediteranian cultures have been wearing it well before Madonna made it a fashion statement for those misguided souls such as Brittany Spheres and Lyndsay Lohan who I suspect do so more because Madonna did it, not that they even understand why.
*****Why the Red String?****
***My family is of Italian origin (parents are first-generation American). Babies in my family have been wearing a red string on their arm or pinned to their sweater or carrier for as long as I can remember to ward off the evil eye or "Mal Oche." Is there a connection to Madonna and other celebrities who follow Kabbalah and wear a red string?
For celebrities like Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Madonna-and even Madonna's daughter Lourdes-it has become fashionable to wear a "Kabbalah" bracelet made out of braided red string to protect them from "the unfriendly stare and unkind glances," as the Kabbalah Centre (where the string sells for $26 a length) puts it. Surprisingly, though, this tradition is not explicitly from Kabbalah. Many Mediterranean cultures wear red to ward off the evil eye. There are biblical traditions associated with a red string as well. Wrapping a red string around the tomb of the matriarch Rachel is supposed to protect women in childbirth. Since Rachel is associated with the Shekhinah (in Kabbalah, the divine presence), there are also some kabbalistic overtones. One nonsupernatural explanation of the string's power is that it reminds the wearer to bear himself or herself with humility, so as not to attract envy.****
Its interesting because we are actually watching the process of evolution of religion and how over time they become very convoluted and mixed together by sharing and making traditions ones own, but really they were another religions before, and anothers before that. If we study we realize that all religions are really remarkably the same.
ReplyDeleteVery true, Paula.
ReplyDeleteAs we were discussing over on your post, the red string is in many cultures and religions, and i suspect it has to do with the blood that you mentioned as connection people or peoples... It's ALL red, so we are all the same in the most basic of ways, Biology!
This is a GOOD thing, don't you think? ;-)
Yes absolutely. If we stopped looking for ways we are different we would realize that we are far more the same.... and not very different at all. We may call our divinity by various names, but if you explain the definition of it, every one has the same "god". The same being or light, or energy... and our religions teachings all have the same message, despite the language.
ReplyDeleteIts very cool, I just wish more could see with open eyes, and less with hate of something outside of what they know....
Wherever I go, I meet myself.
ReplyDelete-Tozan
And today, Paula, at this moment in time, you look like a "questionable volcano" (no photo, and the icon looks like that, more than a body and a head). Thanks for the cool info! I am sooo glad I didn't use google, because it means I can get all this knowledge through interaction with live people and I LOVE THAT!
ReplyDeleteKabbalah!
Bless You!
Yea it seems Multiply was having a glitch, so it didn't acknowledge that I was changing my photo, I had to walk away go do other things and hope that when I came back they fixed it.. and it appears they have. LOL
ReplyDeleteHi Reed!
ReplyDeleteWhat was the question?
ReplyDeleteThe smell, is an excess of indian spice and sweat. My dad showers twice a day and still always smells like sour spices... unappealing and yet to me, it is home.
The strings? Those are reminders of faith. or as was mentioned good juju.
Thanks, D.
ReplyDeleteThanks, J.
Thanks, P.
welcome....
ReplyDelete