Last night the lunar eclipse was bright and clear out here in rural Cambodia. I was sneaking around upstairs on the porch to look at the moon since it started around 8, which is practically the middle of the night. A few minutes later I heard people yelling, banging pots and my neighbors were lighting incense and placing offerings on their spirit house. The banging and yelling had happened once before in the middle of the night so I asked what was going on.
From what I understand at least in my area they believe that an eclipse is spirits eating the moon so they go out and yell and bang pots to scare the spirits away and protect the moon. They also take it as an opportunity to pray for intelligence and health. I sat outside with my host mom and sister for a little while watching the moon and listening to everyone trying to scare the spirits.
A few other things beliefs in my area
- There are ghosts in banana trees
- When all the dogs bark at night they are seeing ghosts
- If you eat too many peanuts you will have a cough
- You can’t drink cold things or take cold baths if you have a cold (when I took some Tylenol at the Khmer clinic they gave me warm water to drink)
- I’m not really American because I have dark here and I’m so short
Happy weekend!
It’s almost the same her in the USA with just a few differences:
– Last time I looked, I had ghosts in my banana tree. It just didn’t have any bananas.
– When all our dogs bark, we know we have raccoons.
– If we eat too many peanuts, we get fat.
– The exception to the cold things rule is that enough cold beers make you forget you have a cold.
– As for looking American, our polyglot mixture of races ended that comparison a few generations ago,
Don’t get me started on all of the Yiddish superstitions in our family…whoo-boy! Just safe to say that you should never out a hat on a bed or shoes on a bed and why that is, I have not the faintest idea! Always fun to learn more about your fascinating country through your eyes….!