Hi all
I dimly remember a superstition from the early 90s in Taipei about how if a cat drowned, its body had to be hung up on a tree to avert the bad luck that it would otherwise bring.
I’m not even sure it was a cat–perhaps it was a dog?
Does anyone know anything about this? Or any other interesting animal supersititions…
never set your picnic table up under an elephant, especially if its raining…
monkeys only taste good when the moon is not visible…
only use parrot feathers to wipe down your brow on wednesdays, and magpie feathers on all other days.
If you hit an animal with a vehicle and kill it, the animal’s spirit will inhabit the vehicle. Dead cats need to be hung in trees… you know those clear plastic bags full of schmutz and juice you sometimes see hanging from branches in the countryside? Unless it’s a mango waiting to ripen, those would be dead cats, in bags, hanging in trees.
Dead dogs need to be disposed of in running water: rivers streams, and the like.
now that’s nice and sanitary. yet another reason to be very careful with drinking water here!
Yes, but the spirit can be exorcised by having a young boy piss on the tires of the vehicle.
I actually witnessed a father showing his son to do it once, in Tainan county.
Yes, but the spirit can be exorcised by having a young boy piss on the tires of the vehicle.
I actually witnessed a father showing his son to do it once, in Tainan county.[/quote]
That’s cool, Quentin. It means that you can always get a ghost-free deal on a used vehicle. It makes me wonder how these superstitions get manufactured and propagated, because they seem to vary tremendously from one place/person to another.
I also want to make up a few “American superstitions” to share with local friends and family… superstitions that let me get out of shit I don’t want to do. Superstitions against eating pig plumbing would be a good place to start for me. 
I just make up some bullshit religious observance. Blood rice? Forbidden by my religion. Taiwanese mystery meat? It’s Lent, I can’t eat meat. Chicken testicles? Sorry, it’s the sacrament of Our Lady of The Worthless Miracle.
The cat thing is true. Cats have nine lives, so you hang them so every time they wake up, they die again until all their lives are up. :eh: