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View all search resultsSuperstitious minds: Indonesians share their enduring supernatural beliefs
The Jakarta Post delves into superstitions that remain in Indonesian culture
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I
n some western cultures, black cats and broken mirrors are considered bad luck, while four-leaf clovers are believed to offer magical protection and bring good luck. In some parts of Africa, people worship pythons because they believe the snakes bring rainfall and those who violate this are supposed to give the reptile an expensive funeral ceremony. In Indonesia, men have to ask for permission by literally saying phrases such as “excuse me” when urinating in public spaces such as on a tree, in a bush or next to an empty building; otherwise the resident supernatural forces of the site would “bother” them and curse them with a swollen penis.
Yogyakarta-born Yogha Prasiddhamukti Wicaksana said he did it out of manners.
“You’re urinating in places you shouldn’t be, so it makes sense to ask for permission,” the 34-year-old said, “I usually just say it in my head.”
It is one of possibly hundreds, if not thousands, of superstitions commonly believed by Indonesians, which is no surprise since the country is the home of more than 1,300 ethnic groups with diverse cultural backgrounds that gave birth to the country’s wide array of folklores, legends, myths, taboos and even witchcraft.
Some of these superstitions are common, and are shared by many different communities globally, such as how opening an umbrella indoors will cause someone to die, which supposedly originated from an ancient Egyptian belief that doing so—away from the sun’s rays—would anger the Sun God, Ra.
Clipping nails at night will bring death in the family or, at the very least, evil spirits, is a belief that is shared by many countries in Asia such as Japan, China, India, the Philippines and Indonesia.
However, there are quite a lot of superstitions in Indonesia tightly linked to certain local cultures or ancient religions making them unique, weird and at times, harder to make sense of.
