Have you ever watched a wet dog shiver? Shivering is a practical drying method for some animals. If humans could do it as effectively, they might present quite a spectacle of shaking bodies on the beach or at the pool. Alas! We are not the best of shiverers when it comes to drying off, but we sometimes do a little dance to shake off excess water from our heads or arms. For that action we ascribe no special meaning.
Not so in the vicinity of Madras, India, where some ancient texts speak of quivering as an omen. Among Telugu Tottiyans, according to Edgar Thurston, onetime regional superintendent of the Madras Government Museum, during a marriage ceremony “a red ram without blemish is sacrificed. It is first sprinkled with water, and, if it shivers, this is considered a good omen.”* There are probably numerous Telugu Tottiyan marriages that get off to a good start because the little critters probably naturally shiver off the unexpected shower of water.
Our species has no want of behaviors designed to assure us that our futures are bright. As Thurston reports, “In many villages, during the festival to the village deity, water is poured over a sheep's back, and it is accepted as a good sign if it shivers.” Even some of the region’s criminals have been known to use shivering as a sign of their successful ventures in robbing others. Thurston also says that such thieves ordinarily steal sheep, but they will pay for the sheep over which they pour water to watch for shivering before they sacrifice the animals.
If you are not one of the Telugu Tottiyans or other groups in the Madras area who govern their actions by omens, you might be inclined to dismiss what they do as silly. Your dismissal of their omens and beliefs is understandable—to you. But in what behaviors do you or those with whom you associate engage that might seem strange to others?
Ever go to a basketball game or football game? Ever see the group known as cheerleaders? There’s a noticeable absence of such groups at athletic events in most other cultures. Do cheerleaders dance and shake pompoms for a reason? Is there not some slight hint to someone from another culture that their actions might be an appeal to the gods of victory? Have you seen fans (sports or political) waving pennants? Can you imagine one unfamiliar with the practice asking, “Are the pennants for penates?” Or what about sprinkling? Have you seen players and coaches shake and open bottles of champagne to spray over one another after a sports championship?
Because we cannot have grown up in every place and culture, we frequently fail to assess the personal meaning of “strange” behaviors in other cultures, even when we employ our best ethnological and anthropological intentions and skills. Before we laugh or demean, we ought to examine what people from another culture might consider to be our strange behaviors. Without such examination, are we any different from those steeped in unquestioning superstition?
* Edgar Thurston, C.I.E., Omens and Superstitions of Southern India. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1912
https://ia800504.us.archive.org/22/items/omensandsupersti35690gut/35690-8.txt
Not so in the vicinity of Madras, India, where some ancient texts speak of quivering as an omen. Among Telugu Tottiyans, according to Edgar Thurston, onetime regional superintendent of the Madras Government Museum, during a marriage ceremony “a red ram without blemish is sacrificed. It is first sprinkled with water, and, if it shivers, this is considered a good omen.”* There are probably numerous Telugu Tottiyan marriages that get off to a good start because the little critters probably naturally shiver off the unexpected shower of water.
Our species has no want of behaviors designed to assure us that our futures are bright. As Thurston reports, “In many villages, during the festival to the village deity, water is poured over a sheep's back, and it is accepted as a good sign if it shivers.” Even some of the region’s criminals have been known to use shivering as a sign of their successful ventures in robbing others. Thurston also says that such thieves ordinarily steal sheep, but they will pay for the sheep over which they pour water to watch for shivering before they sacrifice the animals.
If you are not one of the Telugu Tottiyans or other groups in the Madras area who govern their actions by omens, you might be inclined to dismiss what they do as silly. Your dismissal of their omens and beliefs is understandable—to you. But in what behaviors do you or those with whom you associate engage that might seem strange to others?
Ever go to a basketball game or football game? Ever see the group known as cheerleaders? There’s a noticeable absence of such groups at athletic events in most other cultures. Do cheerleaders dance and shake pompoms for a reason? Is there not some slight hint to someone from another culture that their actions might be an appeal to the gods of victory? Have you seen fans (sports or political) waving pennants? Can you imagine one unfamiliar with the practice asking, “Are the pennants for penates?” Or what about sprinkling? Have you seen players and coaches shake and open bottles of champagne to spray over one another after a sports championship?
Because we cannot have grown up in every place and culture, we frequently fail to assess the personal meaning of “strange” behaviors in other cultures, even when we employ our best ethnological and anthropological intentions and skills. Before we laugh or demean, we ought to examine what people from another culture might consider to be our strange behaviors. Without such examination, are we any different from those steeped in unquestioning superstition?
* Edgar Thurston, C.I.E., Omens and Superstitions of Southern India. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1912
https://ia800504.us.archive.org/22/items/omensandsupersti35690gut/35690-8.txt
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