11 Fascinating Everyday Customs Around The World
When thinking of daily activities, we are all accustomed too, we may actually think the rest of the world does it the same way, one of them is look at someone in the eyes and… smile, the expected response is a smile back right? Well not in many countries... from differences in hallucinations to how we all celebrate birthdays, here are The Weirdest Everyday Customs Around The World.
11 Pass Me The Illegal Ketchup!
When thinking of French fries, you eat them with… yes ketchup, and so are burgers, hotdogs and more... in fact there is are saying that indicate that if you don’t like the food, put ketchup on it! It will fix it…but not all countries view ketchup as magnificent as others. In France, there is a ketchup ban, elementary schools can have ketchup with their French fries about once a week and that’s about it, no ketchup can be put or mixed as an ingredient in the cafeteria foods, especially French dishes... the reason is actually pretty understanding, due to globalization, lots of food chains are flooding the French market, so they want children to be familiar with French traditional dishes so not to forget their roots…
10 The 2nd Grade Janitor
When thinking of going to school, the last thing you think about is who cleans the classroom or toilets, you saw the janitor and waved hi i hope, or even went further and thank him or her for the great sprarklin clean job they do every day. But not all countries have it this good and easy!! In Japan, children are encouraged, no matter their social status and age to clean their classroom every day. Each child has a washcloth and all!! The school even pairs younger students with older “mentors” to teach them the ropes or better cleaning. And if that was not enough, about 3 times a year the older kids clean around the school, picking up trash and really doing the community a great and humbling service. You will not see in any public event or movie theater a piece of paper left on the floor after the event ended… There is lots to learn from that!
9 Finish Your Meal!
In many countries finish up a meal means you love it and it was so good you ate the last bite. But not so fast, in china, eating all the food means the hostess did not make enough, even if you loved it so much! You must leave a little piece!! traditionally In Italy and South Africa, if your plate is empty they will give you more because you must still be hungry and again, you should leave a bite so not to offend. In Colombia, Mexico as well as many Latin countries, if you don’t finish and clean the plate… did you not like it? Oh but they will offer seconds since you cleaned the plate… its very confusing... since old traditions are changing, you will get different responses to this issue within the same country... it really makes it fun...
8 Happy Birthday!
When you think of a birthday, you may think it should be very universal to celebrate it one the earth goes around the sun once a year… but you are mistaken. It seems like counting the years are not necessary like in china, a baby that was born will already be a year old and to illustrate, if a baby was born a month before the new lunar year, then, that baby will be two! If that is not confusing, the Mongolians also focus on the full moon to count the years, after the baby is born, a big feast ensues to celebrate the birth!! But after that, the kid gains a year the first lunar day, of the first lunar month… yeah… that was fun to say... I guess you can say, happy you were born, not happy birthday?
7 Working Up The Latter
In many countries, working is a must if you are going to give your family a better chance for survival. Due to wars and diseases, many families around the world have only a single parent head of the household and many of them are women. So there is no surprise that there are many nonprofit organizations designed to support the efforts of single women heads of family. From manual artisan jobs sold locally to larger corporations run by women. But apparently nor everyone thinks that should be the case. The best example is Saudi Arabia, where women are banned from working jobs man can do… that includes the lingerie department, yea, men do that one! Women are only allowed to be clerks or work in education or medical field. India, Pakistan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand on the other hand has been changing their perception of women’s work, and are becoming more and more open due to globalization.
6 Yellow Me in Jail
Yellow in many cultures is seen as the color of happiness or in others, “yellow with envy” but none of them would land you in jail just for sporting it around. Although some American schools that have gang members who use particular colors may ban it too, including hoodies to protect students... but That’s not the case in Malaysia, in 2015 antigovernment protests erupted the government started arresting anyone wearing yellow t shirts. In 2016, the ban was removes but the country still views it as antigovernment and may still be frowned upon, but with no legal problems.
5 Did Ya’ll See That?
Many of us may have heard or seen movies where someone had issues dealing with the inner voices that taunted them to do bad things... or even hear of people having visions of awful magnitudes, but does every country hears and sees it the same way? After compiling patient’s reports about schizophrenia in an institution in Texas, it suggested that that’s not necessarily the case. In the 30s most sufferers of schizophrenia reported that the inner voices where positive and uplifting, but then, the same mental institution in the 80, had a much darker perception of the illness, it was further assumed it had to do with the rapid changes in the culture of violence increasing in the 40 and being more seen in movies and heard in music in the 80s. A study of different cultures concluded that Americans saw the hallucinations or voices as very negative, while in other countries a very positive view of schizophrenia, some seeing or hearing their ancestors as guides or very playful and entertaining… most bizarre was the finding that in the country of Georgia and Pakistan, the sufferers only heard voices… not visions. Seeing it further, its cultural how schizophrenia is perceived, I guess it’s all in our heads...
4 Lets All Travel... Not
We are now in an era where by gender equality is becoming the norm and we women are taking our power back from past oppression. But believe it or not, there are places around the world that still don’t allow us to enter! You may think countries like Saudi Arabia would not allow women to walk around alone without a permit, and you are right. But you would never think that would be the case in highly developed countries like Germany! In a particular water park in Bavaria, due to female parts being injured, women got banned to riding the “X-treme Faser” slide. Apparently, it goes to fast and its not good for you. Doctors indicated that there are No contraindications to using this ride the only danger is if the woman is pregnant… so go figure!
3 Smile Your Way To Success!
Smile… and brighten the world... that should be the moto or at least that’s what dentist say.... but other countries have different ideas of what smiling should be for. Let’s begin with basic human instincts, smiling is universal, it displays friendliness and non-threatening behavior. Cases of taught behavior on how to smile would be people with autistic spectrum disorder, who have to learn how to smile and how to use it properly. The smile interpretation is not as universal. In Vietnam and Thailand and other Asian countries, smiling can mean that the person did not understand what was being said or is embarrassed. In Germany and the Scandinavian countries, smiling to anyone just because, its seen as you having a simple mind... in the Latin Countries, not smiling. well, what’s wrong with you?!
In order to boost the tourist friendly status of non-smiley nations, during the Olympic in 2008, people where taught how to smile as part of their curriculum. Also Paris had to do some smiling homework so the City of lights can also shine with the smiles.
2 The Gnoming Truth
When thinking of elves and leprechauns, gnomes you may think of them as just fairy tales read to children and move on with your adult life. But not all countries dismiss the unseen world as just that, unseen so therefore not in need of protection. But maybe in Iceland, the unseen people need to be protected as well! If anyone is building a project in Iceland, not only do you have to be concern of the environmental impact it has in humans and other lives but also you must consider the needs of the “Huldufolk” or the unseen people. An intermediary between the seen and unseen people participate until an agreement is reached. Nothing there gets done without all the parties agreeing. There have been many reports of projects having freak accidents… that because they did not ask nicely… NATO was not immune either with 100s of Icelanders protesting an air base that was encroaching on the Elves territory!
Now, don’t think the unseen world only happens in Iceland and Ireland with the Leprechauns, in Colombia in the 90s there was an entire encyclopedia dedicated to the history and daily lives of gnomes!
1 The Rooster Says…
One would think that animal sounds are universal, but that’s definitely not the case! In many parts of the world, animals apparently also have different accents! Now, you probably have heard that whales as they travel and meet with other whales form different parts of the world, do pick up different sounds and songs. But in this case, regular plain dogs, would sound in the US as “woof, woof” in Latin American countries, “guau, guau”! In Romania Ham... Well according to research compiling the sounds of animals by country… none sound the same at all! A koren dog sound like “meong”… but what does that sounds to you like…
