man shoots, God carries the bullets
So where do we go once the body has been burned, buried or, as with the Zoroastrian Parsees of India, pecked off the skeleton by vultures? It’s hard for us to believe that the particular vitality that once animated the face of a loved one hasn’t gone somewhere:
hanmdohdaka (Dakota, USA) to tell of one’s intercourse with the spiritual world, to speak unintelligibly
dagok (Malay) clouds on the horizon of weird and changing form (believed to be ghosts of murdered men)
beina-foersla (Old Icelandic) the removal of bones (from one churchyard to another)
For Hindus, Buddhists and Native Americans, among others, the afterlife is not necessarily another place:
gatâgati (Sanskrit) going and coming, dying and being born again
púsápalan panninavan (Tamil) one who in the present life receives the reward of merit acquired in a former state
apagabbha (Pali, India) not entering another womb (i.e. not destined for another rebirth)
tihanmdeya (Dakota, USA) to have been acquainted in a former state of existence
For others, the spirits of the dead may well stick around and remain animate enough to be called on in times of need:
hanmde (Dakota, USA) to have intercourse with the spirit world
zangu (Luvale, Zambia) a dance to immunize an adulterous woman to the spirit of her dead husband
ngar (Kaurna Warra, Australia) the call of a dead person
kuinyo (Kaurna Warra, Australia) the voice of the dead
andoa (Bakweri, Cameroon) to invoke spirits by spitting out the juice of leaves
havu (Bugotu, Solomon Islands) to make an offering to a ghost
sad (Sanskrit) being
pop (Bosnian) priest
bigot (French) sanctimonious
eleven (Hungarian) the living
fun (Lao) dream
hell (Norwegian) luck
Sometimes mere spirits aren’t enough and stronger supernatural agents have to be called on. Many and varied are the prayers and rituals offered to the world’s deities:
kahόk (Tagalog, Philippines) the act of dipping fingers in holy water
a-cāmati (Sanskrit) to sip water from the palm of one’s hand for purification
hacer (se) cruces (Latin American Spanish) to cross yourself in the hope that God will help you to understand.
thì thup (Vietnamese) to go down on one’s knees then get up again, to make repeated obeisances
kiam (Malay) to stand during prayer
anda (Latin American Spanish) a wooden frame for carrying images of saints in processions
miau (Iban, Sarawak and Brunei) to wave a cockerel over a person while uttering a prayer
Many and varied too are the building of their shrines and how they are decorated:
abhi-gamana (Sanskrit) the act of cleansing and smearing with cowdung the way leading to the image of the deity
laplap bilong alta (Tok Pisin, Papua New Guinea) an altar cloth
hari kuyo (Japanese) a shrine for broken sewing needles (out of respect for the tools of the sewing trade)
tintueta-wen (Buli, Ghana) the personal god of a living or dead person whose shrine has not yet been transferred to the front of the house
bìt torng lăng prá(Thai) doing a good deed in secret (literally, pasting gold leaf onto the back of the Buddha image)
In most cultures, one spirit stands pre-eminent above all others and is always the One to be both consulted and worshipped:
Hawëníyu’ (Mingo, USA) God (literally, he is the one whose word/voice is good)
olumonron (Yoruba, Nigeria, Benin and Togo) one who understands people’s problems, God
‘He who is near the church is often far from God,’ say the French; and there is always a risk of substituting religiosity for virtue:
hywl (Welsh) religious or emotional fervour, as experienced with preaching, poetry reading, sporting events, etc.
une grenouille de bénitier (French) an extremely devout churchwoman (literally, a frog of the holy-water basin)
Kerzlschlucker (Austrian German) an insufferably pious per-son who never misses a mass (literally, a candle cormorant)
The English language is full of relics of our former, more religious days. The expression ‘crikey’ is a truncation of the oath ‘by Christ’s key’ and ‘bloody’ of ‘by our Lady’. Socrates swore ni ton kuna, by the dog; and Pythagoras is said to have sworn ma tin tetrakton, by the number four. Even atheistic Baudelaire swore by the sacred St Onion. The following expressions of astonished disbelief are just as outlandish:
Kors i taket! (Swedish) Cross in the ceiling! (used when something rare happens)
Toushite svet, vynosite chemodany! (Russian) Switch off the light and take out your suitcases! (used when something is a great surprise)
Holla die Waldfee! (German) Ooh, the forest’s fairy! (exclamation of surprise, often with an ironic connotation)
In groppa al riccio! (Italian) On a hedgehog’s back! (the response to which is Con le mutande di ghisa!, Wearing underpants made of cast iron!)
Japanese monks invented pious euphemisms so as not to taint the inner sanctum with jarring worldly words. Whipping came to be called nazu (caressing), tears shiotaru (dropping salt), money moku (eyes), testicles ryōgyaku (spiritual globes), and toilets kish-isho (a place of truth).
However much some would prefer it if none of us believed in anything, it seems that holy men (and women) are here to stay:
vusitavant (Pali, India) one who has reached perfection (in chaste living)
mana (Polynesian dialect) the spiritual charisma attributed to holy people
samádhi (Tamil) the abstract contemplation of an ascetic, in which the soul is considered to be independent of the senses; a sepulchre, grave
nésajjika-dhutanga (Sinhala, Sri Lanka) a religious observance which restrains a man from sleeping or lying down
an-avakānkshamāna (Sanskrit) not wishing impatiently (said of ascetics who, having renounced all food, expect death without impatience)
anupabbajjā (Pali, India) giving up worldly life in imitation of another
Certain groupings have particular significance, particularly in Southern Asia.
3 tam-cuong (Vietnamese) the three fundamental bonds – prince and minister, father and son, husband and wife
4 tu-linh (Vietnamese) the four supernatural creatures – dragon, unicorn, tortoise, phoenix
5 bani khoms (Yemeni) practitioners of the five despised trades (barber, butcher, bloodletter, bath attendant and tanner)
6 luc-nghe (Vietnamese) the six arts – propriety, music, archery, charioteering, writing and mathematics
7 saptavidha-ratnaya (Sinhala, Sri Lanka) the seven gems or treasures of a Chakrawarti king – chariot wheel, wife, jewel, elephant, horse, son, prime minister
8 ashtāng (Hindi) prostration in salutation or adoration, so as to touch the ground with the eight principal parts of the body, i.e. with the knees, hands, feet, breasts, eyes, head, mouth and mind
9 nasāya-ratna (Sanskrit) the nine precious gems (pearl, ruby, topaz, diamond, emerald, lapis lazuli, coral, sapphire and garnet) which are supposed to be related to the nine planets
10 dasa-mūtraka (Sanskrit) the urine often (elephant, buffalo, camel, cow, goat, sheep, horse, donkey, man and woman)
If your god isn’t interested you may just have to fall back on other means:
itinatalagá (Tagalog, Philippines) to place oneself at the mercy of fate
uhranout (Czech) to cast the evil eye on somebody, to be-witch someone
bino (Gilbertese, Oceania) an incantation to get a woman back by turning a gourd very rapidly and allowing the wind to whistle into the opening
naffata (Arabic) a woman who spits on the knots (in exercising a form of Arabian witchcraft in which women tie knots in a cord and spit upon them with an imprecation)
You might think that the advice of spirits and gods would be enough to comfort and direct humankind, but not a bit of it. We are so desperate to know what the future holds for us that almost anything will do:
fakane (Bugotu, Solomon Islands) to divine, using a broken coconut shell
koffiedik kijken (Dutch) reading tea leaves, predicting the future (literally, coffee-grounds-looking)
ber-dreymr (Old Icelandic) having clear dreams as to the future
Iowa (Setswana, Botswana) a particular pattern in which a diviner’s bones have fallen
onnevalamine (Estonian) telling one’s fortune by pouring molten lead into cold water (on New Year’s Eve)
chichiri-wiirik (Buli, Ghana) a man who can call on fairies to reveal things to him; a type of diviner
vayasa mutírtsu (Telugu, India) a crow crossing from the left side to the right (which Hindus consider a good omen)
We all hope things will turn out well but there are all kinds of superstitions that wishing each other good luck might bring its re-verse. When someone in Norway goes fishing, he is wished skitt fiske, lousy fishing.
German has two expressions for being lucky: Schwein haben, to have a pig – as a pig symbolizes good luck and lots of sausages; and Sott haben, to have soot – because, according to folklore, touching a chimney sweep brings luck. The French describe someone who is incredibly lucky as il a le cul bordé de nouilles, literally, his arse is fringed with noodles.
na kukovo ljato (Bulgarian) in a cuckoo summer
kad na vrbi rodi grožđe (Croatian) when willows bear grapes
når der er to torsdage i en uge (Danish) when a week has two Thursdays
quand les poules auront des dents (French) when hens have teeth
am Sankt Nimmerleinstag (German) on St Never-ever-day
majd ha piros hό esik (Hungarian) when it’s snowing red snowflakes
quando Pasqua viene a maggio (Italian) when Easter falls in May
tuyaning dumi yerga tekkanda (Uzbek) when the camel’s tail reaches the ground
când o fi bunică fata mare (Romanian) when my grandma will be a virgin again
kag-da rak svist-nyet (Russian) when the crayfish whistles
balik ağaca / kavağa çıkinca (Turkish) when fish climb trees/poplar trees
cuando las ranas críen pelos (Spanish) when frogs grow hair
