Popular Taiwanese Superstitions

Highly educated, full grown adults will tell you very seriously “ghosts exist and they will try to kill you.” Ghosts are definitely the biggest threat. There’s a whole month dedicated to them that comes with its own set of superstitions. Completely straight-faced, my manager told me not to go swimming during ghost month.

Anyway, in addition to ghosts, there are also superstitions surrounding child birth, different types of animals, numbers, hand gestures, gift giving, body art, etc. Most of these double as old proverbs told to teach children some common sense. For example, it’s not very smart to go swimming alone with or without ghosts. Additionally, many Taiwanese superstitions are also bound up with the belief of reincarnation.

A local friend explained that Taiwanese religion doubles as a set of superstitions that control when you die, what you’re reborn as and how many tricks ghosts can play on you along the way. For example, anyone with pierced ears cannot be reborn as a male. (Yes, this patriarchal nonsense still exists.)

Animals

Black animals with white paws are considered unlucky and used to be killed. Aware of this old superstition, many people go out of their way to adopt these animals and get them off the streets.

Numbers

Chinese culture places great importance on homonyms or words that sound the same. (You can probably guess where this is going.) In Chinese, the words four and death sound the same. For this reason, the number four is the Taiwanese equivalent to the western 13. Apartment buildings, hospitals, offices and schools will literally just skip fourth floors. Third floors just happen to have very high ceilings.

Red Ink

This is actually a great classroom management tool for teachers. If there’s a disruptive student, get out your red marker and start spelling out the miscreant’s name on the board letter by letter. It works wonders, especially with younger kids. Let me explain, red ink looks like blood. In Taiwanese culture, you only write names in blood if you intend harm upon that person or want them to die soon. Needless to say, my kindergarten class was not amused.

Gifts

Don’t gift people sharp objects, white flowers, watches or sets of four. When given as gifts, these items mean that you want the recipient to die sooner rather than later. Sharp objects should be self-explanatory. White flowers are reserved for funerals. Watches and clocks, as gifts, mean that the recipient’s time is literally running out. Sets of four remind people of death.

Body Art

I already told you about pierced ears. Compared to Western culture, not many Taiwanese women have them. The lack of earrings is one of the first things I noticed after moving here. Also, people with tattoos are gangsters; although, this is more of a stereotype than a superstition.

Hand Gestures

In the United States, it’s the middle finger. Unfortunately, Taiwan’s taboo hand signal is commonly used in the United States. It’s the one used to beckon people or get attention. You know: palm up with a repeatedly curling index finger. Well, in Taiwan, this is the hand signal for the number four, which of course means that you want the person you’re beckoning at to die soon. Whoops. In the beginning, I accidentally told numerous students to go kill themselves.

Pointing 

It’s rude to point directly at someone and supernatural deities especially don’t like it. If you point at the Moon, the associated supernatural will retaliate by taking off your ear.

Table Manners

You would never casually leave your fork sticking straight up out of a piece of steak. This behavior is generally frowned upon. It’s the same in Asia, but with chopsticks instead of forks. Never leave your chopsticks straight up in your food. Yes, it’s very tempting to stick them in a bowl of rice and leave them there, but don’t do it. Rest them on the table or lay them across your plate. Again, never leave them sticking up. It’s rude and basically translates to inviting death to the dinner table. Little children will look up at you with tears in their eyes, saying “Teacher, I don’t want to die.” Ok, maybe not with tears, but the rest of that sentence actually happened.

Ghosts

These are not Casper, these things mostly just want a chance to kill people, which is why offerings are set up during ghost month to appease them and keep them at bay. Taiwanese ghosts are murderous because their one goal is to move on and be reincarnated into their next life. In order to this, they need another ghost to take their place. In order to have that, they need to kill someone.

Swimming – Don’t go swimming alone and, during ghost month, don’t go swimming at all.

Whistling – Don’t whistle at night. The ghosts will follow you.

Laundry – Don’t hang clothes out to dry at night. Ghosts will steal them, wear them and use them to sneak past your doorman and into your house. Think twice the next time that sock goes missing, because a proper Taiwanese household doesn’t even have a dryer.

Pictures – Don’t take pictures at night or in front of mirrors. Apparently, ghosts like to photobomb.

Attention Disorders – ADD and ADHD don’t really exist in traditional Chinese culture. Instead, there are ghosts that disrupt and block a child’s learning ability.

Ghost Month – Don’t get married, start a business, have a baby or buy a house. Just hermit and wait for the ghosts to go away.

Ghost Brides – If you see a red envelope on the sidewalk, leave it there. Grief ridden parents are probably trying to trick someone into marrying their ghost daughter. If an adult woman dies before she can be married, her ghost will be trapped between worlds and unable to move on. (Can you tell this is a male dominated society?) To help her ghost find peace, her parents are within their legal rights to trick someone into marrying her ghost.

At Taiwanese weddings, money is given instead of actual gifts. More importantly the money is presented to newlyweds in red envelopes. For this reason, grieving parents may plant a red envelope on the ground, then hide and wait for a naive (and slightly greedy) person to pick it up. In recent years, parents have gotten craftier and have started ditching the envelopes in favor of just leaving money on the ground.

Ghost Weddings – There can also be a ghost groom. If two people are engaged and one dies before the wedding, a ghost ceremony will be held during ghost month. This allows the deceased’s soul to move on and allows the living party to find closure or develop attachment issues.