• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

indahli (Alabama, USA) to cut stripe marks on, in order to suck out blood (applied to a hexed or sick person)

Hex

A Chilote Indian, who has gathered up the spittle of an enemy, will put it in a potato, hang it in the smoke, and utter certain spells in the belief that his enemy will waste away as the potato dries in the smoke. And many others, likewise, believe that one person can be responsible for another’s physical decline:

khmungha (Dakota, USA) to cause sickness or death in a supernatural way

The devil’s in the detail

If it’s an evil spirit to blame, it will need to be expelled. Methods differ:

tin-fu-ko (Car, Nicobar Islands) the driving out of the devil from a man by beating the ground with the thick stubs of a coconut leaf

sosela (Tsonga, South Africa) to cure a person by exorcism through the beating of drums

phurbu (Tibetan) ceremonial nails with which evil demons are symbolically nailed fast and banished

On reflection

Corpse in the middle

The Koreans, Japanese and Chinese (both in Cantonese and Mandarin) avoid the number 4 since in all these languages it has a very similar pronunciation to the word for death. Chinese and Korean buildings often do not have a fourth floor, replacing the number 4 (sa) with the letter F. This is not the only number that the Chinese are wary of: the number 1414 is especially avoided because when spoken it sounds just like the words ‘definite death, definite death’. Many traditional Chinese people believe that having an uneven number of people in a photograph brings bad luck. To have three people is of greater consequence as the person in the middle will die.

Recuperation

With luck, however outlandish it is, the cure will work and time will do the rest:

mimai (Japanese) to visit a sick person in the hospital

hletela (Tsonga, South Africa) to help a sick person to walk; to lead, as a hen does her chickens

samaya (Maguindanaon, Philippines) a party held to celebrate the promised cure for someone who is sick

insobáayli (Alabama, USA) to have the feeling come back to a body part

amū lha-vinaya (Pali, India) an acquittal on the grounds of restored sanity

Curtains

But nothing can ever be taken for granted:

doi (Vietnamese) to make one’s last recommendations before death

urdhwaswása (Sinhala, Sri Lanka) the rattling in the throat which precedes death

agonia (Spanish) the dying breath

sa-soa (Bakweri, Cameroon) a comb; to make deathbed statements as to the disposition of property

Clogs and slippers

We kick the bucket or turn up our toes. The Russians play the snake, throw their hooves outwards, glue up their slippers, or throw out their best skates. The theme of no longer being shod and upright on your feet is widespread …

estirar la pata (Latin American Spanish) to stretch out your leg

colgar los tenis (Mexican Spanish) to hang up or hand in your tennis shoes

at stille træskoene (Danish) to put aside the clogs

zaklepat bačkorama (Czech) to bang together a pair of slippers

oikaista koipensa (Finnish) to straighten one’s shanks

nallari havaya dikmek (Turkish) to raise horse shoes to the sky

… but not exclusive:

gaan bokveld toe (Afrikaans) to go to the goat field

cerrar el paraguas (Costa Rican Spanish) to close the umbrella

liar el petate (Spanish) to roll up the sleeping mat

passer l’arme a gauche (French) to pass the firearm to the left

ins Gras beißen (German) to bite into the grass

a da colţul (Romanian) to turn around the corner

hälsa hem (Swedish) to send home one’s regards

irse al patio de los callados (Chilean Spanish) to go to the courtyard of the hushed

ya kwanta dama (Hausa, Nigeria) he is lying on his right arm (Muslims are buried not lying on their backs but on the right arm facing the Kaabah)

A thousand cuts

To die of an illness is not ideal, but in comfortable surroundings, with loved ones around us, perhaps better than some of the alternatives:

lepur (Malay) to die through suffocation in