 The mythological and religious practices of tumeric in India are no joke. Tumeric is one of the most sacred herbs in India, and it's one of the primary ingredients used to make the famous bindi red dot that appears in the forehead of Hindu women. In addition, special idols of the god Ganesh are made of tumeric, and tumeric water is used as an offering to the goddess Kali, and that's just the tame stuff, seriously. Some of the tumeric rituals I've found are so spectacularly strange, you're going to have to stick around to see just how weird they are. Today, on eccentric nature. And now, the mythology of tumeric. Love and marriage. And tumeric. Uh oh, don't let any tumeric or tumeric mixture spill on the floor. Otherwise, superstition says you're going to get some marriage news. Might not be your own, but somebody's marriage. It's not terribly specific. You're also going to risk the wrath of your family or friends, as tumeric has a tendency to stain. Kekuma, a powder used for religious and social markings, is made partly from tumeric, and it's supposed to boost sex drive. But apparently, only married women are supposed to wear it for this purpose, and not unmarried women or widowers. Well, that's a touch archaic. Now, you can't talk about tumeric mythology and marriage without talking about the Haldi ceremony. Traditionally, the pre-wedding prep would begin with the marriage cloth being dyed with tumeric. Not strictly required nowadays, but some still do continue this tradition. Next up, the elders of the family. Apply a tumeric-based paste to the faces of the bride and groom. In some places, they believe you can't leave the house until the wedding. Or evil spirits will try and get ya. Sometimes the bride and groom will return the favor and apply the paste to unmarried siblings or friends. And whomever gets pasted is supposed to find a sexy partner soon. Might stain your clothes, but hey, if you get a sexy partner out of the deal, shh. Who cares? The use of tumeric throughout the Haldi wedding ceremony serves multiple purposes. It's supposed to ward off evil, prevent fevers and illnesses, and get rid of any of those pre-wedding jitters. Concurrently, it's also believed to bring a blessing of fortune. Prosperity. And purification. Now it's time for the wedding. A string dyed with tumeric paste or dipped in tumeric water is tied around the bride's neck by the groom. Dry roots of tumeric are often tied to the necklace as well. In some places, before tying the marriage band around your wife's neck, you'd tie one around the neck of a female cat. I would think it best if you know the cat. It wouldn't be as effective otherwise, unless it's a special cat. This necklace is known as the Thali or Mangle Sutra and is recognized by Indian marriage law. It's basically the same as using wedding rings in the West. It also formalizes the wedding ceremony and of course tells everyone, Back off! This woman is off the market! She's mad! And the reason for tying it around the cat's neck well it's supposed to help bring more prosperity and protection to the marriage. After all, this tumeric fun comes to Thalambralu, which is a rice mixed with tumeric and saffron, which the bride and groom will toss gently over each other's head and then often douse each other with it too. According to lore, Lord Ram and Sita were showered, not with tumeric but a basket of pearls. When Ram picked up the pearls, they dazzled like blue sapphires and as Ram smiled and went to pour the pearls over Sita, she looked up, their eyes connected for the first time and the pearls turned a beautiful ruby red. But for human weddings, tumeric and rice were a nice symbolic and thrifty replacement for pearls. Overall, the ritual is a way for the bride and groom to demonstrate they recognize the god and goddess in each other and that's pretty darn nice if you ask me. Luck and negativity! Tumoric can be sprinkled in a variety of ways to stave off negativity, bring luck and even boost fertility. To grant a baby luck, this simple version is placing some tumeric on a newborn baby's forehead. The stranger version is burying the umbilical cord in a hole with tumeric, tumeric rice and beetle nut. Luck is also one of the prime reasons that the bendy dot is placed on women's foreheads as this is the place that Mesha Rashe is supposed to reside and applying that cum cum mixture to your forehead brings lots of good luck to your life. But Mesha Rashe and Mars are doing hanging around on your forehead, that's another story. You'll often find people in India tying tumeric in a red cloth and putting it in the corners of their house or simply liberally sprinkling it around to help keep negativity away. Another odd one is that you're supposed to use tumeric in your bath to bring luck, but not if you're a widow or widower. Apparently widows aren't supposed to be lucky either. What is the deal, man? What have they got against widowers? You're also not supposed to sprinkle it in a house where mourning has been declared. This is also a bit odd as tumeric is supposed to bring positivity, purification and harmony. I would think you need that when you're going through mourning. Sometimes these rituals just do not make sense, but oh, we're just getting started with the crazy. Bizarre Customs Part One All right friends, it's time for truly bizarre and some downright scary rituals involving tumeric. Here's a kooky one involving land disputes. An Indian priest would level a piece of ground and smear it with cow dung. Great start! The boundary would then be marked with a rice flour and tumeric mixture, with just a little mound of dung and tumeric mix left in the middle. Probably for aesthetic value. A sword would then be laid across the heap. That's right, sword. The priest then goes through a sequence of touching the rice tumeric flour, not the cow dung, with his fingers and knuckle creating a space to exit on the south side. Enter the chicken. The chicken? Yep, the chicken. The chicken is placed over the central tumeric dung heap. The priest mutters a few incantations, and then an egg is placed on the heap. The whole ritual is then repeated several times depending on how many people are involved, after which the chickens are decapitated. Not cool. The heads are then placed in the south facing space, along with the egg, which is now broken. The people involved are then supposed to eat a portion of this grotesque mixture, before stating who they believe the land belongs to. You remember that? This was all based on a land issue? Yeah. If one of the people lied, then they die. Man, harsh. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they died from disease after eating that disturbing mixture of gunk. Turmeric and Religion There are a bunch of gods associated with turmeric, and I'm not gonna name them all. They're not easy to say. Basically, in the world of religion, the use of turmeric powder is supposed to encourage fertility, prosperity, courage, purity, and it even represents the space between chastity and sensuality. Often you'll find turmeric used in various rituals like the kalabba, where turmeric is poured on deities' likenesses and temples. Sometimes they're also worshipped by throwing powdered turmeric. Ooh, like one of those color powder parties. And like I said, there are lots of gods with lots of rituals, and most of these ones are pretty banal, so we're gonna move on. Bazaar customs Part 2 In the village of Chakibunda, there's a pool of water. Ah, this sounds much more relaxing than chicken dismemberment. And if you're looking to have children or gain wealth, then you best go there and pour some oil into that water. The oil is said not to float as usual. Next, you add some beetle leaves with turmeric and kukuma as an offering. If they sink, and the leaves return with the marks of nails upon them, kinda spooky, then the person who offered them will get what they wished for. Oh, that's not too bad. And now for another more grotesque way to use turmeric to appease the gods. Oh goody, more gore. There are various types of animal sacrifices involving turmeric and, much more frightening, cases of people performing human sacrifices in order to ensure a rich turmeric crop. Hopefully these days, people are more in tune with modern agriculture and don't need to sacrifice animals or people to help get their crops in order. Fighting disease. In some places in India, people place palm prints of turmeric outside their houses to ward off disease. You can also wear turmeric root on a silver thread or just carry some in your pocket to ward off illness. I say just eat it and get the nutritional benefits. In some places, shamans will chew up turmeric and spit it on their patients to help ward off disease. Yeah, that sounds hygienic. And here we go with the root spitting again. If you want to see more fun spitting rituals, then watch the mythology of ginger. Some Indonesian cultures have a ritual to protect your newborn from ill health and demons. The father, chews up turmeric and a twilight, spits it in all directions away from their child. Well, thankfully it's away from the child this time. Turmeric versus the supernatural. Turmeric's also commonly used to ward off the evil eye. Or to protect yourself, your car, your business, or your place of residence against evil spirits. In Malaysia, some people spread a paste of turmeric on a mother's abdomen and the umbilical cord after birth to protect the child. Ew. You can also mix turmeric with a bit of salt and water. To spray around an area you need purified from those nasty forces of evil. If you want to avoid ghosts, burnt turmeric, placed on the junction of a road, is supposed to do the trick. Just make sure no one steps on your turmeric mixture at a three-way junction as it's supposed to be the perfect spot for a ghost to enter your body. On that case, who's ready for an exorcism? Another wild ceremony to get rid of the devil calls for placing a small leaf with chunam and turmeric away from the possessed person's hut. Then place a bigger leaf with the blood of a fowl right next to it. Oh, come on! What's with all the chicken killing? Now the big problem with this ritual is that the first person who sets eyes on these leaves gets possessed and sets the other individual free. Well, that's very little consolation to the poor chickens. Ever been involved in a churk in chicken ritual? Why? Let me know in the comments down below. Then get counseling. If you want to have more fun with weird myths and customs, then either of these fun videos will do the trick. Please be kind. Take care of each other. And no chicken killing rituals. Please save the chickens.