CULTURE AND SOCIETY: Customs In Some Countries

What may be commonplace and normal to you and to me may be strange or peculiar to others.

INDONESIA
In Indonesia the traditional bath is called a ‘mandi’. A mandi is a trough about three feet or one metre square and is approximately the same measurement deep. No, the Indonesian does not get in the trough - he/she stands beside the trough and uses what is called in Australia a ‘dipper’. A dipper is a tin not unlike a large preserved fruit tin with a handle on one side. The user takes a dipper full of COLD water and pours it over himself. He then soaps up and continues to wash using the dipper to douse himself with water. Cold water, even in the hottest tropical day, is always extremely cold when left to stand for some time and, as a result, most mandis are very quick and lively affairs.

THAILAND

In Thailand it is a grave insult to walk into a person’s house with shoes on. Shoes are discarded at the front door. Not a silly idea really for one leaves all the litter of the streets outside where it belongs.

Also in Thailand it is considered rude to cross your legs in company and to point your toes at another person. The feet, as the lowest part of the body, are given the lowest esteem and pointing a toe is demeaning to the person at whom the foot is pointed.

BURMA

In Burma, a Buddhist country where temples are common, there is one which is most amusing. It is the custom for men, when attending services at the temples, to sit in the front of the congregation. The women sit at the rear. At one temple where a golden statue of Buddha dominates the building the men, when they look up into the face of the Buddha see a benign look on the face. As one moves back towards the back of the temple the statue’s look gradually changes from the benign and compassionate to a leer with intense sexual connotations. A tribute to the extraordinary skills to the sculptors of that long gone eras and an equal tribute to the memory of Buddha.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

In Papua New Guinea and other Asian countries the ‘bowl’ is an elongated, porcelain hole set flush with the floor with two foot holds – one on either side. The user squats to use the facility. They do not have a cistern of water and the user is obliged to use a utensil similar to the Australian dipper to flush the unit. Those toilets, for Europeans, are extremely uncomfortable. Yet they do have their advantages. Most Asians have no trouble with their knees and even in old age have no difficulty squatting. Maybe the daily exercise keeps the knees agile? They have the added advantage in that the only part of the anatomy which touches the bowl are the feet thus avoiding unhealthy bodily contact with others.