How do we define Culture ?
Dr Google Says:- " Culture is a word for the "way of life of groups of people", meaning the way they do things. ... Excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities, also known as high culture.
An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior. The outlook, attitudes, values, morals, goals, and customs shared by a society.
A Country's Culture - Virtually refers to Traditions and customs of the land, languages spoken, Religions of the Country, Food & Eating Habits, Architecture and Art, Clothing, Customs and celebrations.
So Cultural aspects of relevance when it comes to the current Corna Epidemic will be linked Food and Eating Habits, Clothing to some extent and Customs especially related to hygiene
Let us look at various Cultural habits.
Hygiene
1- On returning home, Footwear which is worn outside the home in India are left outside. all Asians have this practice too. Basically the idea is to prevent bringing dirt and infections into the house. Most people walk barefoot at home. Well of and westernised Indians wear different set of Chappals or Sandals meant for Inside the home only. Walking barefoot has many health advantages so I don't wear footwear inside the house except in winter to keep feet warm. Kids from young age are forbidden to put their feet up on sofas or beds with shoes on. In order to enforce this rule children are told it is disrespectful to elders at home.
When husband and children come home after work or uni it is very common to hear the mother say. "Come on go and wash up", meaning wash your face, hands and feet before sitting down for a family meal. I can hear my mothers voice ringing in my ears.
Most men prefer to have a shower as they have been sweating in the hot humid weather. In hot humid climates say like Singapore most people bathe before going to work and as they return home. Quite often to get rid of the foul body odour from sweating.
Bathing in hot water in snowy winters is often a luxury and westerners do not always bathe every day in winter which is understandable
The situation is different for the affluent in the modern world with air conditioned homes and offices and cars.. where bathing becomes an individual's choice and not a necessity
Basically this boils down to good Hygiene to stay healthy. This may not be within everyone's reach as the poor in India living in slums may not have access to so much water and even bathrooms facilty as they have to use common facilities
Tamil Proverb is "Sudham Soru Podum" which means "Cleanliness will keep you fed" meaning if you stay clean and hygienic, you will be healthy and able to work and hence put food on the table for the family.
Basically cleanliness helps in staying fit & healthy and in turn helps the bodys immune system to ward off fight diseases better
Drinking water:
In the westernised world treated water arrives piped to every dwelling and It is Safe to Drink water from the Taps. I have been drinking water from the taps in Sydney since my arrival in 1976. That is how safe the water supply is from our Warragamba Dam.
Unfortunately water supplied by muncipal corporations in all states in India is not Safe for Drinking. It is standard practice to boil the water, filter it and save in a large pot for drinking. In many states it is a custom to boil the water with dried ginger or Sukku and this Sukku water a Standard Practice in Kerala is meant to be extremely good for health. It is like a herbal tea and it increases the appetite, improves digestion and equilises the bile salts in our body. All this is Ok in India when some one else does it for you. In the western world Ginger Beer is the better options.
Cooking:
It has been customary to cook all three meals at Home in India. Nothing like hot hot home cooked meals is the chant. This has probably changed in the last thirty years where both husband and wife work and eating out becomes a necessity and affordability leads people to eat modern junk food like MacDonalds Kentucky Chicken or Pizzas.
As a Society where the house wife did all the cooking at home or had cooks in affluent homes people ate fresh food cooked hot hot. This too has changed with affluence virtually every household ( Middle and Upper income groups) have a fridge at home and a microwave too. So people heat left overs in the microwave and eat. like is common practice in the western societies.
Physical Contact:
It is customary to greet people with a Namaste and to bid good bye with a Namaste there by avoiding physical contact with someone coming from outside the home. No Hugging, No Shaking Hands or no kissing on the cheeks.
Most probably these hygenic habits became a custom after some major epidemic in India is its 6500 year long history of Indian Civilisation.
Toilet Paper:
Only the elite Indians with western toilets make use of Toilet Paper. Majority of the Population uses Water.
Harwant Singh
I am not sure whether the use of Hindu cultural habits is appropriate. Yes, in India we generally do not take outside shoes into the house, these are kept at the entrance and inside you walk barefoot, I personally do not approve of this, yes we use separate footwear or chappals inside the house after removing outside shoes and putting them in a closet at the entrance of the house or just outside the entrance of the main door. We regularly clean the chappals worn inside the house. Also the shoes worn outside are sprayed with disinfectant or if washable, washed once in a week or more I'd you live in a cleaner place. In Mumbai clean the bottom of shoes with moist cloth soaked in soapy solution and Lyzol, a very strong disinfectant containing Bezalkonium Chloride as 4 % solution. This product is very much used in India but banned in USA saying that it is very poisonous. I dam care about this as for its use. For floor cleaning, it is diluted over 100 times. 30 ml in 3 liters of water.
We do not put feet with shoes on sofas or beds.
In some states, they walk barefoot inside house.
We take bath after coming home before touching things in home.
One girl wrote, Mumbai is too dirty, filthy and dusty, so when I and my husband come home, we straight go the bathroom, take bath, change clothes, dump dirty clothes in washing machine in soak cycle with 50 ml of Lizol and jump over each other on our bed and make passionate love. After getting exhausted we plan our dinner and lunch for the next day.
Western people do not take bath regularly, may be their environment is better, and no need is felt living in AC home, driving AC car, working in AC office and Shopping in AC stores, the needs are different.
However cleanliness helps in staying healthy and helps in fighting disease better. However, these things are applicable more on affluent sections if population. The poor do not have access to even clean drinking water.
Cooking at home is a habit with Indians, not so with Westerners. They hardy know good healthy cooking.
Over 40 percent people in Houston eat outside home or bring cooked food home, causing tremendous amount of pollution with non recyclable packaging of food purchased from outside restaurants. Online ordering of food is too common. These are all unhealthy habits of Americans often aped by Indians diaspora.
Closer ties with family members help in any type of crises for Indians.
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Ranga
Where have we warded off the corona virus? We dont even know at which stage we are in, we have not tested enough, we cannot maintain social distance, our only saving grace is the fact that we are in dirt all the time is probably giving us immunity!
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Titu
Just having rasam everyday, cooking with spices like turmeric etc, going vegetarian sometimes..... not sure about these keeping away viruses.
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Liz
A few that come to mind.
Some have been stated many times earlier:
- Namaste not shake hands
- Wash hands often
- Health faucet not toilet paper (!)
- Taking off outside shoes before entering (apparently the virus sticks to soles of shoes)
- Only eat meat of domesticated farm animals and NO industrial farming
- Salt water nasal rinsing
- Yoga in general and Pranayama in particular to increase lung capacity and overall resistance
- Turmeric in food
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Monu
I am quite intrigued by the low death figures in India.
Some of the possibilities that come yo mind are
1. We have so many infections in India and level of hygiene is so low that we generally have s higher level of immunity
2. High ambient temperatures keeping the virus at bay. If this is true come winter the situation may change for the worse.
3. Most of us have been vaccinated as kids for a large number of diseases. I am not sure whether developed countries do so many vaccines for kids.
Definitely do not agree to any cultural habits influencing the spread of the virus.
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Piu
Uncle Ram , it sometimes makes me wonder maybe these practices started in place because of something like this which might have happened in the past .. think about it , In the Age of Rama eating meat etc , in now Uttar Pradesh was wildly common , it’s now not .. many parts of the state are vegetarian.. it’s good with the bad I say ... the Jains covering their face ... the practice of not going to temples if there is a birth or death in the family ... the practice of untouchable ... for people who handle dead bodies , or clean ur toilets or even handle dead animals ....
The ostracized people who travel far away from home ... the rites to purify them .. including dipping in the Ganges ...
I feel the intent was good the way it’s implemented in many cases has been horrible ..
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Pappe
Just a few thoughts about our cultural habits that keep us healthy. These habits may not be there in the current generation but we're followed by our parents and also explained to us
Guess as and when we accumulate more degrees we presume we have become more intelligent than our parents. Also these days due to the availability of more gadgets like the internet our sleeping patterns have changed and we hardly get proper rest
Dont Kiss, Dont Hug, Dont Shake hands, Wash Hands, feet and face whenb we come home from outside, eat fvrom your own plate and not from others plates, Drink Warm Boiled water, Eat Freshly Cooked food, Cover mouth and nose whilst sneezing and coughing. Also say Excuse me for the spray,
Drink Sukku Thanni,
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CK
Here is my list..
....bcg vaccine mandatory in india
...we are a dirty country and so we tend to build more anti bodies
....we are the the only country whose average age is less than 30...so more than 90% are below 60 yrs of age.
...ayurveda based food is always on prevention through immunity.
...spices usage of turmeric, pepper, clove, cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon helps
...use of garlic, ginger, karuvai, mint, kothimiri all help our respiratory system.
...tulasi is special and used by all temples
...rasam is south is focused on digestion and also the respiratory system
....betel leaves is also good
...kapuravalli is clearly for lungs
...sambrani and also camphor cleans the environment around the house.
....sambrani for cash counter was to prevent transfer of virus bacteria through cash.
Some I read and some are my thoughts....😀
Spiritual practices...which help
Pranayama
Mantras
Singing
Dancing
Bhajans
Bells sound
All help your lungs to strengthen either through resonance or by active deep breath
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PK
Namaste, / touching feet of elders, not hugging / leaving footwear outside/
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Rachkinda
BCG, HOT FOOD
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