How To Have Good Luck Around The World

by Jessica Festa on

Do you carry a lucky penny or have a rabbit’s foot attached to your key chain? For some new ideas on how to keep your luck running high, here are good luck rituals from around the world.

Bury A Llama Fetus In Bolivia

Walking around the Witches’ Market in La Paz, Bolivia, you’ll see myriad mummified llama fetuses. These aren’t just for decoration, but are actually a good luck charm from ancient Andean culture. Before a new house is built, a llama fetus is buried under the foundation to help give the owners good luck.

Paint Your Door Red In China

In China, it is thought that painting your door red is not only welcoming, but will also bring good fortune and happiness. In Feng Shui, it is believed the door is the mouth of the house, and a bright red color can draw positive energy to the home. There are many other rituals for good luck in China, such as keeping a paqua, or small octagon mirror, above the bed or by the front door to keep bad energy away from your home and out of your dreams. Moreover, having a water source on the property is thought to bring wealth and happiness.

Throw Your Old Appliances Out The Window In Italy

Traditionally, throwing your old appliances, clothing and housewares out of the window on New Year’s Eve in Italy is thought to bring good luck for the future. According to Walks of Italy, the thought is that you are letting go of the past and ridding yourself of any negatives you may have experienced. While the custom isn’t practiced by everyone anymore due to safety reasons, there are those who are still keeping the tradition alive for the country.

Some other good luck practices in Italy include tossing coins on the floor or under your bed, exchanging sweets on New Year’s Eve and lighting a Christmas log on the last day of the year to ward off evil spirits. Additionally, at weddings the groom will often carry a piece of iron in his pocket during the ceremony to keep evil spirits away, while the bride may rip her veil a bit to bring the couple good luck.

Toss A Baby From A Temple In Southern India

Yes, you read that right. In southern India, it is an age-old tradition to toss a baby off a 30-foot temple balcony, to be caught on the ground by a giant blanket. The ritual is said to bring the newborn good luck. According to Ian Garland of the Daily Mail, the practice was banned by the Indian government in 2009 but returned in 2012 to the Nagrala Village, as many locals believe it is their religious duty to carry out the ceremony.

A less shocking ritual in India is people exchange sweets for good and prosperity when they visit a home during a festival.

Have A Young Boy Roll In Your Bed Before Your Wedding In Singapore

In Singapore, there are many good luck traditions that revolve around weddings. First there is an chuang, or the setting of the bed. Before the wedding, a prosperous man will come to help determine where to place the marrying couple’s bed. A young male relative will then come and roll on the bed, to bless the couple with fertility. Foods like green beans, red beans, oranges, dates and other fruits are then scattered around the bed for good luck.

There is also shang tou, or hair combing, that takes place on the eve of the wedding. The hair of the marrying couple must be combed four times, usually by a female relative. The first round of combing represents the continuity of marriage, while the second stands for a harmonious union into old age. The subsequent stoke is a blessing of fertility, and the final combing is a wish for prosperity in a long-lasting marriage.

Wear Yellow Panties On New Year’s Eve In Colombia

While it may sound funny, Colombians like to ensure good luck for the entire year by taking some precautions on New Year’s Eve. They first ensure good fortune by wear yellow underpants. And to help bring even more luck, they consume 12 grapes at midnight on the special day. Additionally, Colombians don’t “pass the salt” to other people, as they believe this brings misfortune.

Burn A Chameleon If You’re Unmarried In Morocco

For unmarried women in Morocco, it is often believed that burning a chameleon in a glass will erase their bad luck, and increase their chances of getting married. Likewise, before a wedding ceremony the groom will often send his bride-to-be gifts, such as boxes of milk and Henna plants, to bring good luck for a happy and successful marriage. Also in regards to weddings, the woman getting married, who is traditionally expected to visit a hammam to be purified, will be soaked with water seven times by her close girlfriends, in order to bring good luck to her new life.

It’s not just brides and grooms who participate in good luck rituals. If you have a turtle in your garden or your home, and you keep it, you will also be brought good fortune.

Carry A 5-Yen Coin In Your Wallet In Japan

While 5 yen ($0.06) may not sound like a lot of money, this coin, pronounced “go-en” in Japanese, is close to the pronunciation for the words for destiny, karma or good luck. It is also the only coin with a hole in the center, making it easy to turn into a charm. In Japan, many people carry it in their wallet or purse, or wear it on a ribbon or chain for good luck.

Another way to procure good luck in Japan is through Daruma dolls. The papier-mâché figures are egg-shaped, and bare the likeness of Bodhidharma, the monk credited for founding Zen Buddhism. The dolls are sold with blank white eyes, and locals will add the first pupil when a goal is set and the second when a goal is achieved. Moreover, the dolls are considered a symbol of good luck by the Japanese.

Get A Tattoo In Tahiti

The word “tattoo” actually comes from the Tahitian word tatu, so it’s no wonder that this form of body art is so important to the culture. In fact, getting a tattoo is a ritual to bring luck and protection, as the tattoo represents your history, family background and often includes symbols that represent good fortune.

Another good luck ritual in Tahiti occurs during a wedding ceremony. This is when the priest will offer a blessing with a sacred auti flower and coconut milk. While doing this, the priest joins the bride and groom’s hands together and reads from a certificate of tapa cloth, usually made from a hibiscus tree.

Hold Lead And Boiling Water Over Your Head In Turkey

In Turkey, one way many people rid themselves of bad omens is through the ritual of lead pouring. To begin, the lead-pourer melts a tablespoon-sized piece of lead in a pan, while the person who is looking for good fortune sits with a cloth on their head for protection from the hot metal. From there, a small pan of boiling water is held over the person’s head, while the liquid lead is added. Most times, a prayer is chanted during the ritual. When the lead hits the water, it immediately turns solid, absorbing the person’s bad omens.

Another good luck tradition is to visit a special church that is open for just one day a year: April 23. Aya Yorgi, a Greek Orthodox church, receives hundreds of people on that day annually. These visitors tie multi-colored threads to trees at the bottom of the hill leading up to the church, in an attempt to bring good fortune.

Wear Baboon Skin On Your Head In Tanzania

According to Fair Travel Tanzania, who kindly interviewed the Hadzabe tribe in Tanzania, Africa, there is a ritual performed to help hunters who do not have luck catching animals. First, the elders advise them to wear baboon skin on their head and body, while putting beads on their shoulders. This is done at night, either under a baobab tree – the most sacred tree for Wahadzabe – or in the camp where they live. The whole community participates by singing and dancing and smearing the unlucky with herbal medicine to clear their misfortunes. Then, elders take the bows and arrows of the participants to bless them: “Haine (or God bless) these bows and arrows and make them shoot better,” is repeated over and over again. The unlucky also get to chew herbal medicinal plants, and should be good and ready for hunting the next morning.

Play Traditional Instruments For Friends And Family In Aruba

In Aruba, they try to ensure good luck for the new year through a ritual known as Dande. The tradition has been going since around 1880, right after the slaves were liberated. Groups made up of five or six people visit the homes of their families and friends, wishing these loved ones good luck and happiness for the upcoming year through music. Traditional Aruban instruments, like the tambu, wiri and raspa are played, along with the cuarta, guitar violin or the accordion to produce the upbeat rhythms of Dande. Lyrics for the songs usually incorporate well wishes for each person present. After the music is over, the head of the household will offer the performers a drink. What’s really interesting is the tradition is very local to the culture, as no other islands in the Caribbean participate in Dande.

Grilling Around The Globe: A Memorial Day Photo Tribute

by Laurel Miller on

Where there’s smoke, there’s barbecue – and there’s no better time than Memorial Day to light that grill. This year, instead of the same old, same old post on burgers, food safety and how not to burn the patio down, I thought I’d offer a photo tribute to grilling in all of its glorious permutations around the globe.

I confess to taking some liberties, and adding a few methods that don’t call for an open flame. The Hawaiian imu is a familiar site to luau lovers; it’s a pit filled with hot rocks that effectively roasts the food (in this instance, pork). The curanto from the Chilean archipelago of Chiloe is also Polynesian in origin (hailing from Easter Island, or Rapa Nui) and operates on the same principle, but also includes shellfish and potato cakes called milcao and chapaleles. Spit-roasted suckling pig, whether it’s Filipino lechon or Cajun cochon de lait, by any other name would taste as succulent.

Argentina remains the indisputable holy grail of grilling but plenty of other countries utilize fire –indirectly or not – to cook food, including Japan, Morocco, Turkey, Vietnam and Australia. Enjoy the slideshow and don’t forget to wipe your mouth.

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Heat-Map Shows Travelers Most And Least Frequented Destinations

by Jessica Festa on

Have you ever wondered what countries are the most and least frequented by travelers? Estonian tech firm Bluemoon has taken data from the photo sharing service Panoramio and created a heat-map based on photos. The map details which countries are the most visited (in yellow), which have a medium amount of visitors (in red) and which are explored the least (in blue). A grey area signifies that no photos have been taken there using Panoramio.

As you can see from the map, Europe is a major tourist destination, as is much of the east and west coasts of the United States and Japan. Certain regions that seem to receive few visitors include Mongolia, India and Australia. Moreover, many areas in Canada and Africa remain unexplored.

They’ve also created a map of the “world’s most interesting remote places.” It only looks at destinations away from cities with remote tourist attractions. Some examples from the data show the Greek Islands are touristy (red), the Amazon Basin has almost no tourism (green) and Ladakh falls in the middle (yellow).

For a bigger view of the map, click here.

Meet The Man Who Spent 11 Years Walking Around The World And The Woman Who Waited For Him To Return

by Dave Seminara on

On his 45th birthday, Quebec native Jean Béliveau went out for a walk. He crossed over Montreal’s Jacque Cartier Bridge in Montreal, where he originally dreamed up the idea of escaping his life as a neon sign salesman nine months before, and kept going for 75,554 kilometers through 64 countries. He burned through 54 pairs of shoes but somehow managed to maintain his relationship with his wife, Luce, who stayed at home while Jean spent 11 years walking around the world. But when he returned to Canada, some criticized the walk as a self-indulgent escape from a midlife crisis since it wasn’t done for a specific charity.

Seven months after returning home from what is believed to be the world’s longest uninterrupted circumnavigation on foot, Béliveau is being courted by publishers who want the rights to his story. We caught up with Jean to find out more about his motivation for taking an 11-year walk, how he pulled it off without losing his wife and what he’s up to now.

Why take a walk around the world?

Jean: I owned a small neon sign factory but when Quebec had a terrible ice storm in the winter of 1998, we lost power for weeks. We had to close the factory and then my wife had to move to Montreal for her job. I had a midlife crisis in the meantime. I began to sell neon signs but I wasn’t making much money. I said, ‘My God, what happened with my life? I’m throwing my life away.’

I felt like I was working just for money and giving my soul away, and for what? I ran over Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal one day and thought, ‘I wonder how many days it would take to get to New York. And how many weeks or months or years to get to Mexico, South America, the rest of the world.’

What did your wife say when you told her you’d be buzzing off for a decade or so just three weeks before your departure?

Jean: She said, ‘Will you be back on the way?’ and I said ‘No, but you enjoy travel, you can come if you want.’ But she couldn’t because she’s a social worker and was working towards her retirement. Finally she said, ‘Is it finished between us?’ I took a big risk, she could have said, ‘Go on your way, mate.’ And she took a risk too. She said, ‘I will support you, we’ll try it.’ She’s the one – a great lady.

Luce: I asked why he didn’t tell me about it sooner and he said ‘If you have a very special dream, you better not talk about it to the people who love you, because they might try to convince you to abandon it.’

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Had you traveled much before?

Jean: I never really traveled. I’d only been to Florida and Las Vegas.

Luce, you agreed to stick with him and help support him financially. Did your girlfriends and relatives think you were crazy?

Luce: Everybody said, ‘He’s leaving you and you’ll have to do everything by yourself.’ All my friends and relatives, especially the girls, said they wouldn’t put up with this and they didn’t know how I could stand it. They thought he was selfish.

How did you pay for this trip?

Jean: I took $4,000 Canadian, which was about $3,000 U.S. at that time. It wasn’t enough, I knew that, but for me I had to escape. I had to go. I needed to make a big pilgrimage. To see who I was and where I was in life. I preferred to be eaten by the lions in African than by the society. I probably spent about $50,000 or so for the whole trip. Some people spend the same amount for a two-week trip.

Luce: I had to make some financial sacrifices to help support him along the way, but I was so taken with his project it didn’t mean anything to me to go without some things.

How do you pack for a trip like this?

Jean: I had everything I needed in a three-wheeled stroller – a sleeping bag, tent, a pad, only a couple changes of clothing, a pillow, a First aid kid, some food and water.

How much ground does one need to cover to walk around the world in 11 years?

Jean: I averaged about 20 miles per day over 11 years, but I didn’t walk every day. It took about six months to cross the U.S., about 8 months for Mexico and Central America. Then I had to skip Colombia because back in 2002 it was considered very dangerous. I spent almost two years walking through South America and then I ran out of money. I didn’t want to call Luce and ask for her to pay for my flight to Africa. Eventually, a Brazilian guy offered to pay for my ticket to South Africa and the trip continued.

(Click here to see a video of his route)

Where did you sleep during this walk?

Jean: People invited me into their homes, they fed me, they phoned people 30-40 miles ahead to help me. Some people gave me money, brought me to the supermarket and filled my buggy with food. I stayed with about 1,600 families in 64 countries, but in general I’d say I spent roughly one-third with families, one-third camping and the rest being invited to sleep in churches, temples, mosques, schools and even prisons. I stayed with criminals, killers, extremists – all kinds of people.

How did you maintain the desire to keep walking? Didn’t you want to go home at some point?

Jean: You’re in a state of permanent culture shock. You get to the point where you become saturated; you can’t even see the beauty. In 2004, I was in the middle of Africa somewhere and decided that I wanted to go home. I felt like I was a prisoner of my dream. I had to finish the walk. I felt like if I went back home I would fail because the spirit of the walk is just one shot, no going back. I sent Luce an email telling her I was too tired and I couldn’t go further.

Luce: I told him I loved him but that everyone wanted him to continue, because if he cut his walk, it’s like he didn’t accomplish anything.

How did you maintain your marriage with him gone for 11 years? Didn’t you feel jealous that he was out seeing the world while you were helping pay for his adventures?

Luce: I wasn’t jealous, not at all. I started his website and answered all of his emails. I was writing newsletters for him. I couldn’t have gone with him, I can’t eat everything like he does and I would get fed up with staying in tents and other strange places. I enjoy my comfort too much. I visited him for a few weeks each year and we were like normal people on vacation. These were his little breaks from the walk.

How were you perceived on your walk? Did people think you were a beggar in some places?

Jean: In Europe and Japan a lot more people treated me like I was a homeless person or a beggar. You feel the rejection; you can tell it in people’s eyes. I was someone apart from the society. I was in Latin America and Africa for about four years, where I was welcome. In Europe, people would back away from you. You say hello to people and they think you’re crazy.

Were there moments of danger for you on the trip?

Jean: Not many. I was woken up by a puma in the night in Chile while I was in a sleeping bag, but thankfully it went away. I was almost robbed in South Africa. But there were so many more occasions where people were good to me. I needed prostate surgery in Oran, Algeria, but had no money. They said, ‘Don’t worry, we want to support you.’ I was in the hospital for six days and they paid for everything. Even in Iran, they were amazing people. There’s a difference between the regime there and the people. The people there are beautiful.

How did your feet hold up?

Jean: They were fine until I got to Iran. I walked in whatever shoes people gave me along the way, and someone gave me sandals in Iran. Those were terrible to walk in. I went through 54 pairs of shoes. Each year, Luce would take some pairs home with her, so we still have some of them.

What was the most physically demanding part of the trip?

Jean: I spent three months crossing the desert in North Australia. It was 45 degrees (Celsius). I was drinking 10-12 liters of water per day but it was brutal. It took eleven months to cross the whole country. But then I got lucky. I went to New Zealand next and Air New Zealand offered to fly me back to Vancouver and then I crossed Canada to get home to Montreal.

How did you avoid going crazy?

Jean: I did go crazy. You go deep in your own mind, you just have your imagination, you go far away in the universe, because you can’t calibrate yourself with other people. Then when I’d see people, I’d be careful to talk to them to make sure I wasn’t too far-gone, too crazy.

What was the homecoming like?

Luce: I met him on the last day and walked with him for about 12 kilometers and got tired so I had to take the metro home to rest. Later, I went to join him again when he was closer to home and there was a ceremony for him. And then the two of us walked the last 1.5 kilometers to our home, just the two of us. He was fine – he was full of adrenaline – not tired at all.

How did he transition back to home life?

Luce: The transition was hard for both of us. He kept leaving the doors of our condo unlocked and he had no idea where anything belonged. He got depressed after being home a few weeks.

Do you plan to ask Guinness to verify your walk as the longest on record?

Jean: No, but if someone else wants to submit it they can. I didn’t do it to set a world record. There are totally unknown people who might have walked farther than me. There is a guru in India, he walks naked and with bare feet. He’s probably walked 200,000 kilometers in his life, but just in India. In my walk, we can say it is the longest walk around the world without returning home in between.

You received some criticism in Canada after returning home. Some said your walk was self-indulgent.

Luce: We did read the negative comments. Those people would like to try something like this but don’t have the guts to do it. Jean was in a situation where he could do it – our children were grown. We were not wealthy at all. All the free money I had was needed just to keep him on the road. The negative comments came only in Canada. Canadians are more critical; we don’t appreciate people who do things. Look at Celine Dion; she wasn’t appreciated here at all when she started.

What’s next for you?

Jean: I’m writing a book. So far, we have offers from 16 publishers. Hopefully, it’ll be out next year. I won’t go back to selling neon signs. My past is another life. I’m on a new path now until I die. (Update: The book will be published by the Flammarion Group in February 2013.)

You’ve said that you did this walk for peace and for children, but you didn’t raise money for any charitable cause. What do you think you accomplished?

Jean: You want to do something before you die. I figured I had maybe 30 more years on this planet and I wanted to do it. I think we helped raise awareness for peace but I left with a humble spirit. My goal is to learn not to teach. The walk was about everyone I met – people’s humanity, their desire to explore the world. So many people supported me so it wasn’t just my walk; it was theirs too.

I bet people will read the story you are doing and it will make an impact on their lives. Some people will decide to change their lives when they read this.

[All photos provided by Jean Beliveau le Marcheur]

A Challenge: Learn All Of The Countries In The World

by Elizabeth Seward on

While in DC a couple of weeks ago with fellow Gadling writers, a few of us hopped into a taxi on our way to dinner. Our driver was an African man from a country he kept under wraps. He told us that if we wanted to find out which country he was from, we’d have to earn our way to the answer through his impromptu trivia. And so we tried to answer his questions.

“You have to exercise your anthropological and geographical versatility to comprehend my country of originality,” he teased us.

“I can guess the continent,” one of our writers chimed.

“Oh yes, guessability, no problem, Madam,” he cooed.

“West Africa?” she guessed.

“Well,” he drew out the word for a few seconds. “I will formally agree but I will formally disagree with you. I am an individual of complexity. You want a clue?”

“Yes,” we all answered in unison.

“OK. I am going to give you a complex geographical clue. Let me see. Name me 11 countries in the world that have four letters,” he began.And so we began: Oman, Iraq, Iran, Peru, Togo, Mali, Fiji, Chad, Laos, Cuba and Guam. Our geography scavenger hunt continued, question after question, until we arrived at our destination. The driver moved to DC from Sierra Leone.

After exiting the taxi in DC, I couldn’t get the ride and the driver’s questions out of my mind. I felt ashamed that I couldn’t definitively pinpoint Sierra Leone on a map. I found this to be both humiliating and humbling.

It’s been a loose lifetime goal of mine to learn geography as thoroughly as I can. To scratch the surface, my first geography goal is to learn the names of all of the countries in the world. This may sound ambitious, but it shouldn’t be considered a far-fetched goal for a writer who regularly writes about travel. I decided to finally begin learning geography the way I’ve always intended to learn it this past weekend. A houseguest showed me Sporcle, a website filled with quizzes, interactive games, trivia and other knowledge-based, time-wasting activities. When I saw “geography” listed as a section on the site, I knew I had found my resource for learning the world’s countries.

After spending an hour on the site, I knew all of the countries in Africa. I went back again the next morning to make sure I’d retained the information and I had. I’m now moving on to the rest of the continents. Never again will I lazily accept my fate as an American who hasn’t bothered to learn the names of the nooks and crannies throughout our world. Why should I think it enough to know the names of only 70 percent of the countries in the world? Why shouldn’t I know them all?

For a long time, I didn’t think it was incredibly relevant – not relevant enough to bother learning, at least. But I knew, like many do, the names of a hearty chunk of countries. These are the countries that come up in conversation, news and friends’ vacations. Moving forward, I am challenging myself and readers alike to learn the names of all of the countries in the world, at the very least. From there, let’s learn about the countries and their respective cultures in depth and begin travel planning, but first, let’s learn the names.

**Update 05.27.2012: I did it!**