the chinese remedy

just now i was msn-ing with is. we got to a part where chinese custom came in. she told me that somehow, married women are not supposed to pay respect to their own parents (when they pass away) on cheng beng. and the 2 of us thought it was really funny.

who on earth came up with this thing i dunno. but is it really true?

i know there are a lot of chinese customs / tradition / superstition. how true are all these? for sure, od's gonna object to all these.

1) no washing hair / going out during confinement
2) no going home (as in your home) on the first day of CNY
3) cannot sweep the floor during cny
4) the use of chinese herbs (which they just pluck from plants; not scientifically proven)
5) cannot attend a wedding if it's less than 3 mths from urs
6) etc etc

there sure are lots more. hahaha, all these custom thingy has been passed down from thousands of years ago. do we chinese have to follow exactly what they say? does all these still exist in the modern world today? well, i did follow the confinement part although i think it's ridiculous. hmm, our parents are people who believe in all these, so being a daughter, all i can do is to follow.

let's talk about another friend of ours. hehehe, highly educated, aeronautical engineer (u know who). he, too believed in all these stuffs. for instance, his daughter of age 1 1/2 who has ulcers in her mouth. he brought her to this chinese so-called doc, to pluck those tiny white dots out of her mouth using a non-sterilised needle. yucks, even my mum wouldnt do that. and he even gave the lil girl "foo" water as he believe she was frightened. and it did helped. the ulcers gone and she stopped crying.

i always think, if it's external used, i dont mind. bathing or applying. when it comes to swallowing - it's a big no no for me. my mum knows that and she too agree with me. so i dont mind she bringing back "foo" shirt for my son to wear, or putting "foo" under his pillow, or bathing him with those herbs and stuffs. even our "westernised" od bathed lauren in herb water to wash away the rashes (which helped).

so, do u believe? or think all these are just craps?