Chicken Cross

Back then, it has been a tradition to slaughter a chicken and offer it to the family member who is celebrating his/her birthday. My mama would usually boil a pot of water early in the morning at the dirty kitchen using the wood we buy at a nearby 'sari-sari' store. We had a small kerosene-stove to cook our daily meals, but during special occasions where relatives and friends usually come to our house, we use the special stove outside fueled by the dried wood. My papa would then select the (un)lucky chicken in our little chicken coop and wakes up the birthday celebrant. He would then pull a few feathers off the chicken's neck and sharpen the knife he'll use. I would usually volunteer to hold the wings while papa holds the neck to cut a slit from it. Blood oozes out as the chicken tries to grasp for air. Papa then collects a few drops of the blood from the chicken and draws a cross at the celebrant's forehead. It is for luck, they would always say. Mama will then get the slaughtered chicken, put it in the pot of boiling water, dress it, and magically cooks it to a sumptuous meal shared to everyone.

I've been searching about the same practice in the web and found a magical spell that uses chicken blood and forehead(s), but that one's scary. Our family tradition is on the lighter side (I think). So for good luck, good health and a lot of fortune, buy a living chicken and draw a cross in your forehead with its blood (to be done only during birthdays).

pinyin: sǐ

No. 4 is considered to be an unlucky number among our chinky-eyed neighbouring countries in Asia because it is nearly homophonous to the word death. Interestingly, Nokia cell phones series does not begin with 4 nor do Palm PDAs and Canon PowerShot G’s series. While Americans are so fascinated with no. 13 (e.g. Friday the 13^th), the yellow-skinned, with their mathematical expertise, are fascinated with adding these numbers (one and three) that in Hong Kong, some high-rise residential buildings miss all floor numbers with “4” in it (e.g. 1, 14, 24, 34, 44). A visit to my past: my favourite number is 13 because it was the day my girlfriend answered with a sounding “YES!” when I courted her ages ago. And for some unknown reason, we ended the 5-years-and-10-months relationship after that. Coincidence or was it because thirteen is unlucky?

So, you’d wonder why I start my blog with number four. It’s because I’d like to challenge myself to maintain this blog and post topics endlessly without succumbing to death (figuratively speaking) either by sheer laziness to post one or leaving all the acquired knowledge about old traditions inside my head and not sharing it to the world. *phew! That was one helluva long sentence! Hahaha!

Anyway, I do not believe some of the superstitions I am about to write here but they are really worth writing so you’d know it exists in my side of the world. As my officemate constantly tells me, it’ll be gone 5 years from now if I won’t publish it. So here it goes! “May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light. May GOOD LUCK pursue you each morning and night!”

Disclaimer: I do not intend to foster racial discrimination with the words “chinky-eyed” and “yellow-skinned”. These are physical attributes common to the people of China, Vietnam, Japan and Korea; and I just want to group them with their common features. I, for one is chinky-eyed and yellow-skinned and I’m proud of these physical attributes.