pantangs larangs

im sure by now, even the manjans and tamleks know whats a papntatpantang.... especially for those superstitious hokkien aunties, and old makcik blok 11s, and achi selling curry.

us being in the young generations might just laughed these things off or kept in a corner to hang dry. 

pantang, coming from the malay word which translates to prohibit, are still in practice these days. none can tell the truth of each pantangs, but im very certain that these pantangs serves purposes. they (the old people) made these up for discipline's sake. my take on this would be for instance, there's an old saying that tells you not to insult or belittle another person, or your children in the future will turn out exactly like how you 'described' the other party. Of course, there would be no immediate truth to the saying above but... the purpose of such pantang exists, so you will not offend of hurt the other party's feelings. 

There's more to these kindda things if u google up the word pantang larang. 

apart from these types of pantangs, there's another meaning to it. the other pantangs im refering to is somewhat similar, but more direct. it carries a meaning of restrict. (im not really sure if thats the most appropriate word to use). it's like ermmmm... errr... ok lets see... how can i give an example. ok here goes... lets say, you are pregnant. and the pantang of a pregnant woman is to eat seafood, fizzy drinks and so on... so these restricted items are all the pantangs for a pregnant woman. similarly to a person who is having diabetes. his or her pantang would be items which are high on sugar.

ok so now i see you are getting it ....

there's another pantang which co-relates discipline. let me see how do i put this into words... hrmmmm.... ok!

for example, a person who is studying, his/her pantang is to have the slightest noise or it would distract their concentration. in this case, the studying person is pantang to noises while studying. it doesnt apply to all because some, needs music alongside them to concentrate better. this pantang is very much of a wide category cos it can vary from a person who is pantang to people who are always late for meetings, pantangs for their kids not putting back the DVD they watched back into its own sleeve, pantang to see the slightest dust on the floor.. and the list goes on....

well, thats somewhat my thoughts on pantangs... this might just be my personal perception of what im taught when growing up, it might be wrong to others... so .... take care.!