A good gift, as you know, attracts the attention of its new owner for a long time and firmly enters his life. It is no longer so important whether the gift leaves a mark on the soul, whether it turns out to be a source of aesthetic pleasure and inspiration, or whether it becomes an indispensable household item. The main thing is not to gather dust in oblivion. A towel is often chosen as an original in design, unobtrusive and useful present, but it should be presented with caution due to numerous signs and prejudices. The article understands whether it is possible to give a towel as a gift to superstitious people.
Newlyweds
Traditionally, the husband's parents presented the newlyweds with a large towel embroidered with red threads and a freshly baked loaf of salt to show their readiness to serve the daughter-in-law in their home. Now this spectacular and easy-to-perform ceremony of meeting with bread and salt, having almost lost its former ritual significance, is sometimes staged at weddings. Friends and relatives often give newlyweds a towel made in the old style with amulets, hoping that it will bring happiness and prosperity to the family.
Sometimes they give whole sets of large and small wedding towels, often not so much as a symbol of good luck, but as necessary bathroom or kitchen utensils.
There are rare beliefs that a long towel, like a long road, can separate lovers, but they pale against the background of more joyful signs and wedding wishes of happiness.
Woven towels are given at Orthodox weddings so that young people can decorate a red corner with them and cover icons. Especially valuable is a gift embroidered with one's own hand, with good thoughts about the future of the newlyweds.
This towel is very reminiscent of the traditional culture of different peoples.
newborn
Often, a barely born child receives a towel as a gift. A bathed, clean baby is wrapped in a fragrant terry or linen cloth right in the maternity hospital and given to the mother. You can present a present and a separate bundle. Parents are no less happy with such a gift than their child.
It is extremely important from both a hygiene and energy point of view that a towel be bought in a sealed package and never be a show piece that many people have touched.
Birthday boy
Most of the superstitions that make one doubt whether it is possible to give a towel as a gift are associated with the funeral theme. A white woven cloth was hung out of the window or from the fence of the house, which was visited by death. The doors of the door through which the deceased was carried out were tied with a cloth. Light towels, like black crepe bandages, were wrapped around the sleeve by those who carried the coffin, after which they wiped their hands drenched in clean water and threw them into the pit. Scarves and towels are still often given out at funerals in memory of the deceased. Finally, it is the towel that hides the face of the deceased during the ceremony.
If you know that the birthday man is superstitious, you should not give such a gift, otherwise he will refuse it.
On a birthday, when the period of a person’s stay on earth is once again counted, this ambiguous gift supposedly brings death closer, sends down serious illnesses and bodily weakness on the birthday man. It can be unpleasant or even scary for people familiar with such a sign to receive a towel or even the most ordinary terry towel as a gift, especially if it is given by a not too close person, whose thoughts and sincerity cannot be known for sure. In no case should you give a towel to those who have been sick for a long time, suffering from senile ailments. The towel, especially the light one, seems to be prepared especially for the imminent repose of a person.
The meaning of a towel as a symbol of parting, a journey, a long road, can also be interpreted in a funeral vein. After all, there is no path longer than the one that lies ahead for the deceased, who has passed from this world to a better one, and there is no separation more painful than the one that torments those close to the grave left behind.
Of course, the less the present resembles funeral cloths, the less likely it is that subconscious fears and superstitious horror will stir up in the birthday man. Large bath towels of bright colors, exotic beach towels, figured kitchen rags with images of unusual animals or copies of world art masterpieces printed on a synthetic cloth are more often perceived by modern people as ordinary consumer goods, devoid of any symbolic overtones.
Small towels folded in the shape of a tropical cocktail
It is also believed that by buying things that are dangerous from the point of view of superstitions (knives, watches, wallets) from the donor for a nominal fee, you can get rid of the negative energy of the gift and secure it. Another way to purify the gift is to receive it in a special way, taking the bundle only with your right hand and mentally saying a protective prayer. After that, for fidelity, it will be possible to sprinkle the towel with holy water and again pronounce the sacred words, but out loud, waiting for the guests to leave.
When choosing a gift, you should always focus on the tastes and personality of the recipient. No matter how strange or vague the signs and superstitious explanations of why it is impossible to give towels may sometimes seem, if the one to whom the gift is intended sincerely believes in them, it is better not to take risks and find a thing that is not connected with any prejudices. For those who only occasionally remember signs and take them lightly, a pretty colorful towel will be a great gift, useful, unobtrusive and durable.
