Saturday, October 13, 2018
A Religious and Cultural Act
Edward Rice, Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1990), p. 107:
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Then defecation also meant a religious and cultural act, for practices differ from those of the West. A Muslim should enter the lavatory on his left, not right, foot, and he cleanses himself with water (or sand or earth if there is no water) with his left hand. The two heirs of Europeans in India, the half-caste Anglo-Indians and the half-caste Goans of Portuguese antecedents, were divided on the issue of toilet custom. The former followed English practice and used toilet paper after defecation; the Goans washed themselves with water, using the left hand, as did other Indian communities. The Anglo-Indians derided the Goans as "washers" and the Goans castigated the Anglo-Indians as "wipers."
Labels: noctes scatologicae
