First of all, we highly recommend that you not to read this story while having a meal – especially those with vivid imaginations.
It is already common knowledge that the droppings of cows helps to make soil fertile. This is of course the very reason a visit to the Bali countryside has us holding our noses, as cow and cattle dung is spread around farms and kept in villages. However, despite fertilisation, there is a belief in Bali that this smelly substance has other, strange benefits.
In short, poo means luck. That’s right, it’s a simple formula that some Balinese believe. Now, that doesn’t mean Balinese families keep a jar of the stuff at home like a lucky charm. Fortunately, that’s not how this superstition works! Poo, for lack of a better word, is the mediator of luck. It is the sign that a person will soon receive a pleasant surprise, a blessing of some kind. The ‘sign’ can come as a dream, or perhaps in physical form. It’s hard to comprehend, but let us share some examples.
A Balinese woman who owns a little grocery shop behind the Carrefour department store building on Sunset Road was surprised when she won a huge fridge from a lottery. She said that the night before she won the fridge, a gecko in her house decided it was a good time to go number 2 – which fell right on top of her head. Another testimony came from a guy who runs a successful fried chicken kiosk just off Jalan Mahendradatta in Denpasar. He claimed that his business started running well after he had a terrible nightmare of being drowned in a pond flooded with excrement.
Now, we can’t challenge you to prove whether or not this extraordinary, and rather obscure, superstition is true. But in case a bird or gecko aims its next toilet-time at you whilst you’re in Bali, don’t get upset, instead prepare yourself for something good to follow suit!.
