I follow many rules in my life but if you ask me who made them, I wouldn't know.
I am in a new town for work, a couple of hours away from my quiet Entebbe. It has been a long day and I am in an unfamiliar room, trying to convince my body that this is where we are going to sleep. It is just before midnight...
..then I hear it.
Whistling!
Somewhere out there in the night, someone is whistling. Casually and confidently.
I freeze.
My first thought is not, oh someone is enjoying themselves. My first thought is who is whistling at this hour?
This is followed by me saying loudly in my head - you must not whistle at night. I did not think about this too long. I know it is the law and we almost all know this. I do not know who taught me this. I cannot even recall the moment when I first received this instruction. I just know that I know that I know, which is quite a powerful kind of knowing.
Growing up, this rule lived in the same mental cupboard as many others. Do not sweep at night. Do not step over other people's legs. Do not call elders by their names. This was reality.
Here I am, an adult, educated, reasonably rational, having just facilitated an organisational assessment workshop, and yet deeply unsettled by a stranger enjoying a good whistle in the night.
If I am being honest, I do not believe anything bad will happen if someone whistles at night. But also... I still would not do it.
Some people say whistling at night calls spirits. Others say it attracts snakes. Others say it invites bad luck. The details change but the warning remains consistent.
Could it be that maybe the story is not really about danger, but about the night? Night has always been treated differently. It is a time for rest and retreat, not just because of the absence of sunlight but because the world is lying down to sleep. Is whistling ok during the day because of the noise but at night it is about lowering our volume? Maybe do not whistle at night means learn when to be quiet. Maybe it is saying not everything needs to make noise. This is quite funny because nobody really explains it to us like that. They just said don't.
What really has amused me most is how these rules live in the body after the mind has outgrown blind obedience. I do not actively remember them, but my body remembers. I can question religion, politics, tradition, economic systems, but my body still draws the line at whistling in night. Impressive programming!
This makes me wonder how many of my behaviours are actually choices and how many are childhood muscle memory. What are those things that I do or avoid, not because I have evaluated them, but because they were instilled early in life, running like background software?
Some of these inherited rules probably protected us, while some limited us. Some were probably invented by a tired Auntie who just wanted some peace and quiet.
From where my feet are, hearing that whistle did not summon spirits. It did summon curiosity about culture and about memory, and honestly, it summoned mild judgement...
Whoever you are out there, whistling at 11:30 p.m., please. Have some home training.
The night is sacred! When everything is assumed to come to a calm and close out the day. Whistling startles the normal, and yeah could awaken spirits hence our folks kinda forbiding it.
ReplyDeleteNow, the rules are broken - and the night (economy) thrives, so even whistling is now normal. Changes!
Ha ha! Exactly. The night has gone rogue. You know that saying, "the night belongs to the owls?" Maybe it now belongs to whistlers too.
ReplyDeleteI have just woken up at 2am and tried to whistle. Now I wait for what happens.
ReplyDeleteNight Dancers heading your way
DeleteWhistling at night is just creepy. I mean who does that? And you're lucky that night whistler just summoned mild judgement from you. I get triggered by some things I see these days, that we were taught - although programmed, like you put it, is more like it. Last weekend I walked into a restaurant, a chilled out place not the type you have to dress up to, and instinctively took off my baseball cap when the food arrived - because the code running in the background said I should do so. Why? I don't know, but was quite annoyed to see patrons enjoying their lunch with their caps on. Then there's the almighty one I face every day - Don't turn your back to people. I have to use an elevator every day and can't for the life of me turn my back to whoever I find inside (and if its really full, I unconsciously mutter a "sorry" before turning my back). So you can imagine the rage I feel when people nonchalantly walk into the elevator and turn their backs to me. But are these actually a bad/rude things? I'll never know. But whoever wrote that code, did a hands down brilliant job - no bugs, no need for updates. Its still running years later.
ReplyDeleteYou talked about whistling at night, are you even aware that women are not supposed to whistle at all?
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it...
DeleteInteresting how even after all this pondering ,you still choose to ask that one outside to cease the whistling. 😁😁 Perhaps you are that tired Auntie I mean the workshop must have taken its toll on you. This puts us in position to formulate rules, superstitions of our own. All curated to trigger some form of respectable pattern. The night must be a time of quiet and reflection. May be the whistle helps him relax, refresh and reflect. But must he disturb the peace of other's while at it. Hmmm. Then there was this. Stop it, girls must not whistle. 😁😁
ReplyDelete