Dont's after dark & why no garlic and onion during pooja

4. Do not sweep/mop/wash clothes after dark


விளக்கு வெச்சதுகப்புரம் கூட்டி பெருக்கினால் லட்சுமியை வெளியில தள்றதா அர்த்தம் - [Sweeping the floor after lighting the lamp in the evening is a way to push Lord Lakshmi out of the home]
It would apply not only to sweeping , but also to mopping and they also would say things about washing clothes @ night. I guess in olden days, people didnt listen to any thing that the elders told them to, if they told it straight forward. They needed some kind of threat to really make them do things ;). Just kidding ....

Ok, the reason is the same as my first entry (for cutting nails remember ?). At night generally your vision is not clear either due to bad light (as in olden days) or due to your bad eyesight ( மாலை கண் நோய் ) or whatever. So if you either sweep or mop or wash clothes it may not be clean anyways and also you might be very tired after your day's work and so you might end up doing things lethargically or for the sake of doing it. All in all, you will not do the cleaning part well. I think in olden days, in order to help people help themselves, elders made use of their belief in God and told them to follow what they say or else God will punish them or leave them.
If you have a washing machine you can go ahead and wash your clothes @ night. You arent going to spend your effort there isnt ? (unless you put some clothes which might give out colors along with other clothes due to your lethargy... you shouldnt blame anyone in that case other than yourself, especially God...)

Also if you have spilled food or cleaned up your house after your shopping, it is better to sweep / mop it up even it is dark. You may not want other insects like roaches, ants etc roaming in your floor when you get up right ?


5. Avoiding Onion and Garlic during pooja or vrata days

Many people who are very religious (mostly brahmins - iyers and iyengars as far as I know) generally do not include onion and garlic in their food. And most non-brahmins (again this is only as far as I know it) do not use onion and garlic during the days when they have a pooja @ home. In olden days, brahmins were the people who performed pooja @ temples and they are the people who are supposed to be satvik (அமைதியின் பிம்பம் sort of ) in nature. And garlic and nnion (and other vegetables belonging to the same family ...which one ? I dont know..) are by nature aphrodisiac (that means they can stimulate desires) and they have their own share of harmful effects on the body if taken in larger quantities just like anything else(அளவுக்கு  மீறினால்  அமிர்தமும்  நஞ்சு  ..) and if you have onion or garlic , they also say that it will result in foul odour during sweating. It has its own good effects (like they help in detoxification, a natuaral antibiotic etc).

Brahmins or people doing pooja tend to avoid these because they would want to concentrate on the pooja and reaching God in a spiritual level through the pooja and not worry about the odour or the desires that arise out of having the garlic and onion isnt ? Ok.. I have given you the basic reason for not having garlic and onion during pooja days.. now you can go ahead and decide if you really want to ;)