Construction Customs

I will start this post with a confession: this isn't my only blog.  As part of my experience in the Philippines, Black & Veatch asked me to be one of their 10 intern bloggers for the summer.  The other interns are scattered about, with only one other blogger abroad.  I encourage you to read about the amazing things that all of my peers are doing all over the States and in the different divisions of Black & Veatch.

Since I am one man writing two blogs, much of the content will overlap.  This post especially overlaps with my most recent B&V blog post.

If you didn't know, I am a fairly superstitious individual.  I trace it back to my days of playing the fickle game of baseball and following various superstitions to improve performance (because hard work and practice alone weren't enough).  Since then, I have followed many of the age old superstitions: Friday the 13th, black cats, broken mirrors, walking under ladders, umbrellas inside, so on and so forth.  Though I realize the nonsense in superstitions, I like to follow them more for the peace of mind knowing that I am not violating a supernatural rule.

After talking with the two field civil engineers about their cultures, I have learned that superstitions and the belief in the supernatural are active in Southeast Asia.  Kiran, from India, talked about ghosts in India and Yang, from China, echoed his apprehensions of phantoms.  It also appears that some of our subcontractors share similar beliefs in evil spirits with my friends.

Our subcontractor from Taiwan achieved a substantial milestone when they erected the first piece of structural steel on the job site.  We have finally gone "vertical" in our construction and things are going to get interesting.  When I went for a walk on the job site to see this masterpiece that only engineers and construction workers can be in awe of, I noticed the ornamental lantern at the top.  It could have served so many purposes, and at the time I doubted any of them were practical for construction.

I went back to the office and Yang explained that the ornamental lantern was a way of fending off the evil spirits and bad thoughts.  Even though these spirits and thoughts are conspiring to doom our project, this lantern will bring about good fortune for the project.

Again, I realize that the lantern serves no purpose besides aesthetics.  However, the peace of mind that comes to the construction crew knowing that they are protected from those bad spirits and thoughts can play a major role in a craft worker's work ethic.

What if, though?  What if there were apparitions floating above our job site and the lantern was the only thing keeping them at bay? 

Mystifying, but reassuring.  Every time I walk past the structural steel and see the lantern, I am reminded of this superstition and the different beliefs and customs that are unique to each culture.  Maybe I will have to invest in an ornamental lantern to hang near my school projects next semester and add it to my running list of superstitious acts.