As the saying goes, when sleeping at home do not sleep with a beam over you, and when away from home do not sleep along a beam - what is the reasoning behind this?
Sometimes old rural sayings can feel a bit puzzling, but when you think them over carefully, you find there is sense in them. Old sayings have survived only after being deposited by the years, and they are all summaries of farmers' life experience. Although they may not be supported by science, they reflect a great deal of life experience, and some of them are still worth learning from.
What does "carrying a beam" mean?
If people born in the 1990s or 2000s read this sentence, they would certainly feel completely bewildered, because in their childhood they may no longer have lived in houses with wooden roof beams. But older people will understand, because the roofs of the houses they used to live in were all wooden structures supported by wood. The longest and largest piece of wood in the house, the one that plays the main supporting role, is the roof beam.
What is the reason for "not sleeping with a beam over you"?
Why can you not sleep with a beam over you? Sleeping with a beam over you means sleeping underneath the roof beam, forming the posture of carrying the beam on your back. This actually reminds me of childhood. When I was little I was rather timid, and when I could not fall asleep at night I would open my eyes and look at the top of the house, where piece after piece of wood hung from the roof. Sometimes I would think, if the wood fell down, would I not even have a chance to run? This was just a child's wild imagination, but now that I think about it, there is still some sense to it. If we sleep under a roof beam for a long time, then the moment we open our eyes we can see the thick roof beam hanging overhead, which is bound to make us feel oppressed, and over a long period this is very bad for the body and mind of the person living there. So do not sleep with a beam over you.
There are also some places that say that when an elderly person passes away, they are laid out beneath the roof beam of the main hall, and that this place is unlucky and not suitable for people to sleep in. But there is a superstitious element in this.
What does "not sleeping along a beam" mean?
Not being able to sleep along the roof beam when away from home is actually similar to the reasons above: it easily creates a feeling of oppression, and suddenly waking up and looking up to see the roof beam can create a feeling of fear. In addition, roof beams sometimes rot after many years, which is also very unsafe for the people beneath them.