Taiwanese children's habits: Have you ever eaten an airplane?

If you haven't eaten airplanes, you probably didn't have a childhood.

When I was a child, the elementary school I studied was near the airport, so I could often see planes taking off and landing. I forgot whether the habit/superstition of "eating airplanes" became popular in the class when I was a fourth or a fifth. In fact, I always thought that "eating airplanes" was just a ethos that our elementary school didn't know how to develop, but later I found out that "eating airplanes" is a way of wishing that many people in Taiwan know.

This thing is similar to the concept of "you can make a wish when your eyelashes fall off". Another similar thing is "If you talk to a friend at the same time, the person who pats the other's head first can steal the other's height by 1 cm" (although most of the time we just want to hit the other's head XD).

How to make a wish by eating an airplane?

If you read it on the Internet, there should be different versions (I heard different versions when I was in my country), but I still share with you the version I remember from my childhood.

1. When you see the plane, grab it with your hand

2. After grabbing, don't let go of your hand, ask another person to pat your fist

(It seems that it is better to smash it first?)

3. Be careful, you can't take pictures by yourself, you must have someone else take pictures

4. After taking the picture, you can loosen your fist and eat the plane inside.

Then, you have to record how many planes you have eaten, and you can make a wish when you eat 100 planes! (I have a friend who is very smart. She makes the same wish every time she eats a fight. Anyway, she has to accumulate 100 fights, so it is better to say it once every time, and it will come true when she says it 100 times.)

Personally, I have eaten a few frames, but I didn't eat it seriously (hey), probably because I didn't have any wishes at that time. But little girls really don’t care about this kind of wish-making habit. When I was a child, I used to wait for the plane with my classmates in the playground. When they wanted to eat, I would slap their fists for them (or deliberately make friends not to help her, so she couldn’t let go. You have to keep begging me to open your fist XD).

To be honest, if you didn't live in a city with an airport, this way of making a wish would be totally different, right? ! Moreover, the elementary school I studied in the past was right next to the airport. It was no problem to eat planes every day. In Taipei, planes are not always seen everywhere in Taipei.

I always feel that this is a very special habit of Taiwanese children, and it is also a way of making a wish when it is very naive and romantic. After all, watching planes take off and land is also a very romantic and healing thing.

Occasionally in Toronto, I would see airplanes flying by in the sky, and I suddenly remembered that I had eaten airplanes when I was a child, and I felt nostalgic. Although I still can't understand the logic of smashing the plane and then eating it, I suddenly want to reach out and grab the plane, and then find someone to pat the back of my hand.

 If you like this article, please clap your hands for me!

I am Lily, an article writer from a content farm, and I will continue to share my life in Matters as I progress on the road of improving content marketing/PM. Please advise!

【Fan Page】 Waste girl.

【Lily greedy IG】 lazylily_eat