Tin Tentulya

Tin Tentulya a folk prejudice, which is the incident of a boy born after three consecutive girls or a girl born after three consecutive boys, also known as 'tin tentulya', 'tin tentle', 'tiral' etc, varying from region to region. According to popular belief, such girls are auspicious, but the boys are not. Such girls are believed to contribute to the growth and prosperity of a family. They augur well for their father's family as long as they live there. After marriage, they bring prosperity to their husband's family. Fathers of such girls secretly cut off a bit of gold from the ornaments given to her daughter by her in-laws; this is believed to stave off losses of wealth.

In contrast, such boys can cause the death of their parents, loss of their wealth, and can create all kinds of accidents in the house. This is why such a boy is taken outside the room by cutting the wall soon after he is born and a napkin is torn apart to stave off anything inauspicious. The prejudice is still more or less intact in many parts of Noakhali, Faridpur, Rajshahi, Rangpur etc. [Momen Chowdhury]