Culture, superstition or superstition embedded in culture?

It was a dry humid morning. I was just returning from a night’s halt at a friend’s home when I remembered that I had run of coconut oil at home. I was wondering will there be any grocery shops open at 6.00 A.M. in the morning, and was really glad to see a shop open with its owner (who appeared pious) with lot of holy ash on his forehead and arms. He had just finished offering prayers to his deities blessing him from the photo frames above his cash counter. I asked this gentleman if I can have a bottle of coconut oil. He gave me this cold stare-kind of stare that you get accustomed in Chennai. Before I could finish wondering what harm I had done to him, he shouted at me ‘no coconut oil for you’. I could see bottles of parachute coconut oil in his racks. I just pointed to them. He then told me that he does not sell coconut oil in the morning.

I had always thought that culture has an important role to play in the society. I still wonder what could be the reason behind the above incident. Superstition , culture or superstition embedded in culture. I could only pity him for his belief that the negative energy (jargon courtesy: the ubiquitous scientific religious groups) emanating from coconut oil is powerful enough to offset the benefit of the prayers he had just offered.