The Japanese word for “thumb” is oyayubi (親指/おやゆび) which translates into “parent finger”. You might hear something along the lines of, “your parents will die young if you don’t hide your thumbs!” It’s believed that spirits of the dead, vengeful or not, hang around the funeral car with their casket. If you don’t hide your thumbs while a funeral car passes, then the spirit will enter your body from underneath your thumbnail! Some people will even hide their fingers as the pass a graveyard or a funeral as well.