If you visit a certain beach in northeastern Madagascar, don’t wear red and don’t even think of speaking French. Across most of the island nation, be very careful where you point, lest your finger accidentally find an ancestor’s grave. And in certain areas of the country, do your best not to defecate in the same place twice.

Behavior in Madagascar is governed by thousands of cultural taboos, or fady (pronounced FAH-dee), many of which involve food (don’t eat goat or eel), days of the week (no funerals or farming on Tuesday) and objects (don’t use shovels with firm handles to bury the dead).

Specific places associated with ancestors, who are revered, also carry a lot of fady (no playing of a game similar to kick-the-can near a tomb). Some of these prohibitions apply only in a single community, or even to a single family, while others are followed regionally.

Breaking a fady invites both social shame and even direr consequences from the ancestors believed to enforce them. The repercussions can be as specific as the taboos: Sing while eating and your teeth will grow uncomfortably long.