Myths about planting banana

My mom had been against planting the banana plant in our house for reasons as strange as Vaastu. I always thought (and still believe) that Vaastu is more science and less faith. Banana plants have been humbly serving as grey water filters for long. The outlet in almost all bathrooms in villages are redirected to a cluster of banana plants. People even pee in these bathrooms - I used to find it disgusting, until I understood the reasoning recently. Normally, even kitchen dishes are washed under the banana plant. The phosphates in the soaps and detergents are great for the banana plants and the Nitrogen in the urine is always welcome. Though this concept is being revived by people working in this area such as Biome, it is fast disappearing in villages, sadly.

I got around the first hurdle to plant the banana plant by getting one planted in my cousin's empty plot next door. No house yet, so no Vaastu complications.

I built a crude clothes washing area around this and slowly moved most of our laundry there.

Next, when I wanted to extend the filter to handle more soapy water, I wanted to plant more banana plants along with some Canna and reeds.

There is no dearth of banana plants in our locality, but another myth had to be broken. My mom tells me a banana plant has to be planted by an elderly person only. I thought hard but couldn't figure out why and she wouldn't tell. So, today, I went to a neighbor's place to pick up some saplings and the owner, an old lady also said the same. After much prodding, she said that there is a belief that people die soon after they plant banana, Banyan, Tamarind, etc.. I did not want to hurt her feelings, so came home promising her that I will get it planted by someone else.

My rather progressive aunt, who lives in a village, is visiting us and I asked her what she feels about this belief. She agreed that these plants and trees are planted by elderly people only, but the reason she gave was slightly different. She says it was more out of respect and the fact that elderly people would have done a lot of good work in their life and hence they 'deserve' the right to plant these useful plants. This was better. So, I went ahead and planted 3 of them (I think I deserve to).