When I was 3 years old, my parents flew us to the United States from the Philippines. They truly believed that the USA could provide greater opportunity for their family; they took the risk of flying over to a foreign land and leaving the comfort of the country they were familiar with: the Philippines. After thirty-four years, I was so grateful that they had international ambitions to move to another country. I can’t imagine living and growing anywhere else.
Although they left the Philippines more than 34 years ago, they took with them Filipino culture in their actions and behaviors. Because they were my parents, they sprinkled my life with rich Filipino traditions through the way they raised me. In addition, other relatives like my aunts, uncles and grandmother also taught me to embrace my Filipino culture and never forget where I came from.
Some of the traditions that taught me were magnificent and worthy of my own pride, but others, such as the 7 insane superstitions below, traditions I would rather stay away from in order to protect my faith than to stay true. my Catholic beliefs. I can only remove superstitions for what they are: mere superstitions.
I only call them “Filipino” superstitions because I first heard them from my Filipino relatives. However, I heard these superstitions through some non-Filipino channel.
Filipino superstition 1: “So your plate”.
My mother would set up my sister and I would turn our plates every time someone left the table at a dinner party. When we turned our plates, we wanted everyone who had left the table to get safely to their places. The sin to ‘turn your blade’ would point to the final doom for the one who just left. Wouldn’t it have been more polite if he had just waited for everyone to eat before leaving?
Crazy Filipino superstition 2: “Don’t cut your clothes when you wear them.”
My mother warned us never to cut our strings if they brought our clothes today. If we did, the chances of undergoing surgery would increase. The clothes with which they were worn shaped our flesh, so that cutting off something from it like a string or a tag would lead the surgeon to cut our flesh. This could be evidenced by the fact that it does not seem that the defendant followed this superstition, that it was soon necessary to go through a hysterectomy. Consequences or incidents?
Crazy Filipino Superstition 3: “Don’t sweep the soil in time.”
I remember sweeping the kitchen after dinner when my grandmother began scolding me in a very fearful voice. “Don’t sweep the floor at night!” he said loudly. I was very afraid that one of the first times I took part in the household chores. Needless to say, keep the kitchen clean. I later found out I was sweeping the floor at night for bugs and worms falling from the ceiling. I would not have been afraid of being swept away at night, if I had known beforehand.
Crazy Filipino superstition 4: “Don’t eat hard rice at the bottom of the pot.”
My mother was big on education and success. She confirmed that her children never ate hard rice or “tutong” at the bottom of the pot. “Tutong” is burnt rice usually at the bottom of a pot of cooked rice on the stove top. Eating “tutong” would make anyone who is last in school, last in career, last in everything, consumes that eternal fate. My sister and I stayed away from the “bad luck” rice not because of the bad fate that would bring us, but rather because it just didn’t taste good anyway!
Crazy superstition 5: ” Bring rice and raw salt with move to new home.”
When my husband and I bought our first house, my mother and mother and the rest of the family all said “bring cooked rice and salt”. My husband and I were more concerned with bringing in the crucifix so that God’s love and presence would fill the corners of the house. But those who were also devout Catholics wanted us rice & seasoned Rice & salt was wealth and fortune. By introducing, we will perform the fate while we lived in the new house. Instead of starting an argument, my husband and I just laughed, then brought all 3 items inside. We need rice and salt to prepare a meal anyway.
Crazy Filipino superstition 6: ” Don’t cut your baby’s hair until after the first birthday.”
My daughter had so much hair when she was a baby that it grew very odd in the first few months. As for the mother, I wanted to trim the edges of the hair just to make the overall look a little more elegant. As soon as I mentioned my intentions to the Filipino family, when I found the diamond, “You don’t have to wait until it turns one year later old. They said that if you die before her birthday, you will have a short life. What mother wants as a child? So, I waited and I was convinced that his head was too firm to be able to cut the hair evenly anyway, not that I believed in superstition.
Crazy Filipino Superstition 7: “Apply a wet string to the forehead to cure hiccups.”
When my husband and I had our first child, we had to attend classes to prepare for baptism. Rather than bring the baby to class, we asked my husband’s mother to watch the baby while we were away. And the first baby they left us with no one else to consult about; The baby was always with my husband or myself. We hoped my mother-in-law would still be there, but as new parents, we were just afraid. When we finally returned from class that evening, I longed to be reunited with our daughter. I rushed through the door and walked to my mother-in-law who was carrying the baby. When I took the first look at my baby’s face, I saw white strings on his forehead. My mother-in-law said in a very serious voice that she put a string on the baby’s forehead because before we arrived, the baby had hiccups. I said to my husband: “Huh?” Since we both have degrees in the health profession, we couldn’t help but see how a wet forehead string could cure hiccups. We just said, “Thank you, Ma,” then you wiped the floss off our daughter’s forehead, since the baby was no longer hiccups anyway. Did something else happen, or was it really necessary?
As an adult, I doubt whether there is any truth behind those crazy superstitions. My exposure might be to American Culture which I doubted myself to be, but I could never deny that those superstitions are part of my Filipino heritage. It adds to my color otherwise black & white existence…
