Beliefs and Custom Commons in Malolos, Bulakan

Article by: Angel Lingzhibelle Thea

Tagalog Paper No. 146 (Folklore #253) By Juan Alano

BELIEFS AND PRACTICES IN MY LOCALITY

In this discussion of the common beliefs and practices in my locality it is advisable to divide the subject into four divisions. I shall begin in bearing the child.

A pregnant woman must not sit on the steep of the stairs. If she does, she will have trouble bearing forth her child. This belief is almost universal. Its origin is easily understood. The steep of the stairs common in twons are made of two parallel baboo bars with small spaces between. These small spaces, they say influences the size of the organ of production in the females so that they have to avoid as much as possible this bad habit. A midwife can tell there would be a child; whether a boy or a girl. If the nipples of the mother are round and gray with black spots which they call “binuauaya” the child is a boy.

If a mother will bear her child at night, the whole neighborhood goes to her aid. In the night, the bad spirits roam around and the people fear that the mother may be the object of the mischief of these imps. They are however afraid of the light. Usually, when a child is to be born at night, torches are lighted up during the whole night under the house. The people going for the midwife must carry torches and make as much noise as possible to frighten away the mischievous spirits.

The midwife or the other hand must and never answer at the first and second call of those who came to conduct her. Many time, they say the evil spirit calls upon the midwife to hide her so that when the people who really want her to attend a pregnant woman, she would be securely hidden by the spirits.

At the third or fourth call, she will look out of her window and ask the name of all the people who come to conduct her to make sure that they are really people. It ought to be remembered that Sianake also speak and appear like people. When she is sure that she is not fooled, she must make them go upstairs and let them chew buyo— each one of them. After this, she can go. At her return home, she is not accompanied. This practice has passed into a proverb— "To be conducted like a midwife" is to be treated well when they want something from you and to be neglected after your service.

The placenta of the child influences the sharpness of the child's mind. If the placenta is buried as it is, the child will have a dull head. If it is buried in a coconut shell full of newspaper and torn-leaves from books, the child will become a learned man.

If the placenta is put in a bamboo internode filled with ashes from the store and tied up in an alagan tree, the child will be an eminent thinker. Care must however be taken that this is not discovered by crows and hawks which often scratch it and eat it. In this case, the child will be empty-headed.

If the older children are always quarreling, the placenta of the late child is dried. When the baby is some two or three months old, the placenta is roasted and eaten with soft boiled rice called “silugao”. After this, the children will love each other well. So much for the bearing of the child. There are more points of observance but they are minor ceremonies.

I shall then tell the belief in death. When one dreams that one of his molars were pulled out by some accident or whether it is broken it is a sign that one of his nearest relatives will die. Among children the moth is an omen. If when children are playing in the day time and a moth happens to fly near a child and hover around him, it is a sign that either his father or mother is dead, especially when they live in some other town. A story was told by my neighbor that when he and his child left his wife, the child’s mother was suffering from no pain. But when they were in the house of his brother whom they were visiting a moth alighted on the child’s hand. At 12 o’clock that day, they received a telegram announcing the death of his wife who fell from the window.

When one is passing near a house where someone is agonizing, he must enter the house even though he is a stranger. If he continues his way, a big dog will wrestle with him.

It is a common accident for children to be drowned in the river. When the parents do not know of the whereabouts of their child they can know whether the child is drowned. A candle is placed on a pot and allowed to fleet down with the current. If the place is reached where the children were drowned, the pot will encircle for three times. If the child lies in the bottom, the pot will circle three times and then stop there in spite of the current. The next division I shall call social for what of a better name. When a ast washes herself with her saliva and forepawag, it is a sure sign that some from away visitors will come. To make those visitors bring rice with them so that they will not be too much of a burden on a family, the rice measure in the house is thrown at the oat. When the fire in boiling the rice or fish makes some noise, the cause doubtless of some cases in the wood, it is a sign that visitors will also come. In order to prevent those visitors lodging into the house, the fire is extinguished instantly and the would-be-visitors they believe will find another house for lodging. In eating one sometimes unconsciously bitten the tongue. Sometimes the food goes the wrong way and a violent coughing follows. These are signs that someone, usually a lover, is thinking of a girl. If the one who bitten her tongue or cough is a girl. In this case, in order to assure the lover that she received his remembrance, the girl must stand up and about “Yes” as loud as she can. When she continued to eat and if no more accidents happened to her, the lover received her answer. If a cook crows at an unusual hour of the day, it is a sign that a girl will be disgraced by her lover in the vicinity where the cook crew.

The next division is fetish objects. In this discussion, we shall see how the people here believe in objects having strange power. It will be seen at the first glance that they are idolaters. But this is not true. The idolaters have their supreme power in the idol. It is their All. But in the fetish belief, they describe powers to objects but these powers may be counteracted by human.

The flower of a banana which has not yet opened in a zest of anting-anting. If one goes out in the middle of the night and stands beneath a banana flower beginning to open, he can invoke the spirits living in the flower. With a certain formula, he can call the spirit which falls in the form of a fire. The person must catch it with his mouth and swallow it instantly. After that, he can become invisible and can transport from place to place through the air.

An egg which is almost to hatch as a source of string spirit. If one desires to perform miracles such as making his enemies sick or become invisible, he must take one of these eggs in the middle of the night from the nest and then go under the house. At eleven o'clock, he must put the egg under his armpit and remain standing. He must continually recite the form of incantation and must not move whatever he feels. At twelve o'clock, the egg will become hotter than a burning iron but the performer must bear it. By and by, the chicken inside the egg will come out and enter the body of the person through his armpit. As soon as the chicken enters the body, it will turn the eyes of the person which are now called manounoulsa, you will find the image of a chicken inside of the image of a man. These people can trouble you by making you sick. They have the second self which binds you. Once a man traveling in the country came to a house where everybody was mourning. He found out that the reason for such out-crying was the death of the master of the house. The corpse was already in the coffin and was to be carried to the grave. But the stranger who was a connoisseur in such matters said that the man was not dead. He said that the body was only bewitched. He ordered a nail and a hammer to be given to him. He bore the nail into the head of the corpse. The dead man came to life again. The stranger then said, “ Count three houses from here and at the last one you will find a dead man.” They did so and found that Pedro, the laborer of the first dead man who had resurrected, was dead. This Pedro was the same man whom the former had kicked out of the house for asking him again and again for money and food.

When one wants to have a body bullet-proof he must make a wound in his leg and plant in there quicksilver. After this performance, a bullet or knife will not harm him. He can also jump rivers twenty meters wide. The way to kill this kind of a man is to strike the bolo on the earth saying “from the earth didst thou come and unto the earth thou shalt return.” Immediately after saying this, strike him any place in his body but the best place on his chin. In the latter case, he will not agonize but die at once.

Lovers who are spurned by their sweethearts have one recourse. They catch lizards and flies, and mix them in a bottle of coconut oil with ginger. In the preparation of this ingredient they must recite some formula. If it is performed well they put this in their cigarette. If the girls smell the smoke, they will be attracted and will go with the lovers even though they do not want to go. There is something in them which seems to push them and they fall in love with their formerly rejected suitors.

The ant-hill is the home of what we call, “matanda sa punso.” In passing near this, one must always ask permission from the ant-hill by saying this “May I be allowed to pass here?” He must set his foot very carefully and he must walk slowly.

This is because the spirit may be sleeping on the path and if anybody happens to thread upon him, the aggressor will have to pay dearly. Sometimes this fact will be turned toward his back during the rest of his life. Some people who have been punished like this obtained pardon by imploring the mercy of the spirit. This is done by putting some good food on the ant-hill.

A six months old baby in the womb of the mother. If the baby comes out in the sixth month, it is sometimes stolen. This is crucified on a cross and baptized secretly by the theft with holy water. This is then dried and care must be taken that no one sees the charm. When it is thoroughly dried on its cross, it is fastened on the neck with a string. As long as this charm is not wet, the owner will be bullet-proof and can jump over very wide rivers.

References

https://nlpdl.nlp.gov.ph/OB01/NLPOBMN0037003146/bs/datejpg.htm