Like many other people in all parts of the world, the Loonanons
nurture superstitions and unscientific beliefs, which have been
handed down from generation to generation and have persisted in
spite of scientific advancement of science and the influence of
the schools. Some of the beliefs are innocuous enough and are of
interest only as surviving vestiges of the crude and irrational
explanations of the primitive mind for some of the manifestations
of Nature. Others, however, are more or less undesirable because
they generate fear among the people, especially the children.
| • |
When a lunar eclipse takes place, people beat
cans and make all sorts of noise in |
|
|
order to scare away the bakunawa (dragon)
that is supposed to swallow the moon. They shout at the top
of their voice, saying "I-uli ang among buwan (Give
us back our moon)!" When the moon reappears, the people
believe that the dragon disgorged it because of the noise they
had made. Many people however, no longer believe this superstition
but just the same they go through the motions of making noise
in a spirit of fun. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
Young Romeos in outlying barangays are always
in the lookout for an evening when |
|
|
the moon and a star are close together, for it
is believed that such an evening is the most propitious to go
out for courting, girls being easy to win then. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
As to the origin of earthquakes, the people believe
that they are caused by the |
|
|
movements of Enoch, who has been imprisoned under
the earth. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
One must not open credit on New Year's day; otherwise,
he will have many debts the |
|
|
rest of the year. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
If a spoon falls while the family is eating, a
female visitor is coming; if a fork, a male |
|
|
visitor may be expected. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
If one sneezes, that is a sign that one is being
talked about or is the subject of |
|
|
gossip. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
Eating twin bananas will make a married woman
bear twins. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
The first article to be taken into a newly constructed
house must be a sack of rice, |
|
|
which must be dropped in the middle of the sala.
This practice will assure the |
|
|
occupants that they will always have something
to eat. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
Occupants of a new house should not include chicken
in their first meal in order that |
|
|
they will not be living from hand-to-mouth
(kakha-tuka) like a chicken on the loose. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
It is not good to plant sweetpotato at high tide
for they will not produce tubers. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
If one spends any amount on New Year's Day, one
will be extravagant the whole |
|
|
year. For this reason, people should do their
marketing and buy all their needs the |
|
|
previous day as to avoid spending on New Year's
Day. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
If winged ants (actually termites) are seen flying
at night, there will be rain. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
In planting corn, the farmer has to close his
eyes when sowing the first three hills so |
| |
that the chickens will not be able to find the
planted kernels. |
|
•
|
One should never point to the rainbow; otherwise
his index fingers will be cut short |
|
|
(mapungkol). |
|
|
|
|
•
|
The appearance of a comet is a bad omen. It means
that war, pestilence or famine is |
|
|
coming. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
When a woman is on the family way, no one should
displease her. She should not talk |
|
|
about the blind, the lame and other persons with
similar handicaps or her child will |
|
|
become any of these. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
If the first child is a boy, it is a sign of good
luck for the family; if a girl, bad luck |
|
|
(buwisit) is in prospect. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
In building a house, the owner has to see that
the stairs faces north or south, or |
|
|
preferably the east. The stairs must never face
the west, otherwise, the family will be |
|
|
sickly. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
While the corpse is still in the house waiting
to be buried, and for the period of ten |
|
|
days, the floor must not be swept; otherwise,
another member of the family will die. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
If thirteen people eat at a table at one time,
one of them will die soon. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
The floor of the house must not be swept at night
otherwise, the owner will be poor. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
A pregnant woman must not look at the moon during
an eclipse; otherwise the child |
|
|
will be deformed or the mother will suffer from
hard labor during the delivery. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
When the person dreams that his teeth have fallen
of, a close relative or friend will |
|
|
die soon. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
Belief in witchcraft is common. Some men and women
are reputed to have harmful |
|
|
tongues and to posses unusual powers to do harm
to any one they dislike. Such |
|
|
dangerous persons are known by several names,
such as barangan, sigbinan, ban- |
|
|
okan, ungo or buyagan. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
The santilmo (St. Elmo's fire), a flame-like
appearance that sometimes alight on boats |
|
|
at sea during stormy nights, strikes fear in the
hearts of the common folk. They |
|
|
believe that it is the spirit of someone who either
has committed suicide or has been |
|
|
murdered, and is bent on doing harm to those on
board, perhaps drowning them. |
|
|
If it appears on land it leads people astray. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
People believe that the soul of the dead comes
to visit his or her folks during the forty |
|
|
days following his or her burial. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
A wakwak is supposed to be a bird that
cries out its name at night. In reality, it is |
|
|
believed to be woman who is after people's blood
and liver. Consequently, when a |
|
|
woman is about to deliver, her relatives place
a lemon or biasong under the floor of |
|
|
the house in order to drive any wakwak
that is supposed to be attracted by the smell |
|
|
of the fetus born by the pregnant woman. Some
people merely place the leaves of |
|
|
the biasong and a light under the house, believing
that these are also effective in |
|
|
warding off the wakwak. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
The mamumugno or mamarang is supposed
to be a woman who possesses a |
|
|
mysterious oil that she uses to heal herself when
wounded. She appears only during the Holy Week, waiting for
her victim near a river or brook because it is said that if
wounded, she just jumps into the river and the wounds would
heal immediately. After that, she continues to fight. The hair
of the mamumugno enters the nostrils, the ears and the
eyes of the victim who then grows weak and at the mercy of the
mamu-mugno. This then takes out the victim's liver. The
victim can only be saved in case someone passes by, for although
his mind is normal, he cannot shout for help because he is under
the power of the mamumugno. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
In some remote barangays, before cultivating the
land, people hold an offering or |
|
|
sacrifice, during which they try to please the
spirits or diwata so that they will help the farmer get
a bountiful harvest. In this offering, a table with cooked rice,
chickens, wines, and buyo (betel leaf) is set in the
open field after which the spirits are called to come and help
themselves to the food. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
When one is about to build a house, he should
consult a quack doctor to find out if |
|
|
the place selected as a site is suitable or not.
The lot is measured according to the dimensions of the proposed
building, then three grains of rice wrapped in black cloth are
buried in the middle of the selected lot and left there for
three days. If one or two grains are missing after the third
day, the project should be abandoned for if continued, there
will be sickness in the family that will live in the house. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
Because many people believe that a witch is capable
of taking out the entrails and |
|
|
liver of a person and eating them, they close
their windows when they go to bed at night. They fear the witches
more than they do the thieves and robbers. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
The sigbin is said to be an animal that
can harm people. It is said to have an |
|
|
appearance of the Australian kangaroo. A man who
owns this animal can easily kill anyone secretly by telling
the sigbin to bite him. There is no way of avoiding it
because it cannot be seen by anybody except the owner. It is
very useful to the owner because it can transport him at a terrific
speed at night. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
Many of the old people of Loon believe that there
are two kinds of dwellers, on earth: |
|
|
the ordinary human beings that we see about us
and the unseen inhabitants, some of whom live in trees and caves
but go about with humans, especially at high noon and at night.
One way of keeping children in at noon and at night is to scare
them by telling them, if they stayed out, that they might be
harmed by the invisible people. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
If one wishes to cultivate a virgin piece of land,
one must first appease the unseen |
|
|
owner of the land. He does this by preparing
a dish consisting usually of white chicken or white pig and
offering it to the unseen owner. This practice is called bayang
or buhat and is performed by a tambalan. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
Similarly, if one wishes to enter a cave to get
guano or for some other reason, one |
|
|
must first get the permission of the unseen owner
through the bayang. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
Many years ago there was a place haunted by encantos.
A man who did not believe |
|
|
stories about the encantos went to the
place to cut down a tree to make a fishing boat. He died in
the place mysteriously. Another man who went there to make a
kaingin was never heard of after that. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
Sometimes a boy gathering firewood for fuel in
the thickets or forest gets lost. The |
|
|
people believe that the boy has been misled (gimino)
by an encanto. The remedy, if he has a presence of mind, is
to turn his shirt and pants inside out. Otherwise, he will not
be able to find his way home, and his parents will have to organize
a searching party using gongs and, if the search is done at
night, torches. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
Dwendes are small people who sometimes
inhabit very big houses. They are |
|
|
harmless, but they like to play tricks on people.
When offended they retaliate with their pranks such as putting
the kitchen utensils up in the ceiling or placing a woman's
skirt around the post of a house. Naturally, the skirt cannot
be removed without being torn. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
There is a cave that people say is haunted. At
night, during inclement weather, a |
|
|
traveler on horseback or on foot may find a coffin
laid across the provincial highway, with burning candles at
the four corners. But if one goes back the following morning,
the coffin is nowhere to be seen. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
In one of the barangays, a young balete
tree stands near the provincial highway |
|
|
where there are no houses nearby. One day a man
was walking on the highway all alone. Hearing a band playing
a lively march, he stopped and listened. Soon white men in full
gala uniform came out of the balete tree and played martial
music, marching along the road and mysteriously disappearing
in the distance. News of this incident spread among the people
in the community. Since then, the balete has been known
to be a haunted tree. |
|
|
|
|
•
|
There was a girl who was courted by an encanto.
Although he could not be seen, |
| |
there were times when it appeared that he was
visiting her since a conversation seemed to be going on between
him and the girl. Besides, there seemed to be a strange odor
of perfume in the sala. One day the girl got lost and could
not be located for a number of days. When her parents finally
found her, she told them she was taken to the encanto's
place through an underground passage. |
