Illness and Death

Illness and Death

Virgin Mary
by Galo B. Ocampo, 1951

1. Illness and Disease

• Going to bed with wet hair leads to blindness and insanity.

• A wound inflicted on Good Friday will take a long time to heal.

• It is a good idea to change the name of a sickly child. That way you may be able to fool the spirits who are causing the sickness.

• Before you bathe in a spring or river, you must first ask permission form the engkantos (spirits who have the power to enchant people) who dwell there. Otherwise, you might fall ill.

• Before passing over a small hill, you must first ask permission from the engkantos so that you will not get sick.

• Warts are caused by urine of frogs.

2. Death

• Signs and Omens

  • A lingering black butterfly is a sign that one of your relatives just died.

  • A falling spider that lands on you is an omen that someone close to you will die.

  • Do not form groups of three or thirteen, or one of you will die.

  • If you dream that one of your teeth is being pulled out, this means that a family member will die.

  • Sometimes the soul temporarily leaves the body while in a deep sleep. Rousing a person at this time might kill him.

  • When a tree that was planted at the same time that a child was born dies, the child will also die.

• Wake

  • It is said that the soul of the deceased returns on the third, the fifth, and the seventh days after death.

  • The coffin should be built to fit the exact measurement of the corpse. Otherwise, a family member of the deceased will soon die.

  • Be careful that your tears don't fall on the dead or on the coffin. If they do, the dead person will have a difficult journey to the next world.

  • If someone sneezes at a wake, pinch him lest he join the dead.

  • During a wake, never see your visitors off at the door of the chapel or funeral parlor.

  • A widow who caresses her dead husband's face will surely marry again.

  • Do not sweep the house until after the burial.

• Funeral

  • Always carry the coffin out of the house, church, or funeral parlor head first. This prevents the soul of the dead from coming back.

  • During the funeral march, a man whose wife is pregnant should not carry the casket. Before going home, he should light up a cigarette from a fire at the cemetery gate in order to shake off the spirits of the dead.

  • Digging a hole larger than the coffin will cause an immediate relative to join the deceased in the grave.

  • Ater the coffin has been lowered to the grave, all family members should take a handful of soil, spit on it, and throw it in the grave. Doing so will not only bury any evil left behind by the deceased, but also lessen the burden of grief on the family as well.

  • After the funeral service, do not go home directly so that the spirit of the dead person will not follow you to your house.

  • Never let a child step over an open grave lest the spirit of the dead visit that child.

  • Give away your black dresses after one year of mourning to prevent another death in the family.