Food and Eating

Food and Eating

Merienda
by Carlos V. Francisco

1. Warnings and Signs

• If a spoon falls during a meal, you will be visited by a woman. If it is a fork, a man will be visiting, while if it is a teaspoon, it will be a child.

• A woman who switches seats many times during a meal will have many suitors.

• If you change your permanent place at the family table, the person you will marry will have a short life.

• If you eat too much onions, you will become a playboy or playgirl.

• Eating ripe papayas everyday controls your sexual urges.

• If you choke briefly at mealtime, someone far away remembers you, or is talking about you. To find out who that person could be, immediately ask for any number from the people who are eating with you. The number that will match a letter in the alphabet will be the first letter of the person's name who knows you and is the one who might have remembered you.

2. Things To Do and Not to Do

• If you have to leave the table before finishing your meal in order to go on a trip, turn around the plates on the table so that your trip will be safe.

• Do not put money on the dining table while eating.

• The number of persons sitting down in a meal should not add up to 13.

• When cooking, leave a few grains of rice in the sack and then tie it tightly. This wayt, your guests will not consume all the food at once.

• If you leave some rice in the pot there will always be something to eat in the house.

• If a fish bone gets stuck in your throat, don't tell a soul; turn your plate around three times and the bone will disappear.

• It is good to use plates when serving food to your guests. The grace of your guests will remain on the plates and be a blessing to your family.

• When a stranger or distang relative arrives in your home, serve him water first so that he brings you only good news.

• When dining in the home of strangers, always eat food from the center of the plate.

• Do not stack dirty dishes one on top of the other, or it may lead to adultery.

Money and Wealth

Money and Wealth

Market Scene
by Greg Bolanos

1. Signs and Omens

• A person who breaks an egg and finds two yolks inside will be rich.

• A white butterfly is a sign of impending wealth.

• A small anthill under the house is a sign of good fortune.

• A house frequented by black ants means that its owner will be rich.

2. What to Do/Not to Do

• Do not put your purse or handbag down on the floor, or you will not prosper.

• Never sweep the floor at night, or you will lose all your wealth.

• Whoever pays his debts at night will become poor.

• As soon as you see a shooting star, wrap some money in a corner of your handkerchief and play any game of chance, for you are surely going to win.

• If your palm itches, it means you will receive a lot of money.

• After you dress up and you immediately discover that you wore your dress inside-out, it means that you are going to receive money shortly.

• Always keep a coin or money bills inside your bag or suitcase. If you don't spend it, it means you will have money for the whole year.

• If you find a coin on the road, put it in your purse or pocket. If you never use it, you will never be short of money.
  
• Give a generous discount to the day's first customer, so that your sales for the day will increase.

Infants and Children

Infants and Children

Mag-Ina sa Banig
by Nestor Leynes, 1960

1. Infants

• If a baby often holds his feet, it means that he wants a younger brother or sister.

• Cutting a baby's eyelashes during her first month will them grow long and beautiful.

• An infant must not be kissed when he is sleeping because he will turn naughty when he grows up.

• A baby who sucks on her toes means her mother will soon be pregnant again.

• Kissing a baby's feet will result in the baby talking back to her parents when she grows up.

• A breech baby will bring luck to the family. She will also have the power to remove fish spines stuck in another person's throat by merely touching that person's neck.

• When a baby is baptized, he should be carried by a person with plenty of coins in his hand or pocket. This brings good luck to the baby.

2. Children

• A child that cries during his baptism is a sign of prosperity. The harder the child cries, the richer he will be.

• When a child is ready to walk, put him on the stairs. Have him step on a plate or anywhere else so long as his feet do not touch the ground first. This is to ensure that he will always find his way home from wherever he may roam.

• If a child's milktooth falls out, throw it up onto the roof of the house so that the rats will find it. When the new tooth grows in, it wil be as strong and as powerful as a rat's tooth.

• Children should not be allowed to play late in the afternoon when the horizon is yellow-orange in color, because evil spirits roam around at the time.

• Stepping over a child while he is asleep will slow down his growth.

CONCEPTTTION AND CHILDBIRTH

CONCEPTTTION AND CHILDBIRTH

Mother and Child
by Isabelo M. Quiles, 1992

1. Pregnancy

• If a pregnant woman's abdomen is pointed, her baby will be a boy; if it is round, the baby will be a girl.

• Give an expectant mother anything she craves for, or she will have a miscarriage.

• If a pregnant woman wants to avoid the unpleasant symptoms of pregnancy, she should step over her husband while he is sleeping and all of her symptoms will be transferred to him.

• If a pregnant woman eats a fruit from a tree, all the remaining fruits will remain sour.

• A pregnant woman who eats "twin" bananas will give birth to twins. To prevent this, she must split the twin bananas behind her back.

• A pregnant woman shouldn't have her picture taken, or her child will die at birth.

• Visitors who do not enter the house but linger at the door instead will cause a pregnant woman a difficult delivery.

2. Delivery

• When a woman is about to give birth, place a lighted candle under her bed so that any witches passing by may be seen.

• After the baby is delivered, the umbilical cord must be rubbed on the newborn's cheek to produce dimples.

• When a baby lies on her stomach for the first time, place a pencil, paper, and a book under her so that she will be intelligent.

Love, Courtship, and Marriage

Love, Courtship, and Marriage

Tampuhan
by Juan Luna, 1895

1. How will I know how my future spouse looks like?

If you want to know what your lifetime partner will look like, wake up in the middle of the night and take a look at yourself in the mirror while holding a lighted candle. At first, the image in the mirror will appear to be a skeleton. After five minutes, you will see a full view of the person you will marry.

2. Giving gifts to your beloved.

A. No handkerchiefs please.

You can give your sweetheart a handkerchief as a gift, but it will only
make her cry.

B. No pointed/sharp objects please.

Engaged couples should not exchange pointed or sharp objects as
gifts, or this would lead to a broken engagement.

3. Eloping and the half-moon:

When a star appears near a half-moon, it is a sign that young couples are eloping.

4. Before the wedding:

A. Avoid travelling

Engaged couples should avoid travelling before their wedding day to avoid
accidents.

B. The bride should not try on her wedding dress before the wedding. If she
does, the wedding will not push through.

5. On the wedding day:

A. The groom should arrive at the church before the bride, in order to avoid bad
luck.

B. Dropping the wedding ring, or the couple's veil, or arrhae during the
wedding ceremony means that the couple will not be happy in their
marriage.

C. The groom who sitsdown ahead of his bride during their wedding ceremony
will be a henpecked husband.

D. During the wedding ceremony a bride must step on her husband's foot in
order to that both of them will agree on things that they will undertake, and
so that her husband will not be cruel to her.

E. Whoever of the couple stands first after the ceremony, will die ahead of the
other.

F. A bride who cries during the wedding will bring bad luck to the marriage.

G. It is bad omen for the newly-wed couple if their parents cry during the
wedding.

H. If it rains during the wedding, the couple will have many cry babies.

I. Throwing rice at the newly-wed couple will bring them prosperity in life.

J. Breaking something during the wedding reception brings goodluck to the
newly-wed couple.

K. Upon entering their new home, the couple should go up the stairs alongside
each other so that neither one will dominate the other.

6. Other folk beliefs and superstitions:

A. It is bad luck for two siblings to be married within the same year. In order to
remedy the situation, the sibling who marries later in the year should pass
through the backstairs of the church on the day of the wedding.

B.A person who habitually sits at the head of the table during meals will never
marry.

C. Women who have moles under their eyes, right where their tears fall, will be
widowed.

D. Removing plates from the table while an unmarried woman is still eating
will keep her single all her life.

E. An unwed gril who follows the footprints of a newly-wed couple will marry
soon.

F. If a woman is widowed during a newmoon, she will marry again.

G. A married woman who wears a pearl ring will cause her husband to commit
adultery.

H. If the husband leaves the house soon after a quarrel, the wife should get his
shirt, hang it over the stove, and whip it several times. The husband is
certain to come back.