Monday, June 27, 2016

Superstitions, Beliefs and Customs II

About Childbirth:

1. If the first childbirth is difficult, the husband of the woman or anyone in the family should go downstairs of the house passing and using bamboo as the stairs. The eyes are looking up in the sky while the hands is ready to grab or get any objects that can be picked from the earth or ground. The object that has been grabbed or picked is then boiled in water and picked by the mother or delivering mom. This practice is said to give a smooth and quick childbirth of the mother.

2. If the childbirth or delivery is difficult, it was thought that the woman has committed a sin or grave offense that can be resolved if she will feel remorseful for all the things she committed in front of someone she offended or it can be the following. The husband should go down the stairs crawling head first.

3. The mother is given nutritious food when she will deliver her first born. She was given an egg yolk that was believed to serve as a lubricant so that child will come out easily.

4. The stickiness or smearing of the egg yolk in the stomach of the pregnant woman in her first child can make an easy, smooth and quick childbirth.

5. After the child was born, the baby is tossed or held upwards slowly holding both of its legs by the midwife. By doing so, the child will not be sick in heights or nauseous in going to high altitude places o high places such as the mountains.

6. In Balantang, Jaro, after the baby was born, the banana heart is applied or smeared on its lips so it will not become dark.

7. The krill and shrimps, fresh catch from the water is applied or smeared on the lips of the newly born baby. Through this, the child will become vigorous, lively and agile.

8. If the child was born with its feet first to come out, it was reputedly presumed that it will possess the ability or power of getting rid of the fishbone or any objects stuck in the throat of a person. This is called suli in Hiligaynon and suwi in Tagalog.

9. With the birth of the child, the elders believes in some signs and conditions and determine the fate of the child:

     a. A child for example who was born at night is brave and courageous and is not afraid of the dark and
         any danger in the future.

     b. The child who was born in the daytime will be weak.

     c. A child who was born with defects, disability or as a special child is believed to bring luck and fortune
         to the family.

     d. If the child has "slit-eyes" and too quiet, it will probably be attractive or attracting to the tamawo or
         fairies and goddesses or deities and when she became a young lady or woman, she will be wooed by
         those mythical creatures such as the tamawo.

     e. Having three consecutive sons or male child is said to be fortuitous or very lucky.

     f. The birth of the eldest or first born son will certainly bring luck and fortune to his parents.

10. Chicken stew is given to the wife who just gave birth so that she can immediately regain her strength.

11. For nine (9) days right after giving birth, the breastfeeding mother avoids eating boiled raw saba banana or green bananas and "calocalo" or fried rice because these kind of foods was thought to reduce the milk of the mother.

12. After giving birth, the mother should eat different kinds of fruits to have plenty of milk for her baby.

13. The mother who just gave birth tries to do some heavy house works, like washing clothes, cutting woods for fuel, and fetching water so that all jobs or work of this kind eventually would not be the cause of relapse or bughat in Hiligaynon or binat in Tagalog that sometimes results to more damage and harm. This practice is called "padungan."

14. The first bath of the mother has some ingredients of boiled leaves of pomelo, justicia gendarussa or willow-leaved justicia or bunlao in Hiligaynon, blumea balsamifera or sambong in Tagalog or alibhon in Hiligaynon, and lemongrass or tanglad. This is done to avoid the relapse of the mother.

15. If a baby cries non stop at night because an aswang or witch or any mythical creature is targetting or watching over the baby, just make a tuob or incense and scrape some shavings out of carabao horns and put into the tuob or incense and put the incense outside the house near the baby and the baby will stop crying.

16. If a pregnant woman who just delivered a baby suffers from eclampsia, all you do is crush some garlic and apply it all over the body of the woman most especially her hands, arms and feet, and legs so her seizure will be gone and eclampsia will stop.

17. If a woman was declared clinically dead after giving birth, there is still a chance of reviving her and save her life, and do not decide immediately to bring her to the morgue. You need to put around and over the body of the woman a pack of ice, ice chunks, or ice cubes all over her for 24 hours to revive or stabilize her pulse rate and bring her back to life.






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