Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Superstitions, Beliefs and Customs III

About Baptism of the Child:

1. The child should be baptized at the soonest possible time because it was believed that baptism has a big role in the healthy well-being  and safe from illness of the child.

2. If the baby is crying while being baptized, it will grow up mischievous, naughty and stubborn. If it is quiet, the child will grow up nice and kind.

3. In the baptism of the child, there should be food to be served to the guests, visitors and godparents so that there will always be food for the child.

4. The godfather and godmother should give money to the child so that there will be an easy, smooth and convenient flow of money to their godchild to get their godchild get richer quickly.

5. It was believed in the baptism of the twins, one of the twins should enter the door and the other twin should enter the other opposite door so that no one will die to anyone of them.


About Caring and Raising A Child:

1. Buying a child - if a family has lost at least two to three family members at an early age, and the next child seems likely to suffer the same fate,  a ceremony of buying the child takes place. A neighbor who is successful in raising many children brings money or any object to buy the child. It was declared by the mother of the child selling it to the neighbor who attended the ceremony. The neighbor is really paying real money or any object. In this way, the child will become healthy and will regain back his health from sickness or any illnesses. However, the child is still owned, stay and part of his or her real parents and family.

2. Abay - No one is allowed to give a comment, teasing, irony or sarcasm about the child that it is healthy. This when it is intense or tough will cause sickness or illness to the child.  So, before saying anything, anyone should say the following first: "puera abay", "puwera usog".

3. Panagang - The child is adorned with a necklace dangling with crocodile teeth or any object that will serve as "panagang" (shield) or pangontra (weapon). The people believed that this will be an effective weapon against evil spirit which intends to inflict harm to the child. Others hang a piece of ginger in the dress of the child to stop the evil witches to any cruel or evil intentions to the child or to fight off  any evil intentions of the evil spirits.

4. It is avoided to bath the child every Tuesday and Friday.

5. There is a practice in Guimbal that a child will not have a haircut until it reaches at least a year old so that it will not be mischievous. The fallen hair that was cut off  is inserted or put in a dictionary or book so that the child will become intelligent or smart.

No comments:

Post a Comment