Of Ghosts and Angels

Although most ghost stories send shivers down my spine, there are a few that make me believe in the presence of "good" spirits.  My parents fondly refer to them as the bantay ng bahay, spirits that watch over our house.   There have been 3 incidents in our house that I like to share:

(1) The Door and The Light

Years ago (they've migrated to greener pastures now :)), my mother's family (brothers, sisters, and their kids) would stay at our house every holiday and practically every other weekend.  It was a tight squeeze, so two of the families would usually crash in the living room. 

My 4-year-old cousin was wary of two things whenever he and his parents got stuck in the living room - the door and the light.  The door being the one that led to my brother's room; the light the one that hung between the blades of the ceiling fan.  The door always creaks open in the middle of the night - even when everyone could swear that there was no wind - while my cousin always imagined that the light would eventually fall amidst the fast spin of the fan blades.

That night, my cousin pestered his father endlessly, insisting that the light was going to fall.  At the same time, his mother was disturbed by the continuous creaking of the door.  Fed up, my uncle grumpily stood and shut the door, making sure it was firmly in place and couldn't be moved by the wind.  A few seconds later, the door slowly opened with a loud creak, jerking them awake.  They all scrambled to move their beds as far away from the door as possible.  To my cousin's delight, they were quite far from the light as well.

(Incidentally, one of my aunts was sleeping so soundly they decided not to wake or move her.  She was furious the following morning.)

In the morning, I stepped out to find them all still asleep.  On the ground was the light bulb that used to hang from the ceiling fan.  It apparently did fall sometime during the night, but by that time, everyone was far from the range of its descent.  Odder still was that the bulb was in one piece - not a scratch or crack on it.  We expected it to break given the height of the fall.

Given how young my cousin was at the time, we also chalked up this incident to the presence of guardian angels.  I like to believe in such angels and hope my little one has someone watching over her as well :)

(2) The Woman in the Room

We came home late one night from a family dinner to find the maid waiting for us in the garage - an unusual occurence given the late hour.  She told us that she went into my parent's room and saw a woman in front of my mother's dresser.  Scared out of her wits, she ran out the house and waited for us to come home.  We could only surmise what she was up to, going to my parent's room late at night while we were out.  A few other maids have claimed to see that mysterious woman.  My grandma used to say that that was the ghost of her late mother, watching over us.

There was one incident that I'm sure was not caused by an ancestral ghost. A maid claimed to see a white lady walk across the living room at midnight and that this has happened everyday for a week. It took a while, but we figured out that she was seeing my brother wrapped in a bedsheet and making his way to my room to sleep in one of the extra beds. He'd been reading Stephen King that week (this was the time when he still wrote scary novels) and was too scared to sleep alone (not that my brother ever admitted it).

(3) Leave well and well enough alone

This last incident occured shortly after my father died. A new maid saw his wallet, which my mother left in his bathroom, untouched. She opened it and suddenly saw the reflection of my father in the mirror behind her. Terrified, she confessed to us what happened. When we asked what compelled her to open the wallet, she said she was merely curious about my father.  This is highly doubtful given how my mother lined up several ID and passport sized pictures of my father by the bathroom sink, next to the wallet.  (Yes, we have told my mother repeatedly that this was a disturbing shrine to my father that freaks out all our houseguests. It's still there and has become a running family joke though.).

Never bring home food from a wake

Among all the superstitions I've encountered being raised in the Philippines, there is one that I follow faithfully.

Never bring home food from a wake, unfinished or otherwise.

Here's why.

My father died when I was 7 months pregnant.  During his wake, I was alternating between nibbling on food and greeting guests.  At one point, I absent-mindedly stuffed a pack of half-eaten crackers in my pocket and promptly forgot about it.

As midnight came and all the visitors had left, we decided to close the room for the night and head home.  A man wearing a white barong and trousers suddenly walked in.  He claimed to know my father through business and was late in arriving because he came all the way from the province.

My father was retired for 10 years and to our knowledge, did not have any business dealings in the aforementioned province, but we shrugged it off and let the man in.  He prayed over my father for a while, but as he turned to leave, he refused to sign the guestbook.  Some superstition or other in his family, he claimed.  Again, we let it go.

Still,we began to feel uneasy.  My brother peeked out the door and only found an empty corridor.  We started making half-hearted jokes (really, we were scared out of our wits) that our visitor may have been a spectre as we locked up and made our way home.  In the car, I noticed the pack of crackers and a small bundle of string near my pocket.  I brushed the string off and thought nothing further of it.

Back at home, we all went straight to bed.  Sometime in the night, I felt something nudge my stomach.  Fearful for the baby, I opened my eyes and saw a hand clutching my own, trying to drag me down and off the bed.  It was a dark hand wrapped in rags.  I screamed my husband's name repeatedly.

My husband woke me up then, panicky as I was apparently moaning and gurgling in my sleep.  On my pillow, I saw that bit of string again and on my dresser, the crackers.  I immediately threw the crackers in the garbage and flushed the string down the toilet.

To this day, I try to stay away from the edge of the bed.  And I never, ever bring home food from a wake.

How to prevent curses, bati, or usog

Recently, my daughter went through 4 days of 40+ fever.  Dengue tests were negative, CBC and urine tests were very much normal.  Our pedia advised us to keep the fever down with ibuprofen and sponge baths and wait it out, expecting other symptoms to manifest after the 3rd day of fever.

As we'd visited our family in the province a day before the fever started, our family and friends  had other suggestions, all centering around the idea that our baby may have been a victim of "usog" or "bati" (i.e., curse, often attributed to dwarves or possibly by an unsuspecting relative who was overly fond of the child).

Along with the speculations came preventive measures that I'd thought I'd share with believers and "better safe than sorry" parents:

(1) Pin a blessed (religious) medallion on the baby's clothes

(2) Rub luya on baby's stomach and soles of her feet, then pin the luya to her clothes

(3) Have relatives apply a bit of their saliva on the baby (usually by licking their thumbs and doing the sign of the cross)

(4) Boil the clothes the baby was wearing on the day of the trip.  Some suggested having the baby take in 2 tablespoons of the resulting broth.  This will only work if the clothes haven't gone through the laundry yet.

(5) Undergo cleansing via "tawas" (can only be done by professionals!)

Have you also considered that the baby may have pilay that can be remedied with a good massage (also only to be done by professionals)?

Do take these with a grain of salt! ;)  I myself refused to give my baby the broth of her boiled clothes. 

Incidentally, our pedia's initial diagnosis did follow through.  Rashes broke out on the 4th day, afterwhich the fever subsided.  She likely picked up a case of roseola infantum as she turned 2 years old.

Still, I thought this would be a good start to my series of blogs on supersitions and folklore.  ;)

Happy Halloween, All!