Life lessons in disguise: Making sense of Filipino grandparents’ ‘pamahiin’

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While these superstitions may have seemed absurd to us as kids, we would later realize that they carry some wisdom

How many times can you recount being told not to sweep at night, or get advised to eat every grain of rice on your plate so you won’t spend extra years in purgatory? 

Elder Filipinos are typically superstitious in nature. As children, we believe the traditions they impart to us mean nothing but business, but as we grow older, we realize some of these are just creative ways to instill in us important habits and life values. 

Household norms 

It was almost a household rule in everybody’s house: do not clean at night because that means sweeping away good luck. As children, we followed — because who, at that age, wants to be the bad guy who blocks off blessings from the family? 

Sweeping the floor at night is frowned upon by Filipino elders, as it supposedly equates to sweeping away all your luck. Photo from Adobe Stock

As grown-ups, we realize that sweeping dust at night has nothing to do with fate. However, maybe the underlying message is that we should allow ourselves to rest at night, or simply accomplish chores during daytime so we wouldn’t have to do them when the sun had set. 

Growing old and single was so frowned upon back then, that the elderly had to remind us to only clean up the table once everyone is done with their meal. Otherwise, the last person at the table would not get married.

Filipino elders would advise against cleaning up the table until everyone is finished with their meal. Otherwise, the last person at the table would not get married. Photo from Adobe Stock

We understand later on that it’s okay to grow old alone, minimizing all fears that superstition gave us. If there’s anything that we could take away from this, perhaps it’s giving courtesy to the people we share meals with — giving them the gift of company as they clear up their plates.

Food rules

The elders were creative, too, when it came to tricking us to finish up our food. We heard them say that each grain of rice we leave on our plate equates to a year we spend in purgatory. Eerie, right? We would often be left with no choice but to eat every single grain until the plate we used looked good as new. 

We are told that every grain of rice we leave uneaten equates to one year spent in purgatory. Photo from Adobe Stock

At its core, the custom taught us to simply not waste food, most likely rooting from the thrifty nature of Filipinos. While we likely won’t spend extra years in purgatory because of leftover rice, it also won’t hurt to continue the custom to lessen food waste.

Serving pancit on special occasions has also been embedded in Filipino culture for a long time, but as kids, we often put it on the sidelines as it was usually served alongside sweet spaghetti.

Plates full of pancit batil during a Filipino festival. Photo by Roland Andam Jr./Rappler

But as the old saying goes, the elderly are far beyond children. We are told that eating pancit would make us live longer, and our young, impressionable minds believed them. Perhaps, in reality, it was just a ploy to make us eat healthy; or a tactic to train our taste buds that other flavors, apart from sweet, exist too. 

Proper demeanor 

Our grandparents also taught us the value of starting our day right — it was just disguised in the superstition that we have to wake up before the sun did, so we could catch the blessings that would flare up as it rose. 

Wake up before the sun rises to catch more blessings. Photo from Adobe Stock

We were also teased that wearing crumpled clothes would make an iron chase us. Maybe it was just their way of reminding us to look presentable when going outside. They even told us as kids that a train would come out of our wounds, but perhaps what they were trying to mouth was “take care” when we play outdoors. 

Iron your clothes before you go out to avoid being chased by a flat iron. Photo from Adobe Stock

As kids, we were gullible enough to believe anything that our grandparents told us, but as adults, we could be smart enough to make sense of these superstitions.

Even then, these seemingly absurd beliefs were also probably life lessons in disguise — an imaginative way for our grandparents to remind us to shape up and act right. – Rappler.com

Deanne Reese Imperial is a Rappler intern studying journalism at the University of Santo Tomas.