Superstitions and Riddles from Mindoro and Marinduque

Abstract

Weather Lore. If rain is needed, perform one of the following acts: Bathe a cat; put a lighted candle in a new earthenware pot and drag the pot upon the river as you would a small boat; bury some salt near the river. Signs that indicate rain: A swarm of dragon flies in the field; fireflies in the house; crows perched upon the tops of young bamboos. A gecko in the house draws lightning. If you swear, wear white clothing, or see a white cat during a thunder storm the lightning will strike you. Burning rags or sprinkling vinegar upon the house posts will cause the thunder to cease. Carrying monkeys or cats upon a voyage will cause a storm. When a sea turtle comes ashore a storm will follow. If a person is wounded during high tide the blood will flow freely, if during low tide, sparsely. The pupil of the cat's eye is large at high tide and small at low tide. Make coconut oil during high tide and you will have much oil. If a tree falls when there is no wind it is a sign that a violent storm is approaching. Good and Bad Year Signs. If children play with tops at the beginning of the year there will be a famine, because the tops make a sound like the Tagalog word gutum, which means hunger; but if the youngsters play with small shells and pieces of crockery the crops, especially the rice will be plentiful, because the shells represent the grain, and the pieces of crockery the money that will be received for it. If a horse neighs during the first hour of the new year the people will be poor; if a water buffalo lows or birds sing there will be much happiness; if dogs howl there will be much sickness. When the bamboo bears flowers (a thing it rarely does) there will be a famine. Animal Lore. Whenever the jungle-fowls wander into a village thieves will shortly come down from the mountains and rob the people. The reason the deer has no gall cyst is because she was once playing with another animal and wounded her side with a young palasan plant; the thorn reached the liver piercing the gall cyst, so from that time on the deer has had no gall, and the palasan, which is edible, tastes bitter when young. If a hair from a girl's head is tied to a lobster's leg and the lobster turned loose the girl will lose her mind. If you sharpen your bolo while the rice is growing, the rice will be eaten by rats. Letting a piece of money fall into a fish corral will cause the fish not to go into the trap. On first taking down a brood of chickens from the nest, close your eyes as you go down the steps so that the hawks and crows will not be able to see the chicks when they wish to catch them. Do not permit lazy or