CULTURAL BELIEFS IN

HOUSING: REGIONAL
CHARACTERISTICS

Prepared by:
ROXANNE MAY W. BRIONES
 Could your home be the
reason for your fortunes and
troubles in life?
 When it comes to building our homes, we
take extra measures to ensure our prosperity
and safety in them. Besides relying on Chinese
geomancy or feng shui, many Filipinos also
prescribe to traditions that date back to pre-
colonial times. From burying coins to counting
the steps on our stairs, we have upheld these
inherited practices throughout the centuries.
Take a look at some of the more common
superstitions that Filipinos continue to practice
when it comes to building and selecting our
homes.
WHEN SELECTING THE LOT
o Good luck could await those who wish to buy that tract
of land that has presence of black ants.

o It is best to cut down aratilis/mansanitas trees that grow

on a lot you bought to prevent your daughters from
getting pregnant out of wedlock in the future.

o Finding a snake in the lot may be scary and dangerous

but these reptiles are considered good luck. Just make
sure to remove the animal promptly — getting bites is
not a sign of luck.
• Be wary of houses or lots being sold for prices that are too
good to be true. Chances are, these places have witnessed
harrowing incidents in the past and can bring misfortune.

• Certain regional groups discourage buying of dead-end

lots as they cause financial misfortune or death in the
family.

• New houses should not be built over the ruins of old ones
because new structures will have short life spans.

• House posts with cracks bring bad luck.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION
 It is believed that embedding loose coins or religious
medallions inside foundation can bring good luck.

 Blood of a pig or chicken smeared on the house’s foundation

prevents bad spirits from wreaking havoc on the home.

• Turn your home into a financially-blessed dwelling by

placing old coin on its doorstep.

• Septic tanks should not be raised above floor level because

such a design requires offering of a human life. Not to
mention, it can cause sewage spill on your living spaces in
the future.
ORIENTING HOUSE ELEMENTS
 The house front should face east to encourage
sunshine through the front door, which brings
prosperity to the home.

 The house should not face the west, as this can

bring financial difficulties, quarrels, or immediate
death to its residents.

 Avoid placing a mirror across the main door of

the house to prevent deflecting good luck that
enters.
• A brief nap or rest at mid day or in the afternoon
is normally done in the bedroom. Thus, bedroom
should not be oriented facing the afternoon sun.

• The kitchen, laundry and bathroom is better

oriented west for sunlight kills many types of
germs.
PLANNING HOUSE DETAILS
• Interior doors should not face parallel to doors facing
outdoors to prevent easy flow of luck through the house.

• Do not reduce a two-storey house into a single storey

structure because it will cut short the lives of the house
residents.

• Never use 13 as a house number.

• Transfer to your new home no later than six in the

morning during the new moon to ensure fortune in your
new home. The first things that must be brought inside
the house are salt, rice and coins.
 DESIGNING THE STAIRS
 Steps on a staircase should not count in a
multiple of three (3, 6, 9, etc). This takes the
pattern “oro, plata, mata” (translated as “gold,
silver, death”). When climbing the staircase, the
final step should not match “mata/death”.

 The stairs should always turn to the right, as this

direction denotes the moral path. A stairs turning
to the left might cause infidelity in a marriage.
 7 Mysterious Pinoy
Building Superstitions
1. ORO, PLATA, MATA

These words that literally mean "gold, silver, death" are

used when defining the number of stair steps. One must have
the right number of steps on any staircase such that when
counting each step (step one: "Oro," step two: "Plata," step
three: "Mata," step four: "Oro," and so on). The belief is that
the topmost step should be counted as “gold” or “silver” to
attract wealth, but not counted as “death.” It is the most
commonly observed building superstition in our country, and
many licensed architects take it into consideration when
designing a home, and sometimes more landings are added or
tweaked so the topmost rung wouldn’t be the “mata” step.
2. SACRIFICIAL BLOOD

Padugo (animal blood-spilling) is an ancient ritual

carried over generations. Animal sacrifice was common
in ancient times, when blood symbolized life, as an
offering to deities. There were a lot of construction
casualties before modern construction methods—not
so much because of supernatural causes but because of
lack of safety measures. So workers sacrificed animals
in the belief that the animal blood would prevent
whatever human blood might be spilled in the course
of construction.
3. TOPPING OUT OR TREE-TOPPING

If there's padugo in groundbreaking, there's tree-topping in

building completion. The "topping out" tradition of a completed
project involves "tree-placing" at the top of the building. This
practice may be traced back to the development of human
shelter. Our ancestors constructed early dwellings with wood,
and because of their reverence and worship of nature, they
would formally address the forest before taking its wood. When
the house was complete, they would set the topmost leafy branch
of the tree on the roof so that the tree spirit would not be
rendered homeless. Contemporary structures are made of cold
steel and masonry, yet builders still top their skyscrapers with
green and homeowners bring in potted plants into their new
house as finishing touches, not so much out of reverence to
foliage life forces.
4. COINS IN FOUNDATIONS

You may have heard of old houses being

demolished, only to reveal vintage coins embedded in
the remaining foundations. This follows the concept
of the "Money Tree" and the principle of reaping
what you sow. The building foundations are likened
to the trees' roots, so coins are planted within or
underneath them so that the structure may bear fruit
in the form of huge return of investment in the
future.
5. LUCKY (AND UNLUCKY) NUMBERS

According to ancient lore, odd numbers are “masculine” while

even numbers are “feminine.” In addition, the male integers are
fortunate with the exception of the number 13 (that's another
article in itself) while the female integers are more or less neutral.
This belief in the luck of odd numbers may be accredited to the
positive references to these numerals throughout history: one
assumes importance; three connotes Trinitarian power; five is
magical in nature; seven is considered a perfect number; nine is a
triple sacred figure. Numerology experts may be consulted for
establishing when to start constructing a house, and some
homeowners may avoid the number 13 for addresses or unit
numbers (and some developers even avoid the use of 13 in
addresses and floor levels entirely).
6. DWARF MOUNDS

Filipinos are generally fatalistic. Our native folklore

abounds with nuno sa punso—dwarves that live in earthen
mounds and giant monsters or kapre that dwell in huge old
trees. Somehow, our local myths have caught up with our
urban living. Some homeowners hire spirit seekers to assess
their homes for any mystical presence and give design
solutions in order to appease these unseen co-dwellers, which
result in retaining the hillocks and building a pond in the
garden for those water-loving gnomes and constructing
around an old tree instead of uprooting for fear of
infuriating its inhabitants.
7. FENG SHUI

Our mixed ancestry has produced a people of various

beliefs. But when it comes to property, the Chinese
influence is strong mainly because Chinese merchants play
a significant role in the local business and property market.
This ascendancy has brought feng shui into general
practice. Feng shui is not about form and function, it's
mostly about flow: the ancient art of arranging your
surroundings to attract positive life energy, or chi, so that
it flows smoothly. Home and business owners hire experts
from the onset of planning.
CONCLUSION:
“Walang mawawala kung susubukan mo lang.” This is a
usual retort to an owner who is unsure if following these
beliefs will indeed bring prosperity or avoid misfortune.
And it’s not that home owners insist that they be
implemented. Locally-trained architects already incorporate
such customs into their designs.
Whether you are a firm believer of these beliefs and
traditions, your actions as a homemaker will determine your
fortunes, and how you manage your lifestyle cannot be
attributed to
Thank You!