Cultural Beliefs in Housing (Regional Characteristics) Flashcards
The experienced Filipino architect is familiar with the common __ and usually follows them or applies these age-old guidelines in the planning of one’s dream house.
folk beliefs
Many of these beliefs are based on __ that do not have to be overly emphasized.
sound planning practices
It is more advantageous if two faces of the house __. This can be achieved if a corner of the house take in the morning sun. This can be achieved if a corner of the house faces east. In fact, most educated Filipinos are of the belief that the more windows your residence has (or the larger they are), the better the chances of your house absorbing natural and spiritual graces.
take in the morning sun
In __, the front door of the house must face against the flow of a nearby river according to ancient folk beliefs.
Bontoc
In __, the roof of the house must slope following the direction of the incline of the nearby mountains.
Romblon
In the __, it is different. The ridge of the roof is always positioned at right angles to the ridge of the mountain on which the house stands.
Cordilleras
Among the __, it is customary to give ample space underneath their houses by elevating their floors to accommodate the future tomb of the owner to ensure perpetual guidance over the house the dead leaves behind.
Ibalois
If one is building a house __, make sure that the roof is not higher than theirs, otherwise, their lives will never progress or will always be worse. A sibling’s house must not be built so close to that of his parents such that rainwater from the eaves of the main house pours onto the roof of the sibling.
within a family compound or between two relatives
In __, posts are erected following this procedure: posts are laid with their bottom ends at the footing on the ground and the top ends pointing towards the east. The post nearest the east is the first to be raised. The same procedure is followed for the other posts, one after the other in a clockwise direction as one reads the plan.
Southern Tagalog
This same clockwise manner of raising the posts is practiced on the island of __ and the belief is that it will make the house windproof.
Romblon
The __ equate the building of a house to the development of a fetus. They believe that the first to appear in a woman’s womb is the navel. Hence, the first post to be erected should be the main post within the interior of the house.
Tausugs
In the __, meanwhile, the first post to be raised is the one positioned nearest to the northeast. But this is done after the footings have been sprinkled with wine.
Cagayan Valley
The __ caution against having a solitary post in the middle of a room. It is said to bring misfortune to the family. This belief is also common in Tagalog areas and it is said that posts situated this way augur a “heavily laden” life (mabigat ang kabuhayan).
old folks of Bataan
The __ do not use crooked wooden posts especially the ones with knotholes in them because they are said to symbolize death.
Yakans
In the older communities of __, it is commonly believed that termites (anay) will not enter the house if the bottoms of all wooden posts are first charred. Informed master carpenters, however, suggest that these bottoms not just be charred but tarred as well.
Bayambang, Pangasinan
Others swear by the potency of __ sprinkled generously in all footing excavations as preventive measures against anay infestation.
rock salt
Old people also cautions against __ for reuse so as not to lose one’s wealth.
cutting old posts
An orientation towards the __ is also required for stairs.
east
__ position their stairs so that they rise with the morning sun. To them, if it were the other way around, meant turning one’s back on fate.
Ilocanos
But builders in __, just like many typical Filipinos, believe that a stairway facing east is considered bad luck because, they say, anything facing the early sun dries up ahead of all others, and in the same token, wealth taken into the house will dry up much faster.
Pandi, Bulacan
If there is no way one can make the stairs face east, at least make them face __.
any nearby mountain
If one’s lot abuts a river, position the stairs in a way that they are __. This is so in order that good luck from the house would never be washed away with the river’s flow.
facing upstream
In the same way, if the proposed house is beside the sea, or if one is building a beach house, plan the stairs in such a way that they __. If the stairs are perpendicular to the shoreline, luck may flow in but also flow out with the tides.
run parallel with the shore
Also, it is not advised to place a large window in the wall __ so that good fortune will not easily go out that window. Most Western countries consider it bad luck to __. Actually, this can be taken more as a safety precaution than a superstition. Locally, one should not make a passageway any area under the stairs.
directly facing the stairs
walk under a ladder
__ never use the space beneath the stairs as a sleeping quarters.
Tagalogs
The underside of wooden stairs of __ houses are usually completed covered not because of peeping Toms but because the Old folks say so.
Ilonggo
For __, especially the small ones, the cashier or the place where money is kept should not be located under the staircase.
business establishments
In homes, neither should __ be kept there because it translates to treading on the grace of God whenever one goes up or down the stairs.
rice