Puerto rican superstitions: Avoiding the “Mal de Ojo” – psychologistmimi
Latin American traditions and superstitions | LOCAL Life
From glorifying grapes to commemorating the dead, Latin American culture is rich in tradition.
Story by Anna Lee Hoffman
Tradition binds the young with the old, brings communities together and provides a sense of family and belonging. In Latin American countries, teaching stories, traditions and superstitions from elders to their descendants has kept these cultures unified and flourishing for centuries. The ancestral connections they create give purpose to a people that excel at artistry, integrity and honor.
Traditions & celebrations
Día de Muertos (México)
The “Day of the Dead” is a traditional Mexican holiday but is celebrated in various forms across a multitude of Latin American countries. It commemorates the lives of those who have died and aims to honor their memories and lasting presence. Despite the seemingly sorrowful subject, it’s a colorful occasion overflowing with life that spills out into the streets of local communities.
Día de Muertos takes place November 1-2 and includes parades, singing, dancing, costuming and respectful graveside ceremonies. Participants paint their faces to resemble Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada’s famous skull etching “La Calavera Catrina.” It’s become the Day of the Dead’s most universally recognized symbol.
Flower Festival (Colombia)
Every August Colombia celebrates its annual flower festival in the city of Medellín. Local farmers and flower growers create intricate parade floats and installations made from fresh flowers, filling the city with sweet smells and color during the Desfile de Silleteros (Flower Grower’s Parade). However, the weeklong festival is about more than just the flowers and includes musical performances and sporting and cultural events. The very first flower festival was held in 1957 and was for Colombian locals only. Since then the festival has grown and attracts tourists from all around the world to come and appreciate the budding beauty of Colombia annually.
Three Kings Day (Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay)
“Three Kings Day,” also known as “Epiphany” in other places around the world, celebrates the Three Wise Men delivering gifts to baby Jesus in the Christmas story. While traditions vary throughout Latin America, including in Peru, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Mexico, the main event is typically commemorated 12 days after Christmas and concludes the holiday festivities. Some Latin American children receive the majority of their gifts on this day when gifts are left for them from the Three Kings rather than Santa Claus. In Mexico, before going to bed, children place a wish list on top of their shoes, and in the morning when they wake up the shoes are filled with gifts from the Three Kings. In other countries, children leave out water and grass for the Three Kings’ camels, and in the morning the kids find what the kings gifted them with in return.
Grape Harvest Festival (Argentina and Chile)
The largest bacchanalian celebration in Argentina usually takes place in Mendoza, one of the most well-known wine regions in the world.
To kick off the grape harvest, the festivities run from late February through early March and fill the streets with music, parades, live concerts and the election of a “Harvest Queen.” The parades feature elaborately decorated floats, and riders throw small gifts into the crowds along the streets – just like Mardi Gras. There are many similar wine festivals throughout Chile which include wine tastings, grape smashing and a whole lot of cork-popping.
Fiesta de Quinceañera
One of the most well-known and beloved Latin American celebrations is the “Fiesta de Quinceanera” or a Sweet 15. It’s a symbolic rite of passage recognizing when a young girl becomes a woman or Latina. The elaborate event is much more than an ordinary birthday party. It’s chock full of traditions, including choreographed dances, exchanges of meaningful gifts, a religious ceremony and most importantly – the dress. The bright, bold and super-sized ball gown is one of the highlights of the event and is thoughtfully considered to accurately reflect the birthday girl’s personality and character.
Superstitions
Eat 12 grapes on New Year’s Eve.
This tradition doubles as a superstition because many Spaniards and Latin Americans believe eating 12 uvas (grapes) as the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve will bring good fortune and luck in the coming year. Each grape symbolizes a month of the year and should be eaten one by one on each of the 12 chimes at midnight. This superstition began in Spain but is now celebrated in many Latin American countries, including Cuba and parts of Mexico.
Never place your purse on the floor.
It is believed that placing your bolsa (purse) on the floor (or even below waist height in some cultures) will bring bad luck and potentially cause you to lose all of your money. It may seem doubtful, but it’s not a risk that many people are willing to take.
Ward off evil with water.
In many cultures, agua (water) symbolizes new life, cleanliness and purity. In Latin American countries, keeping a cup of water by the entrance of a home is supposed to absorb evil presences, and throwing a pot of water out the window is supposed to signify renewal.
Wear specific colors of underwear for good fortune on New Year’s Eve.
The color of ropa interior (underwear) a person wears on New Year’s Eve is believed to influence the outcomes and events for the upcoming year in many Latin American countries. Yellow underwear is said to bring good luck, and red underwear is said to bring love. Not surprisingly, it’s believed that wearing black on New Year’s will bring bad luck and negative energy.
Don’t cut your baby’s hair before he or she turns a year old.
Many Latina mothers are taught by their mothers they should never cut their children’s cabello (hair) before their first birthdays. There are many superstitions about what will happen if you do, but no matter what the belief, the outcome is always undesirable. The consequences range from the hair never growing back, to delaying their ability to walk or talk.
Keep a broom near the door to keep away unwanted guests.
Keeping an escoba (broom) or an upside-down broom near the doorway is supposed to sweep away any evil presence near your threshold.
Never sweep a broom over a single woman’s feet.
There are many superstitions regarding brooms in Latin American countries, but this one has some pretty high-stake consequences. Some Latin American communities believe if you sweep a broom over the feet of a mujer soltera (single woman), she’ll remain single forever — so watch where you’re cleaning!
Walk in a circle with your luggage.
In some Latin American countries, it is believed if you walk around in a circle with your equipaje (luggage), you will be given opportunities to travel the world in the coming weeks. The walk can be around the block or even just around your house, and the suitcase doesn’t even have to be packed, so grab your luggage and get moving.
Free Essay: Puerto Rican Superstitions – 730 Words
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Puerto Rican Superstitions
Puerto Rican Superstitions
Have you ever had a shirt or some socks that you believe have always brought you luck? If you have, you would be considered a believer of superstitions.
A superstition is a belief that is contrary to reason. It gives a magical explanation to different objects and occurrences that cannot be proven. You may gain many of these beliefs from your culture or your family members. These can turn into rituals that you do without having tangible proof that it will work. There are superstition about luck, weddings, death, spirits and wishes and many other things. Superstitions may vary by generations and the place. My grandmother told me about some of her superstitions and I found that there were many that I didn’t know, although others were still popular in my generation and might be considered to be universal.
My grandmother, who is 76 years old and grew up in Ponce, told me about superstitions she had heard through out her life, although I had heard of some of them others I had never known. One is that having a glass of water near the door is considered to be good because if the devil was to come looking for something to drink he would drink the water and leave without entering your house.
A superstition on marriage is the throwing of rice on the newlyweds as they exit the ceremony to wish them many children. If someone sweeps a single or widow woman’s feet it is said that she will never marry, while if you put a statue of Saint Antonio upside down it will attract a husband. Women have always been told not to put their purses on the ground because this means she will loose money. Another superstition I hadn’t heard was that if you received visitors but you wanted them to leave, you would place a broom upside down behind the door.
The other superstitions I had heard about are more commonly about good and bad luck. Every year on Christmas Eve I would visit a family friend’s house and see a showcase filled with elephant figures with their back facing the door. Later I learned that this is considered to bring good luck. If their trunk is in the air it drives off bad luck and if the trunk is down it will attract money. On June 24 in Puerto Rico, we celebrate the night of Saint John where at midnight you fall on your back seven times in the water at the beach in order to get good luck.
Getting wet on the first rain of May and getting pooped on by a bird are considered to bring good luck. Some bad luck omens are: walking under a ladder and knocking over the saltshaker where in order to avoid the bad luck you must take the spilled salt and throw it over your left shoulder Some things are believed to bring wishes, for example, wishbones, fallen eyelashes and throwing pennies into a fountain. Superstition also gives some occurrences a supernatural explanation. Like when it rains with the sun shinning it is said that a witch is getting married.
Some universal superstitions are the belief that rabbit foots, horseshoes and four-leaf clovers all bring good luck while breaking mirrors, the number 13, opening an umbrella indoors and a black cat crossing your path, all bring bad luck. A dog howling is believed to be because he is seeing a spirit because we don’t know another explanation for it. When we are talking about something good that happened we tend to knock on wood because we don’t want to jinx it and have bad things happen.
In weddings, it is said that if the groom sees his wife with her dress before the wedding it will bring them bad luck. One of the most common superstitions in young girls is the belief that if you see a clock at exactly 11:11 you can make a wish and it will come true.
Although we may believe that superstitions aren’t true, we sometimes do one of the rituals in hopes that maybe we will gain some good luck or ward off bad luck. You may choose not to believe in any of these but there are still other things that cannot be proven true yet we still choose to believe in them.
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They are beliefs that are steeped in lore or tradition, and it is usually difficult to pinpoint the exact origin. Superstitions are also known as old wives’ tales, legends, and traditions. They may involve animals, graveyards, ghosts, inanimate objects, or even other people.” Superstition it means we don’t know some ideas well exactly combine with the confusion, but the people blindly believe the thing they say it is right without any deep thought. “Superstition” tend to explain it as blindly believe, without any deep thought to believe it is right.” So, in theory, we say that there are many different type of things exists in human “superstition”…
Superstitions are hurtful because they can be very unhealthy, they can make people lose confidence, and they can cause anxiety.…
Because of this, they may never want to take tests when it rains. Today, superstitions are less abundant because of widespread knowledge of science and reasoning, but it can still be observed in sports and religion where people do things really without a reason or don’t really understand why. They just do it because they’ve always done it. Superstition today does not really harm society but honestly makes it more interesting.…
Some just have superstitions that they have to stick too. For instance, in my life during post season of softball, we always wear the exact same uniform. We wore black even though it was ninety degrees outside in June. The example in Grey’s Anatomy is when every time someone dies in surgery Addison Montgomery Shepard gave the surgeons who were involved a cup of hot chocolate and that was her juju, you had to drink it. If you did not accept it like Meredith Grey did once, then your next patient was going to die as well until you drank it all. Meredith Grey had a surgery with Addison and their patient sadly did not make it. Addison always heard two other surgeons were not having such good days and their patients died. Addison went around and got everyone hot chocolate who was involved in those surgeries, meaning she gave one to Meredith Grey. Grey did not accept it because Addison was with Derek and she thought she was maybe trying to poison her or something, she threw it away. Merediths very next patient died because she dissed the juju.
So everyone relies on weird and different superstitions because we do not always have an answer for every little thing in life. Life works in mysterious ways some times, so it makes us think that we can not diss on the…
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Some of the stereotypes are true: Cubans love to party, and they can eat. Fresh, hearty and full of flavor are the best ways to describe the varied food of Cuba.…
Women restricted to roles within the home, making social or political involvement difficult. Transgressing expected norms The United States government exploited Puerto Rican women through forced sterilization and birth control pill testing without their consent or an explanation of the risks (93). Young Lords women advocate for Puerto Rican women’s right to bear responsibility for their reproductive choices (93).…
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The black box is used as a symbol of death. People are afraid of the black box. When the lottery is not being held, the black box is abandoned and not taken care of. Many of the villagers seem like they want to give up the lottery, and get rid of the black box.…
The Romans were troubled by a world full of unexplained phenomena. Thus, their superstitions became the most popular way to interpret the unknown and the relationship between gods and humans.…
…
Although he condemn superstition, because for him it was a way of misjudged God. Although for many people it was a way of living. Needless to say, that these supernatural ideas came from many times before. And that that believes were not something of the lower classes. Monarchy and Nobility also had supernatural belief.…
The people I speak of are what our history books refer to as Ancient Mesopotamia; “The Cradle of Civilization”. The near extinction of its original inhabitants was as a result of war and religious crusade. Most recently of which was the Ottoman Empire’s massacre of the Christian living among them in 1914. My family is of the few survivors of such unfortunate events. Few people know that the rich culture of the Mesopotamian people is still alive. My family is one of those exceptions, and an outside observer could easily misunderstand our customs. Although, based on superstition, many old fashion misunderstood rituals are practiced in my family. The most of which are the breaking of the bread; the warding off the evil eye; and arrangement of marriage.… Related Topics
- Superstition
- Luck
Top 10 strange but persistent superstitions of the world
Top 10 strange but persistent superstitions of the world
Photo: Flickr/by Paul Mk II
Superstitions and omens exist in all countries.
Many originate from ancient polytheistic religions, others can not be denied logic: they are based on the rules dictated by common sense. Therefore, identical beliefs can be found among different peoples. While in modern Europe superstitions are increasingly perceived as a tribute to tradition, in other parts of the world they still form the basis of life. About superstitions and signs, strange and not so – in the review below.
Photo: Flickr/by adele.turner
Argentina
Argentineans believe that if someone wears an item inside out, they will soon receive a gift. It is interesting that a Russian omen similar to
promises not at all such pleasant consequences.
According to her, a person who puts on any item of clothing topsy-turvy will be beaten. A resident of Serbia in the same case will consider that someone misses him.
Photo: Flickr/by Thejimfish
Puerto Rico
Puerto Ricans have long believed that a left-handed child cannot go to heaven.
And although today the religious background has receded into the background,
many parents still prefer their child to be right-handed.
Almost all little left-handers are successfully retrained, which has led to the expected result: there is an increased proportion of ambidexters in the country.
Photo: FFlickr/by radioactivefly
South Africa
Any South African knows that it is strictly forbidden to open an umbrella in the house. The reason is not at all that in the process you can brush a fragile object to the floor or hurt another person. It is believed that an umbrella is a magical item, since it protects its owner from rain and sun, which are deified in many African countries.
An umbrella opened indoors can cause the wrath of the sun god,
and this promises the widest range of troubles up to the death of all household members.
Photo: Flickr/by gregorythoma
Greece
According to the Greeks, the universal remedy for the evil eye, which is widely believed here, is garlic.
Bunches of garlic above the entrance to restaurants, shops and homes are not just a decorative element. Those who wish to receive personal protection from dark forces carry several cloves with them constantly. Garlic, according to the locals,
also helps from the troubles that numerous superstitions promise.
So, boots turned upside down, according to the Greeks, bring misfortune, and sometimes death. To avoid consequences, you need to urgently return the shoes to the correct position, pronounce “garlic” in Greek and spit twice.
Photo: Flickr/by Issie Baker’s Kitchen
France
The French believe that bread turned upside down
promises bad luck to those who eat it, and at the same time to all the inhabitants of the house.
It used to be that bread left in this way would bring hunger. As the legend says, during the time of the Holy Inquisition, when the inquisitors could go into any shop and take the goods they liked for free, the sellers turned the bread over on purpose.
Photo: Flickr/by maja_dren
Germany
Having decided to make a toast in the company of Germans, in no case should you do it with water in a glass. It is believed that
the one who violates this rule wishes death to the participants in the feast.
For the same reason, it is not customary in Germany to give each other knives. You can call death on one of the family members by simply singing a traditional Christmas song in the summer.
Photo: Flickr/by xyian
England
In the Middle Ages, a custom arose in the north of England: expectant mothers prepared homemade cheese for the birth of a child. He was kept for nine months, and
after the birth of a new family member, relatives ate a treat,
leaving only an oval crust. On the day of baptism, the newborn was symbolically carried through a cheese hoop. This, it was believed, provided the baby with a long life and prosperity.
The tradition of making cheese for the birth of a baby still exists.
Photo: Flickr/by apsik
Romania
Romanians are famous for their superstition. At the same time, many believe that they cannot be saved from the evil eye and damage on their own, and rely on professionals, that is, fortunetellers and clairvoyants, to solve problems. They go to them if the family has problems with money, a difficult exam is ahead, or if they have failed in love. To imagine the real scale of the problem, suffice it to say that a few years ago the authorities of the country prepared a bill that
was supposed to oblige occult service professionals to pay taxes.
Several reputable fortune-tellers immediately promised to curse the legislators, and it seems that the threat worked – the tax was never introduced.
Photo: Flickr/by pixiemom
Thailand
The life of the Thai people is full of superstitions and superstitions. Their roots lie in both Buddhism and paganism.
Colors play a special role – each day of the week has its own day of the week.
Yellow or cream on Monday, pink on Tuesday, green on Wednesday, orange or brown on Thursday, blue on Friday, black or purple on Saturday, red on Sunday. There are not so many Thais who strictly follow the rule, but a significant part of them carry a small detail of the right color, for example, a handkerchief. So the colors of the flags of members of the royal family correspond to the days on which they were born.
Photo: Flickr/by jlz
China
There are many superstitions in China. Many are related to numbers. For example, the sound of the number 4 in Chinese is identical to the word for death. Fours try to avoid as much as possible:
in the elevators of hotels, offices and houses there is often no indication of the fourth floor.
Among the Chinese, like many other peoples of Asia, there is a strong belief in spirits.
In 2004, a devastating tsunami in Thailand claimed thousands of lives, but a few months later, vacationers began to return to the country. At the same time, the flow of tourists from China and Korea has practically dried up – according to travel agencies, tourists are afraid of the spirits of the victims of the elements.
books
“The less we know, the more aphoristic our judgments are. A foreign culture is a black box of a magician, a cube in which unknown rabbits, pigeons and God knows who else huddle,” writes Alexander Stesin in the New York Bypass collection. An American doctor, Russian writer, poet and recent winner of the NOS literary award, Stesin peers with interest at the contents of this box and tells us about the curiosities that he manages to consider.
His version of the “womb of New York” is given through a medical prism: the report is conducted from the oncology departments of city hospitals. The narrator of these stories, who shared his fate with the real Dr.
Stesin, moves from one hospital to another. In parallel, the ethnic composition of his patients is changing. Puerto Ricans in the South Bronx, one in two on heroin and not today or tomorrow could die in a stabbing; Jews in Brooklyn, Koreans in Queens, Filipinos in Woodside, African Americans in Harlem, Indians in Delhi—the last part of the book is devoted to the journey to India. Stesin describes with interest how his patients look, what they wear, and at the same time, no less exotic fellow doctors. What they believe they eat is a boiled duck egg (a traditional Filipino dish), silkworm larvae and rotten stingray wings (Korean delicacies) or lentil flour doughnuts (Indian dish).
At first, one might even decide that “New York Bypass” is a stormy anthem in honor of the multicolored world, the diversity of nations, religions, mythologies, superstitions. And another reminder that all people are brothers. Squat Filipinos are indistinguishable from short Mexicans, a dark-faced Pakistani from a Punjabi, a man in a turban from a man in a kippah, and Manila is the same Odessa.
But no, in this book the kinship of people is built on a community of a different order. The closer you look into the black box, the more facets are found in it, until, Dr. Stesin sums up, “the polyhedron finally turns into a ball.” Kai is a man, therefore he is mortal.
He feels sorry for everyone without exception – all the participants in these dances of death, in which children and old women, vagabonds and kings whirl. This is also why he never names the time measured for the patient.
The variety of accents, jokes, philosophies, cultures is balanced by the inevitability that accompanies every doctor, especially an oncologist. The hero’s keen attention to the diversity of colors and forms of life is an attempt to resist death. “Day by day, dealing with dying people, I grab onto everything superficial – seductive exoticism, strange food and clothes, external differences, primitive stereotypes – everything that brings me back to the realm of life. It’s my defense mechanism.
” It was not for nothing that Stesin fell in love with Africa so much, his travels across which he captivatingly described in the African Book, which came out after the New York Detour. Stesin’s wild Africa is a bit like the other world, but it turns into an ideal refuge for a person who constantly looks beyond the canopy of being.
The New York Detour is also a study of death, a person’s reactions to it, but here it is spoken about in an unusual tone for the Russian ear – soberly, restrainedly, if you like – sensibly. Stesin looks at death without the despair of Dr. Chekhov. Without the secret horror of Count Tolstoy. Without the nervousness of the young doctor Bulgakov. But without the cynicism of Dr. House. Yes, each new round can bring new care. “Death is woven into life, surrounds it from all sides.” Weaves, but does not win. Is a miracle possible? Dr. Stesin admits this, although the only thing that our hero saw was “a sixty-year-old alcoholic with a criminal past.” Lung cancer did not stop her, and twenty years later, “smoke two packs and drink a bottle a day.
” Except for the story of 27-year-old Shamina, who can only talk to her family by moving the little finger of her right hand and should die out in a matter of days. Stesin gives her useless radiation therapy, under the pressure of her relatives and her own desire: Shamina, contrary to all forecasts, does not die – she lives a month after a month and still greets her husband and daughter with her little finger.
But a miracle is capricious and rarely happens. Much more reliable is another counterbalance to the inevitable—predictable, but no less striking for that. Melancholic and observant Dr. Stesin loves people. And homeless junkies from South Queens who complain of depression and aggression, if only they were allowed to sleep in the hospital. And the out of mind Dr. Rahman, who came from Bangladesh, and the good-natured leader of the Indian tribe, and the soft-spoken Italian mafioso, who suddenly throws a quick, terrible look at the doctor. Moreover, a thirteen-year-old girl with sarcoma, who has a few days left, and her parents, Ivan from Haiti, dooming the family to poverty, “round like a ball”, an old woman Petronila from the Dominican Republic, she still sends the doctor a head of cheese from home, a teenager Thomas Di Franco, whose mother hopes to cure cancer with diet and vitamins, Jeremy, a heroin addict, has “stage zero” cancer, but Jeremy is depressed and commits suicide without completing her radiation therapy.