With All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day come interesting superstitions that are unique to every culture and individual. This got us thinking about some of the interesting money superstitions that Filipinos still follow in this day and age. Some of them are followed worldwide, while others are a result of Spanish and Chinese influences through Philippine history. Here are some of them!
The concept of buena mano
Translated as “good hand,” buena mano typically refers to the belief that if your first sale is good, then so will other sales for the rest of the day. In fact, salespeople will often take the money of their first customer and brush their bills on the other items displayed to bring in more luck!
Never an empty wallet
Giving someone a wallet? Whether it’s made of real leather or not, make sure you slip at least a P20 bill in there. It’s been long believed that doing so will ensure that the wallet will never be empty.
To itch is to receive
If your right palm feels itchy, you will, according to superstition, be soon in the possession of money. If it’s your left palm, you will almost certainly lose it. These days, however, most people no longer discriminate between the right and the left, preferring to believe that both palms will bring in money.
The more, the merrier
It’s not uncommon to find Maneki-neko statues, lucky bamboo plants, and fortune frogs displayed in places of business in the Philippines. That’s because these items are said to attract prosperity. The Maneki-neko or beckoning cat attracts money with its right paw and customers with its left paw. Lucky bamboo plants represent more than just money, depending on how many stalks it has. Generally, six stalks are associated with greater wealth. Fortune frogs, a mythical three-legged frog with a coin in its mouth, attract wealth and prosperity, too.
Whether you truly believe that these superstitions have power or not, there’s no harm in keeping your bases covered. However, you can also choose to create your own luck! Work at propagating the wealth generation cycle. Strengthen your powers at income-generating, saving, protecting, and investing! Learn more about that here.
PHOTO: Pixabay.com