Well, my mom does not put her purse on the floor because it is a commonly believed Brazilian tradition that if you put your purse on the floor, your money will disappear. And trust me she really believes and follows this. She says my grandma believes the same.

Notes:

I encountered this superstition twice in my collection. First this subject said it was a Brazilian superstition and the subject told me that his mom and grandmother followed it, and that they believed that if you set your purse on the ground than your money would disappear. He said that his mother never sets her purse on the floor for fear of this.

I think that this superstition could possibly stem from an idea that the ground is the lowest point, and setting something as important as money down on the ground is sort of careless and disrespectful. I also think that his version could have something to do with lower mythology, and perhaps setting the purse on the floor makes it easier for trolls to come and steal the money and thus it would disappear.

The second time I encountered the subject said that it is a popular belief in Mexican culture not to set your purse on the ground, saying that it is considered bad luck because you will not receive any money. She was not sure of the exact reason why it had to do with the ground or anything, but that all of the women in her family followed it.

I think that his version is much like the first in regard to the disrespect and carelessness by setting your purse on the floor. For this I think that the ground being low has more to do with the bad luck aspect, as the setting the purse on the floor makes it seem as though you don’t care about the money. Maybe the idea is that the fact that you are so careless and therefore you will not receive any money.

I think its interesting to see the difference between the two variants, one has the idea that you will not receive any money and the other is that the money you have will disappear. I looked up the superstition on the internet but could not find anything that stated why or the origin of it.

If you talk back to your mother, your hand will fall off.

Notes:

The subject told me that when she was young her mother told her a lot of different superstitions to get her to behave. One of the ones she used the most often was the above, which was about talking back to your mother and how your hand will fall off as a result. I asked her why it was the hand, and she said it came from the idea that if you raise your hand at her, then you will be punished by losing your hand. She did not know the origins of the saying exactly, however it was not only her mother who used it, as another subject said that her mother would say it to her as well. I asked if the superstition prevented her from talking back to her mother, and she said that for awhile it really scared her, but as she grew older she began to realize that it was not true and ignored it.

I think that this superstition is clearly created to keep children in line. At first I did not see the connection between losing a hand and talking back to your mother, however after she clarified it, explaining the act of raising your hand at your mother it made much more sense. I think that this idea of behaving towards your parents reflects the common Mexican tradition of respecting your elders. Mexican culture is very community and family-oriented, where the grandmother and grandfather expect to be taken care of by their sons and daughters, often residing in the same house. To typical Americans this sound preposterous, however Mexican tradition puts a high value on the elders and their wisdom. This idea that talking back to your mother would cause you physical harm is not so much about the harm as it is about teaching the child to respect their parents and eventually to care for them in the future.

My mom and grandma warn me against eating too much before going to bed, because apparently, if you do that, you can get something called “bangugnot”, where you have a really, REALLY scary dream and die from fear and choking on all the food you just ate.

Notes:

The subject said that his mother and grandmother warned him about eating too much before he went to bed because he could die of a nightmare, known as bangugnot. He said that it was widely believed in the Philippines. He was not sure of the origin of the legend, but that, “they say it actually happened to a famous Filipino actor vacationing somewhere once. He partied too hard and POW he was dead the next morning with a scared-shitless look on his face.” The subject, as a result, still does not eat a lot before he goes to bed for fear of bangugnot.

When I first heard the beginning of this legend, I was thinking its sole purpose was to prevent kids from having bad habits, something like don’t eat before you swim. However when I heard it was actually widely believed in Filipino culture I was intrigued to find out more, unfortunately the subject was not clear on exactly what it was about, other than what his mom told him. When I looked it up on the internet the only thing I could find was a comic that referenced the bangugnot, in which the main character’s wife dies of one (the link is at the bottom). After much trouble finding the origins or anything else with mention to this condition, I finally stumbled upon a TIME article in which it talks about nightmare death, and directly cites the bangugnot from Filipino culture. The article is really interesting because it talks about one doctor’s patients who have died in their sleep, all in seemingly good health, and all Filipinos. While most assumed it was an acute pancreas disease, some of the victims did not suffer from it, completely dismissing the theory. The doctor could not find any traces of poison or parasites or any sort of disease, all that was known was that they went to bed after eating a heavy meal, which is known to cause wild dreams. In the end the doctor finds the answer to these deaths in the folklore, learning that in the Philippines a dream-death theory exists known as the bangugut (“Nightmare Death” Time Magazine). Even though the word is spelled a little differently, it is referring to the same condition.

After reading the article, I realized I was completely wrong in my first assumption and that this condition is widely believed and occurs throughout the Philippines.

Time Article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806038,00.html Apr 20 2007

Entitled “Nightmare Death”

Comic Image: http://www.geocities.com/tobito_abad/tobsandman/page002.html Apr 20 2007

Image taken from the comic entitled “Bangugnot” -a Sandman fan comic by Tobie Abad