Main Piece: SM: Don’t put money on the table! It’s just bad luck. Grandparents will scream at you. You can put it on top of a napkin or a book and it can still be on the table, but don’t let it touch the bare table.

Context: This is a Filipino tradition, seemingly with an older generation, as SM’s parents did not seem worried about it.

Background: This tradition only existed shortly, because SM told me that after a few times she learned to never do it, because her grandparents would freak out every time.

Analysis: What is particularly interesting about this is that her grandparents freaked out about it; not her, not her parents. Neither her nor her parents thought that putting money on a bare table was a problem, but her grandparents told her it was bad luck and she should never do it! This is an interesting example of a superstition dying out little by little, as SM’s parents did not carry this tradition from their own parents and did not pass it down onto her, but her grandparents still firmly believe in it.