Regional

Characteristics

Architectural Housing
Housing Cultural Beliefs
Cultural means relating to a particular society and
its ideas, customs, and art.
Belief is a feeling of certainty that something exists,
is true, or is good.
Cultural beliefs are defined as a set of behavioral
patterns related to thoughts, manners, and actions,
that members of society have shared and passed
on to succeeding generations.
Although superstition has no page in the book of
contemporary architecture, if the end-user believes
and insists that his life success depends o luck
brought about by his superstitious belief, then the
planner has no choice but to do what his client
says.

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Housing Cultural Beliefs

Early interpretations of spontaneous settlements

were influenced by cultural considerations.
Architecture and cultural beliefs have been
found to be closely related. There is, however, a
knowledge gap about the relationship between
culture and spatial organization in domestic
architecture, and it is essential to be aware of
how cultural variables influence the formation
and design of housing according to region.
Filipino architects are familiar with the common
folk beliefs and usually follow them or apply
these age-old guidelines in planning and design.
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 BIG IMAGE

CULTURAL BELIEFS IN HOUSING 4

(Excerpted from the book Oro, Plata, Mata: Filipino Building Beliefs
published by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts)
Southern Tagalog
• In Southern Tagalog, 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.
• This same clockwise manner of raising the posts is practiced on the island of Romblon and the belief is that it will make the house windproof.

Tausugs
• The Tausugs 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.
• In the Cagayan Valley, 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.
• The old folks of Bataan 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).
• The Yakans do not use crooked wooden posts especially the ones with knotholes in them because they are said to symbolize death. In the older
communities of Bayambang, Pangasinan, 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. Others swear by the potency
of rock salt sprinkled generously in all footing excavations as preventive measures againstanay infestation.
• Old people also cautions against cutting old posts for reuse so as not to lose one’s wealth.
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Housing Cultural Beliefs
• It is advised that doors should not face each
other. The people in the north associate this
with the easy passage of a coffin through two
doors that directly face each other.
• Most regions in the country also avoid
positioning the main gate of the lot opposite the
main entrance of the house itself. In Sta. Maria
and San Miguel, Bulacan, however, wide doors
facing each other are considered lucky,
especially if they lead to the terrace or garden.
• One’s door also should not directly face one’s
neighbor’s to avoid future conflicts with the said
households and to avoid wrestling with each
other for the possession of the luck that passes
in front of both your houses.

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Housing Cultural Beliefs
• Ilocanos position their stairs towards the
east so that they rise with the morning sun.
to them, if it were the other way around,
meant turning one’s back on fate.
• Pandi, Bulacan believe that a stairway
facing the 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.

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Housing Cultural Beliefs
• There are guidelines too that govern the
number of steps on one’s stairs. Starting with
the first landing, count the steps using the words
oro (gold), plata (silver), and mata (death)
• This ruling is strictly observed especially if it
involves the first steps going into the house. If
the house has a slight elevation, choose four
steps but never three.
• This belief is not limited to stairs alone. It also
applies to walkways that are made of individual
flagstones or the popular circular or square
slabs of pebbled concrete or even an entire
concrete walkway or ramp that is divided into
sections by lines drawn onto the pavement
itself, especially if they lead to the main
entrance of the house.

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Housing Cultural Beliefs
• The Yakans of Mindanao, believe in odd
numbering of steps. They also require odd
number of bedrooms.
• Chinese Filipinos on the other hand count
their steps by fours.

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Housing Cultural Beliefs
• If there is no way one can make the stairs
face east at least make them face a nearby
mountain.
• If one’s lot abuts a river, position the stairs in
a way that they are facing upstream. This is
so in order that good luck from the house
would never be washed away by the river’s
flow.
• In the same way, if the proposed house is
beside the sea, or if one building a beach
house, plan stairs in such a way that they run
parallel with the shore if the stairs are
perpendicular to the shoreline, luck may flow
in but also flow out with the tides.

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Housing Cultural Beliefs
• It is not advised to place a large window in
the wall directly facing the stairs so that good
fortune will not easily go out that window.
• Western countries consider it bad luck to
walk under a ladder. One should not make a
passageway in any area under the stairs.
• Tagalogs never use the space beneath the
stairs as sleeping quarters.
• Ilonggo houses underside wooden stairs are
usually completely covered because the old
folk says so.

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Housing Cultural Beliefs
• For business establishments, especially the
small ones, the cashier or place where money is
kept should not be located under the staircase.
• In homes, neither should rice be kept there
because it translates to treading on the grace of
God whenever one goes up or down the stairs.
• When planning a structure with two or more
storeys, the stairway should not be positioned at
the center of the structure so as not to divide the
building into two equal parts.
• It is believed that the dried umbilical cord of a
son or daughter of the house owner inserted in
the staircase will strongly bind the stringer with
its supporting girder.

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Housing Cultural Beliefs
Sunken rooms, like basements are looked at as pockets
of caves where evil spirits can hide. It is balanced off
only when an exit lower than the said room is provided.
Some Ilocanos do not want basements altogether
because of the belief that only coffins should be found
under the ground.
Old folks of Sta. Maria, Bulacan advise that the floors of
the living and dining rooms must be of the same level.
They say the imaginary “ball of fortune” must be able to
freely roll across both floors. Overly ornate living and
dining room ceilings, especially those with cornices,
moldings, and other superficial decorations are avoided
as it tends to make the ceiling look like a coffin. Even
the “mansard” or flat type of roof invented at the turn of
the century are avoided as it reminds people of a coffin.
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Housing Cultural Beliefs

As anyone who knows Filipino cuisine,

Pampangos love to cook (and eat), so most of
their dining rooms are situated in the sunniest
and brightest locations of the house. Ilocanos,
on the other hand, prefer subdued lighting
because they consider eating a solemn
occasion.

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Housing Cultural Beliefs
It is advised that one must plan the doors of one’s
bedrooms in such a way that when it is opened, one
would face neither the foot nor head of the bed. There
should always be ample space between the door and
the bed itself.
Position the bed such that the headboard does not rest
against a window opening. Neither should you put any
bed under a cross beam, regardless of whether the
beam is of wood or concrete, and position the bed so
that the occupant will not be lying perpendicular to the
beam. Overly strict homeowners do not have exposed
beams at all even if these are veneered with different
materials.

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Housing Cultural Beliefs
For houses with second floors, it should be observed
that no drainage pipe runs inside or under the floor
where the bed is located. Drainage pipes contain
unclean fluids associated with bad energies which may
affect the good spirits of the people sleeping over these
pipes.
Do not place bedrooms in the basement portion of the
house. It is always preferred (luck-wise) that the
bedroom floor is higher than the living room. Non-
sleeping rooms like the library, den, foyer, storage, etc.
can be at a lower level than that of the living room.

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As in other areas of their existence, Filipinos nurture certain superstitions when it comes to building their abodes. These house-
building beliefs are as amusing as they are intriguing. The origins of these now widely held superstitions can be traced back to the
traditions of particular ethnic groups. Applicable to both house owner and tenant, if the former is not residing in it, this superstition
is attributed to Pampangos in Central Luzon.

• An imperative ritual in building a house, perhaps the Ilocano counterpart of the cornerstone-laying ceremony, is to embed the
foundation posts with loose coins—for good luck.

• A house must face east if it could be helped. Sunshine entering the front door ushers in prosperity. This seems to be the reason
why housewives make it a point to open their front doors upon waking up in the morning. Houses facing west are considered
jinxed. West is where the sun sets and, therefore, it connotes decline, decay, derailment, etc. If it is any consolation, the jinx is
limited to financial misfortunes.

• Building a house on a dead-end lot must be avoided as much as possible. Either a financial misfortune or worse, a death in the
family will befall its occupants. A house that is built in the middle of a crossroad and faces the dead end or what is called
tumbok, it is believed to be full of bad luck for its residents. This also applies to buildings, apartments, and all other structures.

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As in other areas of their existence, Filipinos nurture certain superstitions when it comes to building their abodes. These house-
building beliefs are as amusing as they are intriguing. The origins of these now widely held superstitions can be traced back to the
traditions of particular ethnic groups. Applicable to both house owner and tenant, if the former is not residing in it, this superstition is
attributed to Pampangos in Central Luzon.

• Doors should never face west and the doors inside houses must not directly parallel other doors that lead outside. Easy exits mean
money earned may be quickly dissipated and never saved. There seems to be a remedy for this, which is to make inside doors face
walls, if only for the interpretation that walls bar money from going out; a stop-gap measure, so to speak.

• As for stairs, they should always turn right, that being the righteous path. This particular belief applies best to the marital bond. An
opposite direction signifies infidelity. Note that the vernacular term kaliwete (left-handed) refers to the wanton spouse.
• Mirrors should never face a house’s main door because it is believed that the mirror will send out the blessing that are supposed to
go inside the house.

• During construction, residents or carpenters working on the house should offer a pig or a chicken’s blood by pouring it to the
foundations or posts of the house. Another thing that should be done during construction is twisting the posts clockwise before
cementing them in their place. It is also believed that a child will be lucky if his or her first ever extracted tooth is placed under a
house’s roof.
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• Ilocanos of the northernmost part of the Philippines tend to cut down aratiles trees growing in front of their houses to prevent
their daughters from being illicitly impregnated. It seems, however, that this particular superstition applies only to original
homeowners. Tenants or renters are exempt.

• Septic tanks whose tops protrude from the ground are asking for an offering in the form of human life. To avert tragedy, septic
tanks should never rise beyond ground level; better yet, they should be sunken.

• To make a house that is typhoon resistant, the posts should be turned clockwise before being permanently cemented and
secured. Allowing the shadow of a post to fall on you while erecting it is a bad omen.

• Doors should always be on the right side of the house and the stairs should always turn to the right to keep a married couple
loyal to each other for life.

• The owner must transfer to the new house not later than six in the morning during the new moon to attract good luck and the
first things that must be brought inside the house are salt, rice, and coins.

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Erlinda P. Guevarra | Cleo Monique G. Praxedes
BSA – 5C