Luzon - Oro, Plata, Mata

LUZON

ORO, PLATA, MATA

        In Luzon, particularly in the Southern part, when building a house this belief has also be considered. The architects who designed the homes says that this superstitious beliefs is the common belief that must be think of when building a house especially if the house will be having stairs.

        The word ‘oro, plata, mata’ have their own definitions where ‘Oro’ stands for “gold”, ‘Plata’ stands for “silver”, and ‘Mata’ stands for “death”. They use these three words to define the number of steps that we can take in stairs. When stepping, a person must have the adequate number of steps on every staircase just like when you started to count each step, the step must be equal with the word “Oro”, step two must be “Plata”, and step three must be “Mata”. It is believed in the people in Southern Luzon that the last step on the staircase or the final step for the topmost must fit with the word “Oro” which means “gold” or it could be the ‘Plata’ which means ‘silver’. It is for the purpose of attracting wealth of good luck to enter the house. On the other hand, if a person steps and his last step at the topmost have ended with the word ‘Mata’ which means ‘death’, it says in this belief that the owner of the house shall encounter bad luck and unwealthiness that is opposite when you ended up with ‘Oro’ or ‘Plata’.

        However, this superstitious belief is usually appliedwhen the stairs are made up of cement or from woods; it is part of this belief since it was originated and believed by Filipinos and Luzon citizens before and up to the present day. It is due to the compelling belief of the people in Luzon that wealth, good luck, and bad luck may come from doing simple things just like taking steps on the stairs.

        They belief that some things around us can be powerful and they can derive on it depending on the situation that they have. It started with their ancestors who had stairs inside their houses until this superstitious beliefs have been passed from one generation to another generation and other until the present day.

        Some Filipino’s, especially those who are in Luzon still stick and believe into this kind of superstitions because of the respect for this habit from their ancestors and is because they believe on its results and consequences.

SUPERSTITIONS IN VISAYAS

        Filipino’s are quiet superstitious particularly in Cebu. Cebuanos believe a lot of things and they also observed a lot of traditional practices, even if there is no logical reason behind it.  These are some of the superstitions in Cebu: