PFV Community observes a traditional house cleansing ritual

The belief in the supernatural is very prominent in the Filipino culture. Performing some house cleansing rituals come into play when, people are building houses or moving to a new house. Generally people do these to ward off evil spirits and other mystical entities.

As a show of respect to traditional practices of Taclobanons, I have documented a seasoned ritual called “Padugo” or offering blood of an animal as a form of sacrifice at Pope Francis Village yesterday. The ritual was performed during the pre-concrete pouring for foundations of the first batch of rowhouse units.. It involves slitting of the throat of three white chickens and dripping the blood to the excavated holes before actual pouring of cement. This was performed by a folk healer who happened to be one of the community members of Pope Francis Village. According to traditional beliefs, this practice of taking the life of a sacrificed animal will prevent the evil forces from taking the life of workers or anyone connected with the building of houses. While “padugo” is not a guarantee for the safety of everyone involved in housing construction, it is still best to exercise caution at all times to prevent any accidents on site. 

Aside from blood-letting, the communities also placed coins, holy water, sticky rice and leaves of plants locally known as Kalipayan, Panauli and Kilala to invite luck, prosperity and happiness and to strengthen ties of families who will move to the houses. Whether these beliefs have concrete basis or none, most of the community members are strongly tied-up to this tradition. There is nothing to lose if you are observing the traditional rituals as most people would say, but let us not also lose sight of our One ultimate power of truth and reality, our Divine Creator, Provider and Protector to Whom we should entrust our faith and existence in this finite world.