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Superstitions in the DR
As I posted years ago
The thing about the ironing and the fridge is a bunch of bull. It comes from the poorly wired houses and the fact that house servents used to (and some still do) go barefooted. When they touched the steel door of the fridge they became the "gound". And 110v can do some nerve damage.
That is why so many houses always have towells around the handle of the fridge...
Spasmo=spasms
Always cross yourself when passing a cemetary or a funeral.
NEver, ever work on Corpus Cristi.
If you eat 12 grapes at midnight on New Years, you will have a good year.
Always give a little rum to the dearly departed.
There are tons more.
HB
The thing about the ironing and the fridge is a bunch of bull. It comes from the poorly wired houses and the fact that house servents used to (and some still do) go barefooted. When they touched the steel door of the fridge they became the "gound". And 110v can do some nerve damage.
That is why so many houses always have towells around the handle of the fridge...
Spasmo=spasms
Always cross yourself when passing a cemetary or a funeral.
NEver, ever work on Corpus Cristi.
If you eat 12 grapes at midnight on New Years, you will have a good year.
Always give a little rum to the dearly departed.
There are tons more.
HB
Hillbilly, My wife keeps hanging a towel on our frig and I keep taking it off. Now I know. I used to love running into airconditioned banks when I was all hot and sweaty. Many a Dominican warned me, and boy did it feel good. I forgot about dabbing a drop or two on the ground when you first open a bottle of rum or whiskey, "por los muertos". It's been a while since a opened up anything but a bottle of wine.
I have to agree with you. The only superstition I know of that makes reference to elephants is the trunk must be up and the trunk must also face the door. This is supposed to bring prosperity to you.I orginally heard this from an African American woman I used to work with.About a year ago I got into a discussion (argument) with my friend (who is German/Irish) over the direction the elephant in her house should be pointing.So to resolve the dispute she asked her neighbor (who is Dominican) because she collects elephants.Which just goes to show you some superstitions find their way into many cultures.Larry said:
Hillbilly said:
Not sure about that Hillbilly. My understanding of this superstition goes back even further. Before there were electric irons, the iron was heated by fire. Therefore while standing near the open flame to heat the iron, your body temp would go up, thus the change in temp with the cold firdge.
That's what my grandma said, can't argue with that.
So there was no 'lectricity for irons, but there was for the fridge? Did your grandma have to watch television by candlelight, too?
I have heard the 'Don't put your purse on the floor" warning from a Jamaican friend. And I really try to follow this one....There's some cockroaches that could carry a purse away.......
Dont cut your hair at certain times of the month, depending on the moon. And also how some people 'tienen mala mano' to cut hair. Supposedly if they have 'bad hands' your hair becomes stunted and will never grow back.
The Roaches in DR should have first and last names, they are NO joke!
The Roaches in DR should have first and last names, they are NO joke!
MrMike said:
Well what was more of a necessity, an ice box to keep food from spoiling or an iron for your clothes?
Doing a bit of research because I was bored. The original irons were either heated on an open flame or had a compartment to put hot coals in. Electric irons didn't actually see the makret en masse, until the 1930's. Even then, only about 50% of Americans had electric irons by the early 1940's. Thus that number would be significantly less in DR.
Now the refrigerators as we know it, were invented in the early 1900's, but people had ice-boxes as early as the late 1800's.
Thus its not entirely impossible to have a refrigerator, ie ice-box and not have an electric iron.
Boy, I need to find some work to do, as I have just researched more about the electric iron, than the average human should know.
Look: this thing about the ironing and the fridge is not [b]that[/b] old.
Electricity came into Santiago in the 30s or late 20s. The 5 or 10 richest families would naturally be the first to get the new refridgerators.
It matters not what kind of irons were being used. The fact that all of the early housing was never grounded is the key to the myth. Shoot, 99% of all houses built today are not either. There are no codes so why bother?
The idea that heat-cold will produce paralysis is pure bull. Look at all the Dominican women in NYC that work in sweat shops, live in stuffy, hot apartments and have never yet suffered "un spasmo" going from house to subway, subway to work, work to subway in -20 degree temperatures.!! Never, ever!
HB
Electricity came into Santiago in the 30s or late 20s. The 5 or 10 richest families would naturally be the first to get the new refridgerators.
It matters not what kind of irons were being used. The fact that all of the early housing was never grounded is the key to the myth. Shoot, 99% of all houses built today are not either. There are no codes so why bother?
The idea that heat-cold will produce paralysis is pure bull. Look at all the Dominican women in NYC that work in sweat shops, live in stuffy, hot apartments and have never yet suffered "un spasmo" going from house to subway, subway to work, work to subway in -20 degree temperatures.!! Never, ever!
HB
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Aren't all of these myths anyways hillbilly?
I was referring to "El Campo" not the City. The folks there would have possibly had an ice-box, and an ancient iron, not electric of course. Heck I remember as a child, late 70's-early 80's going to "El Campo" where only one family had a telephone in the entire town.
We are thinking of refrigerators, as the one's we are used to today. Just curious hillbilly, where your theory originates from. It makes sense as well, I just had never heard of it. Since many people in "El Campo" didn't really have electricity, let alone grounding.
I was referring to "El Campo" not the City. The folks there would have possibly had an ice-box, and an ancient iron, not electric of course. Heck I remember as a child, late 70's-early 80's going to "El Campo" where only one family had a telephone in the entire town.
We are thinking of refrigerators, as the one's we are used to today. Just curious hillbilly, where your theory originates from. It makes sense as well, I just had never heard of it. Since many people in "El Campo" didn't really have electricity, let alone grounding.