How superstitious are you? A checklist.

Don’t sleep with your head pointed to the north. Blood is drawn to your head due to magnetism, similar to a compass needle.

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Whenever you go to a church for the first time make three wishes.

2. If you buy a stuffed or figurine elephant, choose one with its trunk turned upward. It means good luck.

3. Don’t open the umbrella inside the house; vermin will come out.

4. When planting beans, place a comb on your hair to induce the production of abundant long fruits.

5. Orange clouds are bad omen; they are signs of either drought or poor harvest.

6. If you accidentally bite your tongue it means someone is speaking about you.

                                This tree whispers and hums as you sit beside it, St Paul University QC Quadrangle 

7. Knock only twice – not thrice, else you court the attention of the devil.

8. Sleep with your head toward the east or north to prevent nightmares.

9. To keep luck for yourself and the family hang a horseshoe with its tips up. If you want your luck to be shared with those who enter your house, hang it the opposite way.

10. If your nose itches, someone is thinking about you.
11. Never take home flowers from the cemetery, otherwise someone is going to die.

12. Eating sour fruits during menstruation will cause menstruation to stop.

13. Girls on their very first day of menstruation are asked to jump down from the third step of the stairs in order to limit their monthly period to three days only.

14. A girl on her very first day of menstruation is asked to wipe her face with her stained underwear so that she will have a beautiful, fair and acne-free face.

15. Peanuts eaten raw will make one intelligent.

16. A cogon grass tied around the one’s head or waistline is a protection against lightning, especially in the open field.

17. If the money spent on wedding was borrowed, the couple will always be in debt.

18. A pregnant woman should not scratch her tummy, otherwise she will develop stretch marks.

19. Bite the tip of your new shoes to avoid developing blister (paltos or kapuyo Ilk).

20. A conceiving mother who enjoys looking at the corn hair will give birth to a brown-haired baby.

21. Calachuche or frangipani growing in the front of a house brings bad luck.

22. Pomelo (Citrus maxima) growing in front of, or bear a house, brings bad luck.

23. Katuray (Sesbania grandiflora) planted in front of a house might bring about a broken home or the disruption of good family relationships.

24. A woman should not be the first to gather sweet potato (kamote), otherwise the roots will crack.

25. Bury a big coconut shell along with the first potato yam seedling in order that the plant with produce big roots.

26. One must not spit in the fields while planting because it brings bad luck.

27. Offering native cakes under the tree will please the spirits (anitos).

28. Eating malunggay (Moringa oleracea) when somebody dies will cause another death to follow.

29. Certain seasons during which children become suddenly fond of playing games like sungka, marbles, jackstone. And the like, are expected to bring good harvest.

30. Playing sungka is bad because of the nature of the game to “kill” your opponent.

31. Do not plant on Tuesdays and Fridays because they are unlucky days.

32. Bury some pieces of beeswax along with squash seeds when planting so that the fruits produced will be glutinous (malagkit).

33. A person who eats any ripe fruit that is partly eaten by a mouse will develop twinkling eyes.
 
34. Do not eat leafy vegetables on New Year’s Day else you will be sickly the whole year.

35. Don’t cook leafy vegetables at the time of planting otherwise the plants will wither.

Listen to the sea in a conch shell, the language of the whales, cries of the lost, songs of mermaids.  It's all in your imagination.

36. Don’t harm the señora, the matron rat; otherwise it will destroy more things in the house. In India rats are believed to be the re-incarnation of dead ancestors. Sometimes rats are called kabas, meaning little children, so that they are often treated with favor.

37. Papaya with fruits borne on elongated stem (peduncle) is said to be bisexual (bakla). The male papaya bears only staminate flowers, never any fruit; while the female produces the typical fruits we are familiar with.

38. Avoid mending clothes at night; it might cause blindness.
 
39. Avoid taking home food in a wake; otherwise a close relative is going to die.

40. Cat purring means it is comfortable in your company and care.

41. During funeral never look back, otherwise somebody is going to die.

42. Walking under a ladder brings bad luck.

43. If ants transfer to another place, the rainy season is near.

44. You will increase in height if you jump at exactly 12 o’clock noon.

45. Never buy needle at night, it will rust, so with the rest of the needles.

46. If you keep a cactus, you will remain single forever.

47. If a butterfly lands on you it means you are visited by the soul of a close relative.

48. Loves me, loves me not, is a favorite wish game, plucking petals of a flower one by one until you reach the last.

49. If a bee enters your house, it’s a sign that you will soon have a visitor. If you kill the bee you will have bad luck or the visitor is unpleasing one.

50. A swarm of bees settling on the roof is an omen the house will burn down.

51. A bird that enters the house is a sign of death.

52. If you blow all the candles out with a single puff, you will get your birthday wish.

54. The elevator does not open on the 13th floor.

55. It’s bad to expose a pregnant woman’s belly to photo flash – she will give birth to a baby with physical defect.

56. It’s bad luck to cut nails on Fridays and Saturdays.

57. Our shadow is our soul. A person who thinks he does not have any shadow will be mistaken to be a devil.

58. When a pencil suspended with string is placed over the wrist of a pregnant woman, and swings along the length of the arm, the baby in the womb is a likely a boy. If it swings across the arm the baby is a girl.

59. Banana with freckles and discolorations means it is sweet.

60. Water the plants with hugas bigas (rice washing), and they will grow fast and healthy.

61. Don’t take a bath during the wake of an immediate family member.

62. Put salt on the lower corners of the door jamb before going out of the house.

"Who is knocking on my window sill?" 

"It's me, the passing wind." 

Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches QC 

63. Egg shells induce flowering of orchids.

64. Place charcoal inside a refrigerator to remove bad odor. Vinegar does the trick, too.

65. Wipe kitchen and dining tables with mild solution of natural vinegar to repel ants and other vermin.

66. If the first butterfly you see on New Year is white, you will have good luck throughout the year.

67. If a lighted candled during a ceremony dies out, it means evil spirits are around.

68. If a black cat walks towards you, you will have good fortune; if it walks away from you, it takes away good luck.

69. Keep cats away from babies because they will suck out their breaths.

70. If a clock that has not been working suddenly chimes, it means there will be death in the family.

75. It is bad luck to pick up a coin with the tail side up; good luck when its head up.

76. Cows lifting their tails mean it’s going to rain.

77. A cricket in the house brings good luck.


78. If an eyelash falls out, put it on the back of you hand, make a wish and throw it over your shoulder. If it flies off the hand, the wish will be granted.

79. Fingernails cuttings should be saved, burned or buried.

80. If the bottom of your right foot itches, you are going to take a trip.

It's not fossilized brain of a huge marine creature; it's a Brain Coral fossil thousands of years old.  Santa, Ilocos Sur 

81. Pulling out a gray or while hair will cause ten more to grow in its place.

82. If the palm of your right hand itches, it means you will soon be getting money. If the palm of your left hand itches, it means you will soon be paying out money.

83. A mirror should be covered during a thunderstorm because it attracts lightning.

84. An onion cut in half and placed under the bed of a sick person will draw off fever and poison.

85. Wishes on shooting stars come true.

86. Tail of house lizards is cure for asthma.

87. Ones saliva can relieve itchiness caused by mosquito bite.

88. Poultice of gumamela flowers hastens “ripening” of boil (pigsa).

89. Turtles as pet bring bad luck.

90. Snakes have good memory, never spare their lives because they can take revenge.
91. Refrain from talking while planting so the chicken will not destroy your plants.

92. When cockroaches are flying about, there’s plenty of fish to catch.

93. Don’t sleep with your head pointed to the north. Blood is drawn to your head due to magnetism, similar to a compass needle.

94. Whenever you give birth, plant a tree because a tree grows fast and means good health - so with your baby.

95. There are times you have to turn back because you have forgotten something. Before you start again alight from your vehicle, or take a few steps, to break the bad omen.

96. To get good grades place your review notes or book under your pillow and sleep on it.

97. Hairpool on the forehead is sign of stubborness.


98, Spit the spot after answering the call of nature.

99. The size of your lips indicates the size of your private part, especially women.

100, Watch a girl fan herself. Reckless fanning means she is easy to get.   ~

Believe your eyes or not. These ghostly figures perform under a huge balete tree, midnight after all the guests have left a nuptial gathering in the place.  Sacred Heart Novitiate, Novaliches QC

Where have all the flowers gone?

Dr Abe V Rotor

They come in two or three or four

     from the fields, altar and hair,

from smiles and laughter and roar

     of the sea and mountains fair.

Yesterday and today are but one, 

     the child before and today

lives in the secret of beauty and fun,

     just letting time pass away. 

For what flowers are, short-live they are,

     and youth, ephemeral too;

let the prime years fade, be near or far,

     mindless the fate we care to know. ~ 

Triticale: A Cross of Wheat and Rye

 Triticale may be a saving crop for mankind facing the consequences of global warming - desertification, more frequent and severe force majeure. It has to prove its tolerance to the effects of acid rain and other forms of pollution. It has yet to break the barrier of human indifference. ~

Dr Abe V Rotor 
 Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday [www.pbs.gov.ph]

In nature, freaks are not extraordinary.  Take the case of Zebronky, a cross of zebra and donkey); Peapple (pear x apple).  And now, triticale (wheat x rye), scientifically Triticum (genus of wheat) and Secale (genus of rye).
 

The author inspects a Triticale field  in La Trinidad, Benguet. 1975,  

No, these are not products of genetic engineering as we know today - the tinkering of the genetic properties on the DNA level, meaning splicing genic materials of one species and inserting it into the DNA of another species, irrespective of their places in the "phylogenetic tree", the classification of living things into five kingdoms: plants, animals, fungi, protists, monerans. A product example of this new science of genetic engineering is the controversial BtCorn which carries permanently an implanted bacterium gene (Kingdom Monera) into the corn plant (Kingdom Plantae).

In the case of Triticale, the cross seriously started in the fifties through the conventional method of hybridization but involving two different but related species (both are cereals under Family Poaceae, formerly Graminae), and that their genomes were found to be highly compatible as to allow conventional crossing, wheat as the female and rye as the male (pollen). 

But what's the underlying objective to cross wheat with rye?

The two crops are staple food where they are naturally adapted. With the expansion of population and human settlements, agriculture is not only exploring new crops and improving the performance of old crops, but combining desirable traits by combining genes to form varieties, combining genetic lines to form hybrids, but combining species to form a new species (indicated as cultivar, that is, for agriculture). It is man-assisted speciation - the birth of new species.

Wheat, the third most important cereal in the world after corn and rice, has a narrower adaptability range in the field compared to that of its cousin, the rye. Rye is resistant and can tolerate conditons wheat and other crops cannot. 

A Triticale field in Canada

So, goes the long research to enhance their compatibility, first in Poland where it started, then to Russia and other parts of Europe, then to Canada (University of Manitoba) where vast lands await for its commercial cultivation. 

Here in the Philippines, I had the opportunity to study the new crop as well.  Triticale crop stand (see photo above) in the Cordillera where the sub-climate is semi-temprate, was very promising.  The Bureau of Plant Industry in La Trinidad, Benguet, demonstrated the successful project, although its pilot production outside the experimental field was held back in deference to local wheat production which soon became commercialized as alternative to second rice cropping (palagad, October to January). (Visit in this Blog, Yes, We can Grow Wheat in the Philippines).   

Triticale carries gluten (a complex protein responsible in leavening of bread) but on  a lesser degree, which it inherited from wheat - but this fact remains a concern of people who suffer of gluten intolerance and allergic reaction. Nutritional value however, triticale has slightly higher in protein than that of either wheat or rye.   


Wheat, rye and triticale kernels compared. Triticale is significantly larger than wheat.
 

How about the physical characteristics of the grain or kernel?  Triticale kernels are bigger (see photo) and this poses a problem in grain milling and other aspects in flour production. One thing triticale brought to forage deficit regions is its important as animal feeds, forage, or feed supplement. 

Bread products from triticale

Rye is known for its high tolerance to drought and other meteorological conditions.  It thrives in poor soil and with less agronomic care. 

But has science and technology succeeded in making triticale a suitable crop that assures farmers of its genetic stability, so that they are not tied up  (like hybrid corn and GMO crops) and not to depend on corporations for their seed requirements, tools and market? Has the grain industry accepted triticale as a bona fide commodity in the world's cereal industry?  

These questions challenge the leaders of the grain industry - locally and globally. Such  challenges are posed as well, against the radical, ecologically destructive approach in crop improvement by genetic engineering. If we can create a crop free from genetic pollution (GMOs pollute natural gene pools), then mankind would have no fear of taking food that leaves doubt and uncertainty that destroy peace of mind. Above all, mankind would free itself from guilt in destroying the balance of the environment.

Triticale has yet to become a saving crop for mankind facing the consequences of global warming  - desertification, more frequent and severe force majeure.  It is yet to prove its tolerance to the effects of acid rain, radiation, and other forms of pollution. 

It has yet to break the barrier of human indifference. ~   

Top Triticale producers 2914:(million metric tons):  Poland 5.2, Germany 3.0, Belgium 2.1, France 2.0, Russia, 0.7, China 0.5, Hungary 0.5, Spain. 0.4. Lithuania 0.4, and Austria 0.3; world total 17.1 million MT

Phosphorescent caterpillars

 Dr Abe V Rotor

Caterpillars eating the leaves of ilang-ilang (Cananga odorata), at home near La Mesa watershed. 

They came - an army of hungry glowing worms,
on a sunset on a tall ilang-ilang tree;
there they hang like lanterns or neon far away,
and in crepuscular light there I could see 
a familiar tree traced by its essence in the air,
and now by the phosphorescence from this tree -
Christmas ahead and beyond yet here at hand,
by the glow of these worms reminds of Thee;
through nature's ways to guard the frail and lowly
through the secret of ephemeral beauty. ~
  

Sex of the baby in the womb is known by the looks of the mother.

Dr Abe V Rotor

You can predict the sex of the baby while it is still in the womb by the appearance of the mother. 

If the mother looks beautiful, the baby is likely to be a girl, if it is the opposite it's going to be a boy.

The formula seems easy enough, but the criteria of beauty are relative, and if one is not familiar with the person, he may not have sufficient basis of comparison.  

But I am witness to one who might have the eighth sense.  I asked her and she explained.  "A mother who is carrying a baby girl exudes warmth and radiance, her skin is smooth, her eyes bright and has an easy and positive disposition."  She pointed at her specimen, a relative of hers. 

True to her prediction, the baby proved to be a girl.

Now it was my turn.  

A cousin of mine was five months pregnant.  I studied her intently. She did not have the radiance and disposition the expert found in the mother we had earlier studied.  Everything was the opposite.  "It's going to be a boy," I concluded confidently.  

I forgot all about it until my cousin paid a visit at home. A little girl was tagging behind.  I studied her little face as she peeped behind her mother's skirt.  She looked stern and sore from crying. 

It was no different from the face I saw five years ago.  

Acknowledgement:  Living with Folk Wisdom by AV Rotor; Internet photo     

A Wonderful World of Transition

 Babies to Toddlers* 
Dr Abe V Rotor 

It's Dreamland, where fairies and gnomes roam 

in a garden, among flowers and butterflies;  

dwarves sitting on toadstool, nymphs singing,

Oh, how we all wish childhood never dies. 

  Manniquin is almost real in pictures and on TV screen; 

 let a child touch it to overcome the Thomasic syndrome, 

and to grow out early from fantasy into the real world,

 where innocence, like clay, is molded into its true form.      

Wonder why a honeybee visits the water;

why stars come down;

swim with wings, fly with fins don't matter,

stars and sun are one.    

 

 Fly on balloon into the sky;

no, you're not living in cartoon;

let time bring you to the real world, 

don't hurry up too soon. 

 Learn to eat and drink the grownups' way,

imitate Mommy, shh... don't cry; 

it's biological, like birdlings in their nest do 

until they have wings to fly.  

 

It's a boat

No, it's a ship; 

 it's a pool,

No, it's the sea

with your daddy.

*A toddler is a child between the ages of one and three. The toddler years are a time of great cognitive, emotional and social development.