Filipino funeral superstition: When “pagpag” means more than just a stopover

You just extend your condolences to a family or friend whose loved one recently died.

And as you head to your car, an elderly woman approaches you and tells you to stop by somewhere before heading home. Unsure of what you were told, you politely asked if she would like to have something. She said no, but continued to tell you to stop by somewhere first before going home.

Thinking you were mistaken for someone else, you got in your car and went on your way to your house.

Courtesy:Getty Images / Prime Images

With a block left before you reach your residence, you had a spine tingling sensation (nope, not the Spiderman kind) that someone was watching you. You glanced at your mirror and you suddenly felt cold – someone was sitting at the back of your car staring back at you. 

You screamed and hit the brake and glanced back at the passenger seat.

The entity was gone. 

As you stepped out of the car, you saw scratches on the back car seat. You called your friends about what happened. It was then that they told you that you should have done what Filipinos called “pagpag.”

Visiting the dead

In the Philippines, visiting the dead can be complicated sometimes.

In the many myths and folklores in the Philippines, visiting the dead carries a lot of stories and sayings: Don’t bring home food from the funeral; putting a chick on top of the casket if it involved a heinous act; relatives not allowed to see their guests off, and the list goes on. If you would like a discussion on any of those let me know in the comments.

But a belief in particular that has survived time and modern technology and generations is what is called as “pagpag.”   

Pagpag in Filipino literally means “to shake off the dust or dirt.”

But when visiting the dead, it carries a superstitious belief that one should not go straight home from a wake. 

It would be ideal if you would go somewhere else before heading home so as to “confuse” the spirits so that they would not follow you home. 

My friend Paul Catada and I usually visit a convenience store or stop by a 24-hour fast food restaurant because, really, where else can you go during the wee hours of the night?

Makes you wonder if these 24 hour convenience stores or fast food restaurants have wandering spirits as their customers because they are often left there.

Both the “lamay” and “pagpag” are deeply rooted in Philippine culture. 

It is part of how we Filipinos handle death especially in communities. 

Lamay protects the dead from body snatchers, and it gives an opportunity for families, relatives and friends to visit and say their goodbyes one last time.

On the other hand, pagpag stemmed from a belief that spirits can cause us illness as well as inflict maladies to vulnerable individuals at home.

Among them are pregnant women and children. This also meant that to offset such ill luck and reduce the transmission of any illnesses from the deceased. 

Filipinos believe that during the wake several spirits also show up during the wake. Those are evil spirits looking to latch on the unsuspecting visitors.

Shawn, 27 and his brother Craig, 23, have seen deaths in the families many times in their lives. While Shawn said he would like to at times simply go home, it would not hurt to practice it.

His brother said that it could just be a longing to see the person that is why they tend to materialize in our brains, thus seeing ghostly figures.

That can be right. Pareidolia is a phenomenon wherein people perceive likenesses on random images—such as faces, animals, or objects on clouds and rock formations.

Courtesy: Jolene Desson

It is common to see clouds form a dog or a house. That’s pareidolia.

But since Filipinos are known to keep traditions and always respect the elders, their belief of a lamay in accompanying the dead, pagpag is a means to safeguard the living.

So if you came from a wake and your friend asked you to stop somewhere else, don’t laugh, for other people, pagpag is something to be serious about.

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Like the other things I write about, this topic was suggested by you. If you want anything to be discussed or read further please feel free to email me at kiko.cueto@republicasiamedia.com.