According to Taoist and Buddhist beliefs, the seventh lunar month is when ghosts or spirits who passed on and are ignored by their loved ones come visiting with their
energy and powers at its highest peak. Natural and man-made disasters are more prone to happen during Ghost Month. Business decisions and even the most personal and critical ones are best put off until that dreaded month is over. Legend has it that if you swim in the deep blue sea during Ghost month, the spirits who died of drowning will come and drag you toward the deepest end. Ghost month covers the entire month of August.
Two weeks ago, my elder brother, Toti, had a corner lot in our ancestral house in Hagonoy, Bulacan, cleared of debris, weeds and rotten wood. It has been some time since anyone has entered that forlorn and abandoned side of the property. While cleanliness will always be a virtue, it now seems foolhardy to have just cleared the space without seeking permission from the spirits that live there.
Supernatural things started to happen as the clearing continued. According to my brother, the bedroom windows on the second floor of our old house were pummeled with stones thrown outside by no one. One day, he came home to a living room filled with broken glass. Someone broke the chandelier and shattered the sliding door. Who did it? The moving shadows, a little boy who tagged along with our cleaning lady said. The shadows did it, he said.
My brother asked a priest from Saint Anne’s Shrine to come over and bless our place. The young priest did, and as he passed through the living room and into the kitchen, praying and sprinkling Holy water in the air, four empty dining room chairs fell backwards. Now, these chairs are made of wood and are quite heavy. The priest and other family members (I was thankfully not there when this happened) were shocked, but the blessing continued.
The little boy who tagged along with our cleaning lady, though not his mom but someone who cares for him as if she was, said that the father of the spirit family can be found in my brother’s bedroom. He was tall, the little boy said, and very dark. The spirit family had a dad, mom and a little boy as members. That was what the little boy said.
Just the other night, my brother, a man of courage, addressed the tall, dark spirit, daring him to show himself and to talk to him, man to man. After saying those words aloud, as the dark evening held our old house in a tight, silent embrace, my brother’s little dog started to howl. Now, that dog seldom barks. The blood-curdling howl coming out of such a tiny dog made my brother’s skin jump. He ran. The dog ran with him. After 20 minutes of cowardice, my brother (and his dog) decided to return to the bedroom. It was as he left it, except all the drawers and cabinets were flung wide open.
My niece who also lives in our old house said that, perhaps, the little boy had something to do with how the spirits were reacting. While we know that our house had its ghosts, they rarely make their presence felt. It was a happy coexistence between spirits and humans. None of the dogs seemed to mind our hometown ghosts, except recently, and when the little boy happened to be visiting. So, could it be the little boy? Were our ghosts warning us about the little boy?
The priest who blessed our house advised my brother to make sure to bring the little boy to church. He also said for us to add more lights to the house. My brother started to observe the little boy. He saw the little boy in our garden, turn around and went into a crouching position to face a snarling dog. It was like he was one of them, without the fur and the tail. He then saw the little boy climb up our bayabas tree at lighting speed to perch on one of its highest branches. This was an extraordinary boy.
On Monday, I told my brother that August is ghost month when spirits are at their most sensitive with the highest energy peak. He gave a feeble smile. The pebbles kept hitting the jalousies of his bedroom window, he said. The spirits wandering around our backyard have quite a good aim. These were extraordinary spirits.
Observers of ghost month say that children, senior citizens, and people with a weak disposition should not go out at night lest evil spirits attack them. There are feng shui stores that sell amulets to ward off these evil spirits. Old people in our hometown also talk about rituals to restore peace to the spirits’ restless and sometimes angry souls.
As I write this column, the little boy who keeps tagging along with our cleaning lady has yet to enter our local church. The throwing of pebbles continues. My brother is hoping that the blessing of our house and the backyard just the other day would result in some peace and quiet. Last night, I prayed to God to bless our old house and all its inhabitants. I believe in the power of prayer.
Still, I look forward to September.
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Susan V. Ople heads the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute, a nonprofit organization that deals with labor and migration issues. She also represents the OFW sector in the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking.