In the Philippines, there are so many traditions and superstitious beliefs frequently observed in funeral services and burials that causes normally rational individuals to believe in irrational concepts.

Most reasons of following the superstitious beliefs is to avoid death to happen again or to banish bad luck to people around, while some just wants to follow and obey the words of elderly to show respect.

Here are the list of the top 10 “pamahiin sa patay” that most Filipinos’ still follow

1. When at funeral, avoid looking at yourself in the mirror if a wake is being held in a household. All the mirrors must be covered with cloth, dead spirits tend to show up in the mirror at night.
2. After attending a wake, do not go straight home because the spirits will follow you and might stay at your place, instead, drop by somewhere else before heading home.
3. Refrain yourself from staring at the face of the deceased for more than 30 seconds, or the dead spirit will follow you home to stare at you before you sleep.
4. upon going home, immediately change your clothes that you wore from a wake. You must take off your clothes immediately, or else, a string of death will happen around you.
5. You don’t say thank you to people who gives you condolences. It’s one way of saying you’re thankful that someone is dead. Instead, smile or hug someone who gives you condolences.
6. There must always be someone watching over the casket. Elderly people says that someone must be watching at all times, or else, a negative supernatural being will take the soul of the dead to use it as an evil spirit.
7. Pinch someone who sneezed during the wake. Sneezing in a funeral is one way of inviting the dead to visit you. To avoid that, ask someone to pinch you.
8. To avoid bad luck from the dead spirits, the relatives must wash their hands in cold water with bayabas leaves before entering the house coming from the funeral.
9. Once the funeral procession starts, returning and looking back at the house are forbidden. To avoid bad luck and more deaths, many people still strictly follow this superstition.
10. Escorting a visitor home is prohibited, it’s one way of inviting bad spirits around to join the funeral.