5 Incredible Beliefs And Traditions In The Dominican Republic

Hi, I’m Elvis, welcome to Kiskeya life, a website about tourism in the Dominican Republic, where we write about topics that have nothing to do with tourism in the Dominican Republic.

Just kidding…

Well, after this sarcastic introduction, I would like to address the topic of some very cool traditions, customs, and beliefs in the Dominican Republic.

In the Dominican Republic, there are many interesting traditions and customs, we must remember that this nation is a great mixture of cultures.

Some of these traditions and customs are so strange and astonishing, that even as a native of the country I have been surprised, and at times even passed for ignorant.

1-The 9-day offense

The Dominican Republic is a mostly catholic country, I do not know how funerals are performed in other countries, but in the Dominican Republic, the “9 days” are used.

These 9 days 9 special masses are held for the deceased, but it is also used a lot, when a person dies and is from a family with few resources, to wake this person in the living room of his own home.

Well, one day I committed a serious offense without realizing it, it turns out that I attended the wake of a young woman who died in the neighborhood, dressed inappropriately.

When I say inappropriately dressed I was wearing a red t-shirt, I will never forget the scolding from my friends for doing this and the offended look from some people.

Maybe this is something very obvious, I was very young and I honestly did not know that it was a serious offense to attend a wake with colored clothes.

It was not a wake in a funeral home, it was in the living room of a house, but it was still a funeral after all.

Another interesting fact about house wakes, you should not stand at the door of the house just before the time to bring out the deceased.

I don’t really know what this is due to, but I also suffered these claims, supposedly, if you are standing at the door the deceased “will not be able to leave”.

2-Exploding eggs on your head on your birthday

I don’t know in whose mind the idea formed that exploding eggs on a person’s head was a fun way to celebrate a birthday.

In the Dominican Republic, I remember this tradition, it was used a lot in the neighborhoods, it was fun for everyone, except for the person celebrating the birthday.

Sometimes they were more “creative” and apart from exploding eggs on the birthday boy’s head they would also throw flour at him.

Maybe the idea was to turn the head into a birthday cake, I’m not sure.

3-Christmas start in October and paint the sidewalks

Yes, in the Dominican Republic Christmas is not a specific day, it is a whole season and it starts in October, from the moment you feel the “breeze”.

Being a warm country, when the weather changes a little around the month of October, it is officially the beginning of the Christmas season in the Dominican Republic.

All this is accompanied by an old slogan of a popular radio station called “Cima”, “Cima Sabor navideñoooo” (Cima Christmas flavor).

Another tradition in the neighborhoods of the Dominican Republic at Christmas is to collect money in some streets house by house and paint all the sidewalk colors.

4-Superpowered Thugs

Well, I don’t know what other name to give to this belief, but in the neighborhood where I lived, it was very common among thugs to use a “resguardo”.

The “resguardo” is an attire that is used, usually, a necklace tied to one of the ankles, supposedly this confers incredible luck or the ability to get out unharmed in situations of great danger.

When I refer to superpowers, it is because I heard stories of some who evaded gunshots and knifings simply by wearing this “resguardo” (protection).

I remember that in the neighborhood, there was a dangerous thief called “chaguito”, they couldn’t catch him, it was said that he had a “protection” and that he was able to fly through the roofs of the houses.

5-No visits at 12:00 noon

I don’t know about other parts of the world, but in the Dominican Republic, we were all taught not to visit our friends’ homes at 12 noon.

This is considered a very bad habit, because this is the lunch hour, and here it is frowned upon to visit friends’ houses at that time.

I really don’t know if this is common sense everywhere.

There are many other interesting customs and beliefs in the Dominican Republic, but I think I will have to do a part II on the subject.

You can also read this other topic I wrote about weird customs and traditions in the Dominican Republic.