On a recent trip to the Dominican Republic my brother and I noticed the maid had strange methods when it came to making the beds each day. She would always place a stone somewhere in the bedding that flew out when I untucked all the sheets (it was far too hot to have so many layers so I used to put most of the bedding on the floor). I’m not sure exactly where the stone was but it wasn’t noticable when laying on the bed so I presume it was folded into the sheets underneath the mattress. To make matters more confusing she only did it to the bed nearest the balcony and never the other one. We used to throw the stone out each day and a different one would be put in it’s place, so presumably she carried a bag of stones with her when cleaning the rooms. The stones tended to be a bit smaller than the palm of your hand if it makes a difference.
Is this a common custom in the Dominican Republic, is it for good luck a part of a voodoo curse or just a strange paractice unique to this particular maid?
I did a quick search online and couldn’t find any pages on the custom. You’d probably find such a thing in anthropology or sociology books.The maid could have been from another ethnic group, and that particular custom has escaped study thus far.
From what you say, the placement sounds deliberate, and the fact that it was only the bed by the window suggests to me that it might be a spiritual custom-- perhaps something like a Native American dream-catcher to keep bad dreams from coming in the window.
shrug Or she could have been witching you. Did you tip well?
Couldn’t there be simply some practical reason to do so?
For instance, the maid open the windows to get some fesh air in, put the stone to block the windows so they won’t slam back while she’s busy doing something else, and when she has finished, put the stone under the mattress so that she will conveniently find it the next day…
I assume many such practical reasons could be conceived, and they’re as likely as some spiritual custom.
I think the OP is talking about a stone folded into the sheets as the bed was made.
I thought perhaps it might be a marker so that the maid could work out if the bed had been slept in (and thus needed the sheets changed), but in that case, it wouldn’t just be in one of the beds.
OP; are you sure it was a stone and not a little courtesy mint?
Sounds to me like she might have thought you were a fitful sleeper. and the stones were to keep the blankets on the bed while you slept. Many areas have different customs about how hot things should be when and it may that you were in an area where keeping toasty at night is considered important for health.
That’s what I was thinking too. It could have been her way of marking which beds she made (as opposed to the other maids), or a way to keep the sheets tucked in. It’s possible that in a two bed suit it’s her experience that the bed closest to the door is the one mostly used, therefore she only need mark the ‘other’ bed to see if it was slept in or not.
A stone (depending on the size) could sort of act like a ‘wedge’, a bit of resistance so the sheets don’t come undone so easily. Why it was on one particular bed on the balcony side is beyond me. Maybe it was to keep you from pulling out the sheets in your sleep and possibly sleep-walking out of that side of the bed (the more dangerous balcony side).
You got a photo of the stone, or could you guess about the size of it?
You might want to contact the hotel’s housekeeping department to ask about this particular practice. It is such an unusual act that it may, indeed, be specific to the establishment or even the individual maid. That seems like the most direct manner of getting at an answer.
Reminds me of the line in the movie “Where’s Papa?”
George Segal makes love to the nurse, and then poops a turd onto the bed.
When she shreaks he says:
