Pre-colonial literature – the topic that really made an impact to me.

Out of all the topics covered in my philippine literature subject, from prelims to midterms to finals, the topic that reqlly made an impact on me was our pre-colonial literature. As I remember correctly, it was a topic covered by us during the prelims. It was reported by me and my partner. Well, specifically, we reported the pre-colonial mindanao literature. But tyat’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the Philippines’ pre-colonial literature.

We all know about the Greeks’ myths about the gods and goddesses in olympus and many other foreign folklores and amazing mythology. But little do we know about our own literature and that’s why we can’t fully appreciate it. That’s why my mind was blown away when we started talking about the philippines’ own line of gods and goddesses, legends of creation and other folklore and myths. Its like we also have our own version of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. We also have our own version of the titans and our own version of Olympus – or rather, the realm of the unknown where the gods and goddesses frolic and where the souls of the departed roam. As a person who is really into reading, especially mythologies, I was surprised at how amazing filipino literature was before when the colonizers, well, colonized our country yet. It really made me realize what I have been missing all those times that I grabbed a foreign mythology book instead of a filipino one. And now, I’ve started reading more books from our own literature that before.

It was amazing how our own literature can be. Some stories have something we all can relate to, like the story of Alunsina and Tungkung Langit. Some storiws0es have something where lessons can be learned like the Hinilawod epic. And some stories are just plain weird and obscure that it tickles ones’ imagination, like the story of Apo Entampil. But all in all, Philippine pre-colonial literature is really amazing and now, I feel like I like our Philippine culture more than before.

The Monumental Ignorance of Juan

We all heard or read a story that made us say “I’m gonna tell that to my child someday!”. I know I do. Well, the story I’m about to tell came from a book. My mom never really told me any bedtime stories, she’s was a very busy woman – if I may tell. But that made me less dependent. And that’s what Juan’s parents want him to be. But the problem is: Juan is just a few bricks short of a brain, if you get me. So here it is – the story of Juan the Ignorant.

Once there was a husband and a wife who desperately wanted a child. They prayed and prayed and prayed until one day, God finally gave them a baby boy. They named him Juan and took care of him with the best that they can. And the child grew healthy…well, too healthy. And the child was ugly too. And according to what I mentioned earlier, the child was a few bricks short. But there’s still an upside to that: the kid was really optimistic and is eager to learn.

The ignorance of Juan is indeed monumental. The whole story was even just proofs on how incredibly impossible his brain is. But above all that, its the ending was the most important part. In the end, Juan was bothered about his…uhm, imperfection. So he went on a journey to seek for God and ask him why was he made like that. So he went on and on and on until one day, he approached a shore and finally saw God there. So he asked his question and then God said: “beauty is in the inside”. Well, not exactly that but, you get my point, right?

So that’s it. Juan went home and tried to improve his imperfections to avoid him any more inconvenience – and not to change who he really was.

And that’s what I want my future child or children to learn – I want them to be contented with who they are, but they must keep giving effort so that their imperfections will not get in the way with their lives.

Urgency: do we really have to hurry?

Well, do we really have to hurry? Do we really have to race with time? That’s the question raised in an article read to us during our Philippine Literature class. Honestly, I can’t remember the title anymore but I remember the name of the author – Mrs. Pura Santillan-Castrence. According to a background study we did about Mrs. Pura, she was a famous female essayist that made her life revolve around writing. What really struck me about her was the fact that in her latter life, she became legally blind. But that didn’t stop her. She continued inspiring and sharing her ideas by narrating her essays and articles to an encoder. Can you imagine? It’s like from the beginning until the end, she dedicated her life with writing. So its not that hard to understand that when I heard one of her articles, i was at awe with her words.

Back to the article, it was mentioned how different people look at the word “urgency” or “urgent”. First one was the actress. According from the text, the actress was already at her 60’s but she can still manage to entertain the public with her unbelievable beauty that doesn’t reflect her age. Everyone thought that she’s so amazing, but no one understood what she went through to achieve that timeless beauty. Daily trips to the salon, a ton of beauty pills and a lot of money spent in the clinic to get that ageless look. That’s how the actress spent all her time – by chasing time itself. She felt urgency to maintain her physique by the fact that time is taking its toll on it.

The second one was the “big man”. He’s everyone’s boss. According from the article, the big man can be anyone – the boss in your office, a government official, or even your professor. He spends his time working. And working and working and working again. He enjoys the rush of deadlines and lives by cups of coffee and paperworks. Some people call him “the workaholic”, some people call him “the dark dragon”. Why “the dark dragon”? Well, aside from enjoying paperworks and deadlines, he also wants everyone to do and feel the same by commanding unending chains of work. “Go, go, go!” and “I need that by tomorrow” are his favourite lines. That’s the reason why everyone hates him. But he doesn’t care because the workplace is his territory. Everything has to be urgent. But is it considered as truly living?

The last one was the medical student. Actually, its not just the medical student. Other people can probably relate to his way of life. Being dictated by his parents on what to take in college, he studies day and night just to repay his family soon by graduating. Well, actually, not by graduating but by being able to work and help the family financially. “Financially” – that’s the key word there. It’s all about the money. The medical student felt the urgency to work and be financially stable. He’s focused on working. He dedicated his life for money. He wants to survive, not to live. There’s a huge difference with surviving and living. Surviving is doing something just to continue breathing. Living is enjoying life itself. But coming from the lowest level of society, all a person could think is “will we be able to eat tomorrow?”. That’s why he chose a medical course, not a course he preferred. Maybe he was talented with music or the arts but because of the circumstances, he chose something practical.

So that’s it. Three people. Different situations. Different ways of life. One races with time, the other one lives to work, and the last one works to live. But all felt urgencies. Now, if you consider yourself as one of those three, do you really think that your urgencies are necessary? Me? I don’t think so. But I could honestly say that I’m one of those three. There’s times that “urgent” things can be prioritized, but one should remember that the clock is ticking. Tik tok, tik tok. To just survive, or to live fully? Its one’s decision. Nothing is really urgent. Man made the urgencies, it’s not nature.

Heaven according to Philipppine Myths

Early filipinos believed that the sky is the heaven. They also believed that the heaven is divided into 7 layers in which the living spirits of the dead people resides. It must be really beautiful there because each layer has a gate with their own guardians. The garoda are huge, monstrous birds that guard the gates day and night. They are like the security guards of heaven and they scrutinize each, and everyone who wishes to pass to and fro. And also, pre-colonial tribes believed in angels – beautiful humans with wings. It is believed that these angels only need they wings for flight – no food necessary. Well, that’s sort of sad. Being not able to eat and taste all that can be eaten. But at least they have wings. Wings are awesome. So, back to the seven layers of heaven, the residents of each layer depends on how good that person was when he or she were still alive. Those who were saint-like lives in the topmost layer of heaven. So comfy. But those who barely made it to heaven resides at the lowest level in heaven. 

What’s so interesting in the mythical heaven that early filipino’s believed is that people believed that you can find the tree of life there. When I first heard about the filipino version of the tree of life, I immediately thought of “Yggdrasil” or the tree of life in Norse mythology. I was a fan of mythologies in my early childhood and this tree of life is the one that never fails to compel me. In the Nordic myths, Yggdrasil is a really huge tree. And when I said huge, I mean colossal. Its roots are scattered throughout the lands and are as big as mountains. It is believed that this is the center of the universe and life is flowing through its roots. Its almost the same with the life tree that pre-colonial filipinos believed in. According to the myths, this tree of life bores leaves with names of each and every person living and walking on earth. A new leaf will sprout as a person begins his life and the leaf withers and falls to the ground as the person passes away. 

Now, I’m really wondering: how come people from different cultures and are worlds apart have identical ideas about a lot of things like heaven? Does it really exist? If it doesn’t, then how come similar stories popped out from different areas around the world?

Well, this is interesting.-

Lola Basyang

The first thought that popped in my head when I heard Philippine Literature was about stories. 😀

Alunsina – the jealous goddess

I was asked: “Which Philippine god or goddess are you?”

I have no idea which one I want to be. I haven’t even got the slightest idea about Philippine deities. Then this story came up in class…

When the universe was all mushy and everything is deformed in some incomprehensible way, two gods came out of nowhere: Tungkung Langit and Alunsina.

Tungkung Langit is somewhat like my dream man: industrious, loving, sweet and kind.

Alunsina is like Tungkung Langit‘s polar opposite. She’s lazy, jealous and selfish.

I wonder why Tungkung Langit still courted her. She’s such a pain in the back.

Then I realized…

“Oh, they’re the only ones there.”

Yeah, right.

Moving on, they courted for years (is that even possible this days?) and then married eventually. What a surprise.

They moved in the portion of the universe where the water is warm and the breeze is cool. Now that’s a nice crib.

When the guys are away, the girls will play. Literally. When Tungkung Langit goes back to the mushy part of the universe, Alunsina will just play by the pool beside their house and comb her long, silky, jet-black hair. How vain!

Then one day, the hunk of a man went to his wife and told her that he wants order in the mushy universe. The problem is, it will take him several days to finish it. (Wow? How do they even measure a day by that time?) So yeah, the wife agreed and bode him goodbye.

But of course, Alunsina wouldn’t be called the jealous goddess for nothing, right?

So she called the ocean breeze (apparently, in all the mush there in the universe, there’s a living ocean breeze that you can ask favors to) to spy on her husband.

Wait, who would she be jealous to? THEY’RE THE ONLY ONES THERE.

Oh well, back to the story. Of course hubby learned about the ocean breeze and his wifey’s jealousy so he went back to his wifey and took all of her powers and banished her. (Wow, what a cruel and sick punishment for being jealous)

And since they’re the only ones there, being left alone made Tungkung Langit really depressed and took great measures to see his other half again.

He made a large pool of water so, maybe – just maybe, Alunsina‘s silhouette might be reflected.

This became the Ocean. But still no signs of Alunsina.

Feeling desperate, Tungkung Langit created Land and planted trees and plants and such.

He scattered his wifey’s stuffs all over the place. Alunsina‘s jewels were scattered in the ground;

Her jewelries hung in the sky and became the Stars; Her comb hung beside the jewelries and became the moon; and Her crown hung in the middle of the sky which became the Sun.

But still no sign of Alunsina.

Tungkung Langit felt sadder and sadder each passing day. Sometimes, teardrops fall to the ground and becomes the rain. Thunders were heard when he’s sobbing and calling out her name.

He calls…but no one answers.

Well, that was a tragic story, isn’t it? And now you’re wondering why my title is Alunsina, right?

I kinda think that I’m the same as her.

Well, I think a lot of ladies thinks so too.

First: she’s lazy. Honestly, I am. Who isn’t? Projects and homeworks? I’d rather do them the night before its due. It’s a truth. No man would ever say he never felt laziness at some point in his life and I’m just being honest here.

Second: she’s selfish. I’m not really that selfish, but when it comes to things I love the most, well, its a different story. I’m selfish about my food. When I don’t want to share, I don’t. But that rarely happens. I’m also selfish with my friends. There are times I just want to spend time with them even if they have stuffs to do. I just feel bad when they’re not around. And lastly: I’m selfish with my man. Yes, you can be with him and stuffs like that but I easily feel jealous. And that brings us to the third one…

Third: She’s jealous. I do get jealous. A LOT. Even those petty things. Especially worse during that time of the month for girls. So I kinda understood what Alunsina went through. Maybe it’s just her time of the month. Or, maybe its a different thing. But being jealous is not rare to girls. Its hard to find a girl who never gets jealous. So my message to all guys out there: PLEASE UNDERSTAND. Its really how we, girls, are made. We’re just protecting our other halves but sometimes, it get’s really out of hand.

Tungkung Langit made a wrong decision of banishing the one he loves. He should’ve just understood that girls only feel jealousy when talking about their man. She wouldn’t be jealous if you’re not special to her.

So be proud that your wifey is jealous. That only means you’re special to her and she really cares about you. A LOT.