Author Archives: Ruchika Tanna

Those who persevere get food.

My informant is an international student from the Philippines. She says that in the 1920s, the national language of the Philippines was Tagalog. However, in 1935, the Commission of the National Language decided to change some words of Tagalog to make the language more accessible to people who spoke different dialects. They called this new language Filipino, and made it, along with English and Spanish, one of the official languages of the Philippines. Filipino  is now taught though culture classes, in which students memorize and are tested on Filipino folklore.

 

The following is a Filipino proverb that my informant learned and has heard used, as well as used herself.

 

“Ang may tiyaga may nilaga.”

 

Those who persevere get food.

 

 

This proverb is about the importance of dedication and hard work. It is similar to the English proverb of the early bird catching the worm, in that it implies that an amount of commitment is necessary for success. My informant says that this proverb was often used as a reminder to those perceived to be lazy, and to those who conceded defeat easily.

 

 

On the creation of the Philippines

My informant is an international student from the Philippines. She says that in the 1920s, the national language of the Philippines was Tagalog. However, in 1935, the Commission of the National Language decided to change some words of Tagalog to make the language more accessible to people who spoke different dialects. They called this new language Filipino, and made it, along with English and Spanish, one of the official languages of the Philippines. Filipino  is now taught though culture classes, in which students memorize and are tested on Filipino folklore.

 

The following is a cosmogonic myth explaining the creation of the Philippines that she learned and still remembers.

 

“There’s a saying that the Philippines look like a sleeping child. Once upon a time, there was a family of giants that roamed the Earth. One afternoon, they were playing hide and seek. Being mythical creatures, they could breathe underwater. The tiniest child of the family decided to hide underwater. For a long time, the family didn’t realize he was missing, and he stayed underwater. After a while, people moved onto his protruding features. That is how the Philippines came to be!”

 

The Philippines do look like a sleeping child. However, I couldn’t find this version of the story of the Philippines’ creation anywhere else. All of the versions I could find involved the god of the water, Maguayan, and the god of the sky, Captan. This makes me wonder if the Filipino creation story my informant learned in elementary school, with giant children playing hide and seek, was geared specifically towards this younger audience. Also, the Philippines are officially a secular nation, with a predominantly Catholic population. Teaching a religious version of the creation story, and a pagan one at that, as part of the national curriculum would be frowned upon.

 

The Creation of Si Malakas and Si Maganda

My informant is an international student from the Philippines. She says that in the 1920s, the national language of the Philippines was Tagalog. However, in 1935, the Commission of the National Language decided to change some words of Tagalog to make the language more accessible to people who spoke different dialects. They called this new language Filipino, and made it, along with English and Spanish, one of the official languages of the Philippines. Filipino  is now taught though culture classes, in which students memorize and are tested on Filipino folklore.

 

The following is a Filipino myth explaining the creation of the first people that my informant learned and remembers.

 

“Shortly after the world was created, there was a thunderstorm. During this first thunderstorm, a lightning bolt hit a bamboo stalk. The bamboo split into two, and the first man and woman came out. The first man’s name was Si Malakas, which translates to strong, and the first woman’s name was Si Maganda, which means beautiful.”

 

There are a couple of interesting things happening in this myth. The first is the importance of rain, and its role as a harbinger of life. The monsoons play an extremely important role in Filipino life, with agriculture being dependent on the rains.

This myth also underscores the importance of bamboo to the Filipinos. In addition to being used for a myriad of day to day uses, including in housing, furniture, and fish pens, bamboo has great culture significance. Wind instruments made from bamboo are often used in ritualistic ceremonies, and bamboo stalks are incorporated in folkdances such as “tinikling”.

The last thing I noticed about this myth is characterization of the first man and the first woman. The attribution of strength to the man and beauty to the woman shows what Filipino society expects from each gender.

 

Annotation: There is a Filipino movie based on this story, titled Si Malakas at si Maganda, directed by F.H. Constantino and released in 1972.

 

This myth was also mentioned in a report about the importance of bamboo by the Filipino Department of Environment and Natural Resources. (http://www.inbar.int/documents/country%20report/Philippine.htm).

If there’s a will, there’s a way. If there isn’t, there’s an excuse.

My informant is an international student from the Philippines. She says that in the 1920s, the national language of the Philippines was Tagalog. However, in 1935, the Commission of the National Language decided to change some words of Tagalog to make the language more accessible to people who spoke different dialects. They called this new language Filipino, and made it, along with English and Spanish, one of the official languages of the Philippines. Filipino  is now taught though culture classes, in which students memorize and are tested on Filipino folklore.

 

The following is a Filipino proverb that my informant learned and has heard used, especially in regards to school and academic success.

 

“‘Pag may gusto may paraan, ‘pag hinai may dahilan.”

 

If there’s a will, there’s a way. If there isn’t, there’s an excuse.

 

Like the other proverb I collected from this informant, this proverb emphasizes the importance of perseverance. It seems unusual, however, for a proverb to acknowledge potential failure as well as success.

Your tongue sticks to it…

My informant is an archaeology student. Last summer, she attended a one month long field school through ARC Rome in Gabii, Italy. Field schools are an integral part of an archaeology student’s education. In addition to giving students such as my informant necessary experience in identifying and excavating archaeological sites, field schools are a rite of passage. Below, she recounts the good natured hazing she was subjected to during the field school.

 

“Last summer, I went to my first field school. I was working at the the site of Gabii, in Italy. Also in my field school was Dustin, who was from another university. He told me that an easy way to identify bone was to lick it. If your tongue stuck to it, you knew it was bone. Of course, I then tried licking all possible pieces of bone, as my amused field director watched. I kept licking things to check if they were bone, until one afternoon, when I found a particularly large object, covered in dirt. It was so covered in dirt that I couldn’t really tell what it was. After dusting it off as well as I could, I licked it. It wasn’t bone…It was a rusted iron spike! Then I figured that licking things was a bad idea. I don’t know if it’s true that your tongue sticks to bone, but I don’t think you’re supposed to try.”

 

Knowing that my informant was in her first field school, Dustin was able to take advantage of her naivety and persuade her to lick bone. These excavations are a liminal space, of sorts, between being an archaeology student and being a working professional in the field. Once you have completed your first field school, and all of the initiation rituals that entails, you are considered well on your way to becoming an archaeologist.