Category Archives: Myths

Sacred narratives

The Manananggal – Filipino Myth

Nationality: Filipino American
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 4/5/2023
Primary Language: English

1. Text

When asked for a folk narrative the informant shared the myth of the Manananggal.

“My mother and father described to me a mythological creature from the Philippines known as the manananggal. She’s described to be a vampire-like creature that can separate the top of its body from the lower half, and preys on couples, grooms, and pregnant women. The manananggal is part of a group of mythological creatures generally called Aswang, but a lot falls under this category, like ghosts and ghouls.”

“A lot like the La Llorona figure in South American stories – her origin story is similar to that of La Llorona in that she was abandoned at the alter, hates grooms-to-be and is jealous of pregnant women so she eats fetuses from sleeping women. She has vampire like qualities, for example doesn’t like garlic, salt, or holy water.”

“My parents told me stories like this were passed down to “scare” or warn children from staying out late, and encouraged them to be careful of their surroundings.”

2. Context

The informant is Filipino American, and both her parents are Filipino. Her parents grew up hearing about the myth and passed it down to her.

The informant interprets the myth as a story used to discipline and educate children on how to avoid danger.

3. Analysis

The Filipino myth of the Manananggal is similar to myths in many cultures of scary monsters that prey on children and the weak. The Manananggal is a female monster, which seems to be a recurring motif, where female monsters filled with hatred and have a tragic origin story prey on those they are jealous of, in this case couples, grooms, and fetuses for the Manananggal. These kinds of tale with vengeance filled female monsters satirizes how many cultures view women as family-centered and a loving mother figure. In a way, myths like these are a rebellious act against those stereotypes by showing females that hate familial happiness. The qualities that the Manananggal has such as disliking “garlic, salt, and holy water”, are a way for people to keep the Manananggal away. These weaknesses humanizes the mythical figure Manananggal since they have weaknesses just like any human. That makes the myth more believable and less scary since there is a way to keep the monster away. The Manananggal may have been a way that people explained inexplicable deaths of grooms, couples, or failed conceptions and deliveries of babies. By creating a monster who preys on people, people can make sense and cope with unexpected deaths.

Lord Ganesha

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4-4-23
Primary Language: English

Context:

My informant, NT, is my roommate and good friend. She is a junior at USC and she is Hindu. The reason she shared this story with me was actually very random. She has a small statue of a Hindu god in our room, but for most of the semester it was covered by her makeup bag on her desk. When we were cleaning, she said, “OH NO, I’ve accidently had a god hidden, no wonder I’m not thriving,” in a completely humorous and sarcastic manor. This led me to ask why the statue had an elephant head.

Main Piece:

NT’s summary- The Goddess Parvati created her son Ganesha so that he could always guard her chamber, and never let anyone in no matter who they were. One time, Ganesha didn’t allow the Goddess’ husband, Shiva, in the chamber. Shiva freaked out and was so angry that he chopped Ganesha’s head off; this enraged the Goddess so much that she threatened to destroy the world, he was not brought back to life. So, Shiva saw an elephant, cut its head off and gave it to Ganesha. The Goddess was still unforgiving, so Shiva bestowed a great amount of divinity to Ganesha and made it a rule that everyone had to pray to him before any other god.

Interviewer: So why is this the god you choose to have a statue of Ganesha, is there personal significance behind it?

NT- When I was a little girl, my mom took me on my first trip to India. I really didn’t know much about my own culture, which was kind of sad. I would always pray with my parents and repeat what they said but I never really understood what any of it meant. So, when we were in India, my mom decided to buy me a bunch of kid’s books about all the stories of the gods so that I could understand the myths behind each one and why we pray to them. I had probably like 20 of them, but my favorite one was always the one about Ganesha. He’s definitely the most well-known god among people who don’t know anything about Hinduism, mostly because he has an elephant head. But I was always taught (even though I didn’t understand) that we needed to pray to Ganesha first before ANY other god, even if it was a holiday celebrating a different god. I always thought it was so weird, but then i read the story of how ganesha came to be and what happened to him (how his father cut off his head lol) and that was the story that really got me into my culture. so now i even have an idol/statue thing of ganesha in my room because not only is he the remover of obstacles but he also brought me closer to my culture.

Analysis:

NT shared with me a myth from her religion; by her very easy recall of details, it’s obvious that it holds a special and sacred place in her heart. A very common motif amongst religious myths is the creation factor, hence the creation story for the god of obstacles. Using Levi-Strauss’ paradigmatic approach, myths can be analyzed by how they relate to the underlying patterns in life. People can use myths as a guide for what to do on earth, so Ganesha’s perseverance can be translated into one’s own challenges in the real world. Being able to find commonality and comfort in myths is a reason that people hold them so sacred.

Mythical Guardians: The Ogre and The Snake

Nationality: Thais
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: 02/21/2023
Primary Language: English

Context: According to my informant, her grandmother has stated that the story of the Ogre and the Snake date back to the beginning of Buddhist temples in Thailand, and they serve as protectors that ward off evil. The Ogre is more of a gate guardian, they say he is a scary-looking beast. When entering a Buddhist temple, it is also suggested that one does not step on the segment of the door frame that lies beneath their foot. This is a sign of disrespect towards the protector and can lead to bad omens for the individual. The snake, on the other hand, is not embedded in the door, but rather on the railing of the stairs leading up to the temple. The snake serves to entangle enemies within its grasp to prevent them from reaching the door, and if the evil manages to get past the snake, it must face the ogre. These beasts are not just passed down between oral description, but are sometimes physically engrained and carved into the physical door and railings of temples, as noted by the informant who has seen them in real life.

Analysis: In many cultures, scary beasts are used as protectors since they are daunting enough to ward off other monsters. This specific case of the ogre may remind one of the seraphim within the bible, which were often depicted as beautiful within modern-day media until most recently. The seraphim would actually have to announce their presence and well intent when revealing their true forms to humanity, for they were rather grotesque. The ogre in the story is described as having a row of tusks along his jaw, which can be connected to the rows of wings that surround the seraphim. The snake is another sly entity within many cultures, but overall it represents serenity within destruction, reflective of the monks’ altruism and pacifism. These scary mythical beasts contrast with the peaceful men within the temples for their presence must be starkly different in order to serve as purposeful protectors. 

Madame Pele at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel

T is 70 years old. He is a retired teacher. He was born in Southern California and raised in Hawaii. He was 7 years old when his family moved there in 1959. He is very animated and speaks very quickly. He shared this piece with me in conversation.

“The legend of Pele used to frighten me as a child. She was always seen before a volcanic eruption… someone would see her… she was very regal, tall, long flowing black hair, flaming red dress flowing behind her… she was elegant. She would appear walking somewhere… This was in 1960, what happened was the volcano did erupt and we lived on Kailua at the time, the eruption was on the big island, I forget which volcano it was, but the pumice, that’s when the lava flows on the water, anyway the pumice flows onto the beach… people use it to scrub their face, anyways people said they saw her walking through the wall in the Hawaiian Village hotel. She’s not happy about how the island is going, you know… what’s happened to the native Hawaiians and the Polynesian culture… So I was really scared of her and I used to think I would see her walking through my bedroom but I never did. So if you see her walking around, that means a volcano will erupt pretty soon. They call her the goddess, Madame Pele.”

Pele is part of Hawaiian mythology but interestingly endures in contemporary times through many sightings, sometimes as a hitchhiker, sometimes dressed in white with a white dog, and sometimes as a beautiful young woman dressed in red or as a female figure within lava itself. These contemporary iterations of Pele take the form of ghost story figures. The version T told me coincides with accounts documented on websites such as https://www.hauntedrooms.com/hawaii/haunted-places/haunted-hotels & https://frightfind.com/hilton-hawaiian-village/ and does seem to serve as a cautionary tale or lesson particularly in light of the fact that the sighting happens in a tourist hotel and that Pele is not happy about native land dispossession and the display of Polynesian culture as tourist attraction.

For more information about Pele and contemporary sightings see https://www.academia.edu/189854 & https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/people-cant-stop-seeing-pele-in-the-lava/.

La Llorona

Nationality: Mexican/American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 5/1/22
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

CONTEXT: 

RR is one of my best friends and roommates. She is a sophomore at USC who enjoys crocheting, writing poetry, and making me laugh. 

TEXT: 

Me: “Tell me the story of La Llorona.”

R: “Well, the way my mom learned it is that she’s a witch.”

Me: “Who did your mom hear it from?”

R: “Her aunt told her—her aunt is from Mexico. 

Her name is Evangelina—we call her Vengie 

That’s my grandpa’s sister. 

So my great aunt. 

And when they used to live in this neighborhood, they would run around and if there was like wind blowing, 

or like my grandma said, when cats mate, you know how they kind of sounds like babies crying, 

and so they would say oh, that’s La Llorona. 

She is coming back for her children who were swept away in a river. 

Other versions of the story are that they drowned or she drowned them in the river and then she comes back. 

My mom heard that they were swept away in a river so she didn’t do it. 

She lost them. 

And so she cries 

and she’s coming back and haunting the kids because she’s looking for her own.”

Me: “So did she want to steal kids to replace them?” 

R: “Yeah. 

So her kids were swept away

but she’ll drop other kids in the river to take their souls

My mom and her older sister, Paula used to say.

They would get really scared when they heard wind blowing or like crying.

ANALYSIS:

La Llorona is also known as The Weeping Woman or The Cryer. Her tale originates from Latin America—specifically Mexico. The most common version of the story states that La Llorona drowned her own children, however, it is interesting that R’s’s family grew up telling the story that the children got swept away on their own.

For another version of the story you can check out this link:

La Llorona – Weeping Woman of the Southwest