Text:

“When I was around 16 or 17, my siblings and I would sit on top of the logging trains in the mountain province of the Philippines. We had so much fun sneaking around and using this as transportation. It was not allowed, and we could get caught by the polic,e but it was free and easier than driving. 

My mother would warn us not to do this because of the dwende. They are these little people that live in the woods. The dwende are mischievous, and my mother was worried that they might play tricks on us. Other people in my village also would say that the dwende are the guardians of all of nature. They punish anyone who disrespects the land but they reward people who are kind. 

One day, I was with my brother on the logging train when the train stopped. Maybe it was a tire or the engine but we waited and waited for hours and it still did not move. When it became nighttime, I got worried that the dwende might catch us. My brother told me not to worry but of course I did. We had to sleep outside and who knows what is in the forest.

I tried to stay awake as long as possible this night because I didn’t want to get caught off guard. My brother didn’t care and slept anyways. When it was really late, I was watching the stars when I saw a line of torches and the sounds of drums coming from the mountainside. I shook my brother awake to tell him the dwende are here to get us. By the time my brother woke up, the lights and drumming disappeared. He did not believe me when I told him what I witnessed but I know what I saw.”

Context:

The informant’s relationship to this piece is that it is a first-person account making it a memorate. Her relationship to this piece is both personal and intergenerational. The belief in the dwende comes from her mother’s warnings suggesting a transmission of folklore through family. The information respected but didn’t fully fear the dwende at first until the moment she was stranded in the woods with her brother which triggered anxiety and gave cultural meaning to her fear.

The informant first learned about the dwende from her mother, whose role in the story is protective and cautionary. This positions her mother as a cultural gatekeeper, passing down ancestral knowledge and reinforcing social boundaries. She also mentions that others in her village believed in dwende confirming that this wasn’t just a family tale but a shared communicable belief within her region in the mountain province.

The informant doesn’t claim to have seen the dwende directly, but her interpretation of the unexplained event, the torchlights and drumming in the mountains, is filtered through the folklore. In a moment of fear, isolation, and natural vulnerability, the dwende become a way of explaining the unknown. The forest is no longer just wilderness, it becomes spiritually alive. The story reflects a deep-seated cultural respect and fear for nature, especially at night, a liminal time often associated with spiritual activity. Though her brother dismisses the sighting, the informant is firm in her belief: “I know what I saw.” This underscores the validity of personal experience in folk belief, even when it goes unconfirmed by others.

Interpretation:

This memorate is told from the point of view of a teenager engaging in somewhat rebellious acts which is riding logging trains illegally. This context is important because it sets up a contrast between modern youthful behavior and traditional cautionary wisdom. The informant’s mother warns against this behavior not just for practical safety reasons but because of spiritual consequnces invoking the dwende who are mystical beings believed to punish those who disrespect nature.

This shows how family serves as a conduit for cultural memory and belief. The mother’s warning isn’t just folklore, it’s a serious, moral teaching grounded in both love and live tradition. The informant’s recollection of this advice during a moment of fear reveals that such stories are not just superstitions to be dismissed, but internalized frameworks used to interpret and survive the world.

At the heart of this narrative is a spiritual relationship with nature. In many indigenous Filipino belief systems, particularly in the mountain provinces, nature is not inert; it is inhabited by spirits and entities, such as the dwende, who serve as guardians of the land. 

The train stalling in the middle of the forest and the resulting sense of helplessness is interpreted not as a mechanical failure but as a possible punishment or omen. The strange torchlights and drumming deepen the sense of mystery and sacredness of the place. The informant fears not animals or criminals, but spiritual retribution, which reflects how natural spaces are culturally coded as spiritual spaces, deserving of respect and even fear. This worldview contrasts sharply with exploitative or secular perspectives of nature. The dwende myth functions to preserve environmental boundaries, discouraging intrusion, destruction, or careless behavior.

The fear the informant experiences is not simply personal, it is culturally shaped. Their anxiety, triggered by the torchlights and sounds, is filtered through the belief in dwende, taught by their mother and affirmed by their village. In this way, folk beliefs become tools for processing the unknown, especially in situations where logic fails. Moreover, the dwende serve as figures of moral judgment. Their mythology reinforces a code of behavior: be respectful, stay humble, don’t overstep. This aligns with broader Filipino values like “pakikisama” (smooth interpersonal relations) and “galang” (respect)—even applied to the land and unseen spirits.