Tag Archives: filipino

How the Paoay Lake Formed

Text: A long time ago, there used to be a small town in the Ilocos Norte region in the Philippines. One day, an old beggar woman went there to beg for food, but they “cast her out.” She went to many houses, but many of them were not generous and despised her because of how dirty and  poor she looked. After visiting all the houses, the old woman said, “These rich people are selfish” and suddenly transformed into an angel. She then casted a spell and drowned the entire village—making it the Paoay lake that it is known today. Apparently, this legend has circulated around Ilocos Norte for years after this incident occurred and many people started to believe that the old woman did that. However, people say that years later, large pieces of houses and jewelry still surface. 

Context: This was the first legend my grandma had told me after I asked her to tell me a folk narrative of some kind. Lake Paoay is one of the biggest lakes in the Philippines and is found in Ilocos Norte which is where my family is from and where my grandma had spent the first half of her life. She had originally learned this legend from her parents and older relatives but also mentioned that this legend was always in circulation in the Ilocos Norte region and considered true by everyone invluding herself.

Analysis: At first, I thought that my grandma had told me a local legend of some kind. The Filipino region that I’m from is not really common among the Filipino-Americans I know, so I was curious to know how local this story really was. I looked it up on the internet and was surprised to find out that other legends that were entirely different from what my grandma had told me. I had found multiple sources siting a Sodom and Gammorah rivalry type legend about this lake, but with the same ending: it is true because there are bits of houses and jewelry that float up to the surface. I thought it was interesting how this part of the story had remained the same despite the stories differing a lot. I also thought about how my grandma’s version of it was similar to the beginning of something like the Beauty and the Beast story. A stuck-up rich person shunned an old beggar woman because of her appearance. I also can’t help but think that this version had emerged in our family specifically because of religious implication. My family, my grandma and all her older relatives specifically, was/are very religious and into Catholicism. Maybe this version was the one that was told, but was changed to be more religious to get the children to like Catholicism more.

Duende

Text: The duende are small dwarf-like creatures that exist in Filipino folklore. Many older relatives that live in the Philippines have probably had an interaction of some kind with the duende when they were a child. My grandma and her sister had told me that their aunt in the Philippines used to be friends with the duende, but only the aunt could see them. When my grandma and her sister visited my aunt’s house, the aunt introduced the duende to them. She said, “These are my nieces so don’t hurt them,” but my grandma and aunt were confused because they couldn’t see them. However, they still believed that they existed because of other stories that their older relatives had told them about the duende. Upon asking, they don’t remember any of the stories specifically, but they did remember one story that their sister-in-law had told them a long time ago describing their appearance. She to described them with green clothes, pointy hats, and pointy shoes. Their sister-in-law told them that they were playing on her window sill when she woke up on the middle of the night. She just quietly watched them and they were playing hide and seek. 

Context: This story was jointly told by my grandma and her sister and they had constantly asked each other throughout the story for details. I had put an abridged version of the interview in the text, but if I were to ask questions about the duende’s appearance or mannerisms, they would tell half of a story about some relative that told them about personal interactions with the duende before they would just go onto another story when they started to forget the details. They actually told about 5 different stories, but I had included the main two in the text above.

Analysis: I had always heard stories about the duende from all of my older relatives while growing up. I think I have always categorized them as something that was fake in my head like fairies or elves. I think hearing these stories again and asking for more details made me realize the importance of the uniqueness in these specific memories and stories that they hold. The fluidity that oral storytelling has is something that can’t be looked up or even recorded through writing. It also makes me think about how these stories will live on in my generation. All of my grandmother’s children and grandchildren live in America. There are no new duende stories that can be added onto the family folklore. It makes me wonder about how these stories will further be told and interpreted in my generation and the next.

Balete Drive – Ghost Story

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 51
Occupation: Software Engineer Directing Manager
Residence: Naperville, Illinois
Language: English

Text:

“Me and a couple of my friends were driving along from a late night gig and we’ve had a great fill of drinks but not that intoxicated (as far as I remember). There aren’t a lot of vehicles at this time, especially on local roads, but still decided to take a shortcut just for kicks.

The road was plain and looks maintained enough since it’s a less busier street than most, maybe due to its reputation of having paranormal activities.

Balete Drive has several stories about ghost sightings and ‘white ladies’ haunting passersby, and a big abandoned haunted mansion right in the middle of the stretch. Most of them likely fabricated of course – to keep the mystique going. We’re not full-fledged studs I as I recall but we thought it’ll be fun to test it out while we’re in this state and certainly less inhibited.

Just before we reached the big house, one of my friends unceremoniously said he needed to pee…

We stopped right in front of the worn out hedges bordering the house front yard. It was a bit dilapidated and dark. But he had to pee. And he did. We all did.

As we drove past the house after relieving ourselves, we noticed two headlights following us seemingly out of nowhere. We casually stayed at a constant speed, but the vehicle kept inching closer. We gathered some speed, turned the corner and lost the trailer. We looked at each other and grinned- that was much ado about nothing. We hit another long stretch of road and to our surprise, we ended right back in front of the big house at Balete drive. The headlights turned up again and right back on our tail. This felt weird. We tried to step on a bit and turned the other corner, lost the stalker and relaxed a little.

Things just got weirder – we were right back at the house (what the…) and the lights were back. We were starting to panic, our collective senses restarted, and we were yelling at each other- harassing the driver and redirecting him in all directions. We cant seem to get off this road and always take us back to the same house. What are we to do? Have we been cursed? Are the stories real? The vehicle following us isn’t letting up either. Now they’re honking, the passengers now animated in the other car, signaling for us to stop. What is happening? There’s no way we’re stopping here, not now. Fear has definitely crept in and we’re way past panic. This has gone on at least 5 times now. We sped through the same street and the same house- the facade looking more menacing and creepy each time we see it, slowly dealing us a mortifying feeling of defeat.

With one more rush of adrenaline, we held one last bit of composure and drove straight ahead until we hit a dark narrowing alleyway that seems to swallow us every meter we travel. We finally saw a different exit, merged onto the main road and drove farther from the damned place. The morning sun has started to peep. We can feel a collective sigh of relief until we realized the other vehicle had been on our heels throughout. This startled us and panic reignited inside the car. We discussed our options incoherently but concluded we couldn’t be any worse since we got out of that insanity loop. So we stopped at the next gas station. And the other car followed suit.

Fear has turned to relief, then discomfort and now annoyance. We’re back in the real world now and this unwarranted stalking has got to stop. We decided to confront them. There are 3 of us, all back to our consciousness – to the point where we question if what we witnessed even actually happened. We chalked up the courage to unstrap, picked up some “weapons” and stepped out of the car. We approached the other car as the driver stepped out to greet us. His face is lined up with a mix of dread, exhaustion, and… gratitude? I saw the lady on the passenger side looking like she’s been screaming her eyes out and now just sits in shock staring nowhere. My buddies now also joined me in the huddle as the other guy quivered to say something…

“We’ve been driving around that block for we don’t know how many hours… my girlfriend had just about lost it – I can still hear her trembling voice almost surrendering to the inevitable… until we saw you drive by and stopped at the house. We were reluctant to follow you thinking you may be part of this, but then when you drove past again, we thought you might also be in the same predicament as us. (Again? We saw you trail us as soon as we left the house… what are you talking about?). We tried to let you know that we are also lost and would like to join you… but each time we gained we had to hang back…” – then the guy started to sob. “We had to each time the lady in white following you would turn her head around to look at us… she had a knife or dagger in her hand and seem intent to get to you. We mustered up enough courage to just step on it as soon as you did and followed you all the way through here… and we can’t thank you enough.” And he broke down to his knees in front of us.

My friends and I looked at each other in weary unison – “what lady?” We turned around to find our car… the dagger still lodged at the back of it.”

Context:

The performer was born and raised in the Philippines, and often told stories with his High School friends in lui of not having a one or access to the internet in the 80’s. They heard it from an older male classmate who heard it from another classmate and so on and so forth. The performer tweaked the tale to have it sound like a 1st person narration with the intention of scaring his kids with “stories from his youth.”

Analysis:

Balete Drive is a well-known street in Quezon City because it often features the white lady who is the universsal Filipino depiction of the traditional “white ghost.” Balete Drive is a brilliant tale because it connects the many small islands and spread out diverse regions of the Philippines. The Philippines has withstood colonization and are a group of people who vastly range in appearances. From looking Mestiza to Chinita to Morena to having different dialects, ghost stories such as Balete Drive are an iconic ghost symbol that unifies the Philippines.

Additionally, balete trees are often connoted with spirtual energy as being something either feared or respected. The tale of balete drive serves as a sort of memorate for this sacred perception of balete trees as the more stories such as the one the performer said are told, the greater the fear and veneration for the trees grows. The reputation toward balete trees only increases as more and more people tell and believe in these tales.

Aswang – Legend

Nationality: Filipino
Age: 51
Occupation: Software Engineer Directing Manager
Residence: Naperville, Illinois
Language: English

Text:

The Legend of the Aswang is a legend about a female-presenting vampire-like creature which feeds on young children and unborn children. In the daytime, it looks like a normal person (often ones neighbor), but in the night, it turns into a deceptive creature which is characterized by the approach and intensifying “tik tik tik” sound.

Context:

The performer heard about this tale as a young boy. Growing up in a poorer region of the Philippines he often heard the creaking and groaning of his floorboards. To scare him, his dad would tell him the story of the Aswang. Because of this, he learned to be scared of any “tik tik tik” sound as a young boy until he realized it was just a urban legend.

After moving to America, he passed this tradition of scaring young children with the simple “tik tik tik” sound by telling the story to his children and enjoying the terrifying/amusing experience of watching them scared of even the faucet dripping at night. Sometimes they would even cut up garlic to play into the tale as the children believed it would keep the vampiric creature away until they were old enough to know it wasn’t real.

Analysis:

The Aswang was a way to collectively scare younger generations as retelling of the story/generational fear was a tradition passed down. It brings Filipinos together through the collective fear of the scary stories adults would tell them growing up. If you belong to the Filipino “folk group”, you’d easily react to the “tik tik tik” sound because of how you were “trained” to be scared as a child. However, in the same way these tales scarred Filipino children, the fear is also proof that one is “truly” Filipino.
It’s also important to note that Aswang were known as looking like unassuming women which is reflective of Filipino values of being extremely vigilant as Aswang tales immediately painted the unassuming and seemingly innocent as potentially evil. The Philippines is a third world country where one could easily be taken advantage of, so the Aswang would serve as an early lesson for children to be careful and not trust strangers on the street in addition to being a fun story to scare the kids with.

Lushang-lushang

Text: “I didn’t wear any makeup when I went out today… I was walking around all lushang-lushang.”

Context: As a first-generation Filipino-American who doesn’t speak their native dialect (Ilocano), my mom has picked up a few words from her familydespite the language barrier. As my mom has often told me, there are just some words that don’t really have a meaning in the English language. This word, Lushang, is a word mostly used by the women of my family. My mother believes that it directly translates to something like “frumpy.” It is often used when to describe a woman goes out without dressing up or putting on any makeup. When I was growing up, I always thought it had a meaning somewhat like “ghetto” until I talked to my mom about it for this project. She remembers when she was a child and first remembered the context in which she first heard her mother (my grandmother) use that word. My grandmother had found out that her cousin that she had not seen in a while moved to the area close to her. After she found out, she would refuse to go out of the house without putting on some makeup or a nice outfit. She wanted to look her best just in case she ever ran into her cousin and would be embarrassed if she saw them in a state where she didn’t care about her appearance. Now, this word is often uttered before the women in my family go out of the house in a lazy outfit or when they want to take photos and touch up their makeup.

Analysis: The women of my family often pride themselves on their looks and appearance. So much so that this word for it has transcended through two generations of Filipinos that do not speak the language at all. I think it has definitely promoted a certain mindset for us women. I would say that it can appear to be a bit shallow to be so focused on the way we look to others, but I really like how it reflects a deeper value to my family: they think that is of utmost importance to always look our best, not only to be perceived by the public, but also for ourselves. If we feel our best, we act our best. We always want to be the best versions of ourselves and put that version out into the world.