“This is the spot.”
Miguel reached for his first catch and breathed deep. It was a large fish, something that he would be proud to show to the other fishermen, but pride could wait another day.
He was performing the panangyatang and he would not be disturbed.
“Nono* I present this catch to you. Please accept my offering.”
Miguel waited, he had to respect the tradition by witnessing it finish eating his catch.
An hour passed, then he saw the box. The offering had been accepted and it would be going back to the depths to enjoy its meal.
Miguel didn’t know when the tradition started. He always wondered why fishermen would give up their first catch, no matter how big.
He knew that the buwaya was a friend to the aswang and partook of human flesh when it was particularly hungry, but simple fear wasn’t enough to explain the panangyatang.
This was respect, pure and simple. There was something about the buwaya that commanded reverence. He thought to the reason why the buwaya was called ‘grandfather’.
Maybe it was human once, cursed by the gods, and it seeks the respect of its descendants.
Maybe it is a wandering spirit bringing a bountiful catch to those that remember the traditions.
Maybe it is a bloodthirsty beast that needs to be fed before it seeks out human prey.
And what of the box on its back? Does it just keep its victims there, until it is time to feed, or is there something more mysterious at work?
Whatever the answers, Miguel was glad not to be in that box, and even gladder that he was on his way home.
“Goodbye nono*, until the next time,” he whispered softly to the river.
*Means grandfather or ghost
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Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Inspired by the buwaya description in El Folk-lore Filipino. Isabelo de los Reyes, trans. Dizon and Peralta-Imson. 1994. (Original Spanish Manuscript Printed 1889)
Buwaya Illustration by Kael Molo of Agla – The Graphic Novel
