*Note this story is in Bicol-Miraya

Magpon 2019, baga nagpara pula ang langit pagnagririknum.

Aram ko kin nyanga.

Kiton mo, yatong mga kaw’y na aralangkawon.

Kaypwan sinda malinigan.

Hay, nasobran naman ako sa kakaysip.

Uni ang aram san ubos.

Yading pandemya naapektwan ubos, dakulon ang naospital, nagralockdown, dakulon ang naguran.

Rumdom ko pa nung munang magkaCovid ako. Makapangluluya, makawara gana, makauyam na grabe.

Pero nalampasan ko. Usad ako sa mga sinwerte pa man.

Wara ka na talaga magiginibo pag nawaran ka ning pamarong dangan pangnamit. Byu nako sato nagakawn ning krayola ta tibad barang magbalik su pangnamit ko. Pero wara nangyari.

Pasensiya na. Nawara naman ako.

Ang mga naguran sa pandemic sige ang alangkaw, nag sampulo, nag sanggagtos, hanggang nag riboribo na. Baga ka imposible. Paguna ko sa mga palabas sana yadi pwede mangyari.

Su mga gurangon na, su mga ma-edad na ang pirming nabibiktima.

Pirang mga gurang na ang indi na makikita ang mga makuapo ninda.

Kadakol.

Riparon mo baya pag nagririknum.

Ayo mga kwan na pigangal na salakap.

Mga espiritu sinda  na nagadarang ilang didi sa daga.

Sakay ning saday na bangka, nagasabay sinda sa paros na amihan tanganing darawn su mga nagkagururan sa utos, naguran sa pagudo-udo dangan pag suko ning dugo, su mga naguran sa trangkaso – ubos sinda didara sa Kiyabusan.

Kaya nung nagkapandemya, nagruluwasan su mga salakap.

Ngana naman na ayo balita sading monkey pox, mas dakol pang mga kalag ang dadarawn san mga salakap sa Kiyabusan.

Nya uno ang kinaraman sadi pag nagririknum?

Kiton mo yatong mga kaw’y.

Utong mga aralangkawon.

Kita mo, ang mga salakap ayo man lider.

Si Tumangkuyun.

Trabaw ninda na daran siya ning dugo.

Kaya bukon sana kalag san mga naguran sa pandemic ang pigadara ninda sa Kiyabusan, naga tipon man sinda ning dugo san mga nagkagururan.

Su mga kaw’y dapat pirmi malinig.

Nasabutan mo?

Pigalinigan ninda yatong mga kaw’y  satong mga dugo alin sa mga nagkagururan.

Kaya ibaon na pagnagririknum.

Indi magulay, ang langit mas lalo pang maga para pula pag nagririknum na.

=——————–=

English Version

The sunsets seem redder since 2019.

And I know why.

See, there are trees that hold up the sky.

And they must be cleansed.

Oh, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s head back to what everyone knows.

The pandemic spared no one, completely filling emergency rooms, starting lockdowns and releasing a wave of death that will ripple many years in the future.

I still remember the first time I was stuck in a Covid ward. I had never felt so powerless, so filled with despair and anguish.

But I survived. I was one of the lucky ones.

No one can really prepare for the loss of smell and taste. I actually ate crayons to try to test if my senses would come back. Safe to say they didn’t.

I’m off topic again, I’m sorry.

The pandemic’s numbers steadily rose, from tens to hundreds to thousands. Numbers that I thought weren’t possible. Numbers that I thought were only real in movies.

It targeted the elderly the most.

How many grandparents would never see their grandchildren again?

Too much.

And we head back to the sunsets.

There are creatures called the salakap.

Those that bring epidemic sickness to earth.

They travel in a huge outrigger (adiyung) and sail with the northeast winds through the high regions and carry back to the realm of Kiyabusan those that have died from smallpox, dysentery, flu and other epidemic diseases.

And they were never as busy as they were when the pandemic hit.

Now with the news of monkey pox they will bring more souls to Kiyabusan.

Now what does that have to do with sunsets?

Again we go back to the trees.

The ones that hold up the sky.

See, the salakap have a leader.

Their name is Tumangkuyun.

And it is their duty bound by blood.

The salakap not only bring the souls of those that have died in epidemics to Kiyabusan, they also collect the blood from those that died.

The trees must be kept clean.

Do you follow me?

They clean the trees with that blood.

The sunsets have never been the same since.

And it might not be long.

Before the skies are painted.

A foreboding scarlet.

=——————————————–=

*Bikol Miraya is a dialect spoken in Daraga, Camalig, and Pilar. It is different from Bikol Sorsogon as Bikol Sorsogon and Bikol Masbate have similarities with Visayan Languages.

Inspired by the Tumangkuyun description in Tagbanuwa Religion and Society. Fox. 1982.

Tumangkuyun Illustration by Race De Villa

IG: @corvus_blanc