*Note this story is in Ilocano

Buaya

Daytoy ti disso.

Ginaw-at ni Miguel ti umuna a nakalapanna sa  immanges ti nauneg. Maysa a dakkel nga ikan, banag a mabalinna nga ipagpannakkel kadagiti dadduma a mangngalap, ngem makauray ti sabali nga aldaw dayta panagpasindayag.

Ar-aramidenna ti panangyatang ket saan a mabalin a madistorbo.

“Nono*,” idatagko daytoy a regalo kenka. Sapay ta awatem daytoy datonko.”

Naguray ni Miguel, masapul a respetuenna ti tradisyon babaen ti panangimatangna iti panangibus daytoy iti nakalapanna.

Limmabas ti maysa nga oras, isun ti pannakakitana iti kahon. Ti daton ket inawatna sa nagsubli daytoy iti adalem tapno nanamenna ti kanenna.

Saan nga ammo ni Miguel ti nangruggian dayta a tradisyon. Kanayon idi a masmasdaaw no apay nga ited dagiti mangngalap dagiti umuna a maalada, uray kasano ti kadakkel daytoy.

Ammona nga dayta a buwaya ket gayyem ti aswang ken makipagbagi met iti lasag ti tao no nakaro ti bisinna, ngem ti simple a panagbuteng ket saan nga umanay a mangiladawan iti panagiyatang.

Daytoy ket panagdaydayaw, awan mulitna ken nanumo. Adda banag iti buwaya nga mangawis ti panagdaydayaw. Napanunotna ti rason no apay a maawagan iti lilong ti buwaya.

Siguro ket dati daytoy a tao, nga inlunod dagiti didiosen, ket sapulenna ti panagraem dagiti kaputotanna.

Mabalin a daytoy ket agpaspasyar nga espiritu a mangted iti nawadwad a makalapan kadagiti makalagip  ti tradisyon.

Mabalin a maysa a mawaw ti dara nga animal a masapul a mapakan sakbay a mapanna biruken ti anupenna.

Ngem ania dayta kahon iti likodna? Idulinna ngata dagiti biktimana dita sakbay a kanenna ida, wenno adda nakarkaro a misterio nga aggungunay?

No aniaman dagiti sungbat, makagin-awa ni Miguel nga awan isuna iti uneg ti kahon, ken naragragsak ta makaawiden.

“Agpakadaak pay, Nono, agingga iti sumaruno,”inyarasaasna iti karayan.

*Kayatna a sawen lilong wenno aswang

=——————————-=

English Version

“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

————————–————————–————————–————

*Ilocano is the third most-spoken local language of the Philippines.An Austronesian language, it is related to such languages as Malay (Indonesian and Malaysian), Tetum, Chamorro, Fijian, Maori, Hawaiian, Samoan, Tahitian, Paiwan and Malagasy. It is closely related to some of the other Austronesian languages of Northern Luzon, and has slight mutual intelligibility with the Balangao language and the eastern dialects of the Bontoc language.

Written by Karl Gaverza
Ilocano translation by Maria Jesusa Villaruz
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Translation Copyright © Maria Jesusa Villaruz

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

My lola was a historian of sorts. After her retirement she went back to our small town in Surigao and spent her days going through the old books in the town hall. She did this until she passed away a month ago.

I don’t remember much about my lola. We lived so far away that I could only see her on the holidays, but she would always have the best stories. The one I always remember was about the bell of Busay.

“The pirates are coming.” I could almost hear her say. That was the best part about the story. Lola had the talent of being able to change her voice when it suited her and this made her storytelling much more vibrant. “Be careful of pirates.” Was the last line from her story sessions. I never liked that the bad guys won in her story but I guess the ending wasn’t as important as the middle.

I had a few days off work so I took the trip back to Dinagat island and it was the same as it always was: quiet and tranquil; the perfect place to think. Walking around the area, you could feel the sense of history around you. It was almost infectious.

I decided to go to Busay and see the bito* from my lola’s story. It was smaller than I imagined, but that’s always what happens when imagination meets reality. I take a picture and I think about my lola. About how her eyes would light up when she started on the part where the pirates stole the bell of the chapel and tossed it down this bito, and how they mercilessly slaughtered the Dinagatnons after. I never realized how dark that story was until now.

I say a little prayer by the bito before I leave, partly for my lola and partly for the people in her story. The bell spent so many years protecting people. Hopefully, at the bottom of that bito, it can finally rest in peace.

————————–————————–————————

*A bito is a natural well

Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza

Story inspired by “The Bell of Busay” in Philippine Folk Literature: The Legends. Eugenio. 2002.

Magbalantay sa Linggaya sa Busay Illustration and Watercolor by Nightmaresyrup
Tumblr: http://nightmaresyrup.tumblr.com/

The soul is a very fragile thing.

Throughout life it is shaken. It can sense the world through a million different lenses. It speaks without voice, it can hear through the deepest silence, it can touch from mountains away. The body is but a pale reflection of what the soul can achieve.

A soul is a hungry creature. It craves more than it could ever hope to get. It quests for truth, it searches for beauty, it seeks out wonder, it longs for love. It forces you to feed its hunger through romance and revolution, through bitterness and burdens. The soul can never be satisfied, not in any life that is lived.

It breaks into a billion pieces in a trillion ways each lifetime. Every moment shifts the soul into a spectrum of possibilities. Will your soul be set off with a spark? Will it reflect the beauty you possess? Will you lose your soul to the world’s problems? Will you bare your naked soul to the world? Will your soul need to be healed? Will your soul seek its missing piece? Will your soul be the truth of who you are?

Life bleeds the soul dry. Life only brings suffering to the soul, covering it in layers upon layers of torment and pain. The soul was never made for the earth, it can only know true peace in the heavens.

Life will end as it inevitably does and it is only then that the soul can finally be secure. It will rest in its jar, among countless others like it and it will know freedom from the pain it so desperately ran from in life. In the shadow of its guardian the soul can breathe like it never could. Under the watchful gaze of a thousand eyes, it can forget the pain and the burden and the hunger.

The soul will be safe.

Forever.

————————–————————–————————–—

Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza

Story inspired by “Origin of This World (Maranao)” in Philippine Folk Literature: The Myths. Eugenio. 2001.

Walo Illustration by Leandro Geniston from Aklat ng mga Anito
FB: That Guy With A Pen

Colors by Alexa Garde
Website: Lexa.us