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.
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Inspired by the Tumangkuyun description in Tagbanuwa Religion and Society. Fox. 1982.
Tumangkuyun Illustration by Race De Villa
IG: @corvus_blanc
