Rediscovering the Pangasinan Spirit through Folk Tales

Rediscovering the Pangasinan Spirit through Folk Tales

Ever since I got wind of a compilation of Waray folktales in Waray language translated to English, thanks to an old colleague's tip (Ann Asis sent me the book "Susumaton: Oral Narratives of Leyte" Merlie M. Alunan), I dreamt of this notion of having the same compilation for Pangasinan.

Call it envy or maybe inspiration, but if I had the means and strength, I would have done the job, but Pangasinenses are fortunate in that at least two researchers have already done the herculean task. To my knowledge, they are Marina Sabangan and Perla Samson-Nelmida. Sabangan is often quoted in research but her thesis is nowhere to be found, while I have actually pored over Nelmida's thesis (thanks to the assistance of Nicanor Germono). Some of the tales were apparently sourced from earlier works by other researchers and writers before them, such Damiana Eugenio and Gaudencio Aquino with supporting materials from local historians and lexicographers.

My big problem is I couldn't access these folk tale collections. So my next bet was to search the libraries within my area and search online. I haven't found any Pangasinan folk tales in our local library, but I did find a few online -- too scant in my own estimation, leaving me greatly dissatisfied.

I am thus grateful to hear from another contact (academic Dr. Efren Abulencia) that another author wrote entire short stories based on the Pangasinan folk tales he had heard growing up. Wanting to access these more recently discovered materials, I again asked around, only to end up with nothing. Until I chanced upon an ad on Shopee!

That's where I got these two darned volumes of "Tales from the Land of Salt" by Emmanuel S. Sison in my hands, with 2005 and 2006 as years of copyright.

Finding these two books felt like winning the Easter egg hunt, not just because of their rarity but especially because I have been wishing to really dig deeper into the Pangasinan spirit through its songs, riddles, idioms, sayings, dances, comedic performances, and sartorial styles, with folk tales as the holy grail. (Old poetry collections, novels, and zarzuela scripts are a far-off dream, a long shot.) Now my quest is far more satisfactory with the inclusion of a respectable amount of folk tales, 31 to be exact. The search is far from over, but I am in a much happier place than before.

I lost no time reading each tale, relegating everything in my leaning tower of Pisa of books-yet-to-be-read to the back burner.

The opening story about the origin of the land of salt is riveting, like I was transported to scenes straight out the movie "Banawe: Stairway to the Sky," a 1975 movie starring Nora Aunor and Christopher de Leon before they became a couple. It is an origin story that is, of course, primitive, prehistoric, otherworldly, and beguiling. ...A society characterized by social stratification, from the ari, datu, anacbanua, timawa, to aropen. The story reminds me how ancient Pangasinenses were a lot like the Igorots or Cordillerans in their way of life. They had many gods, worshipped their ancestors and nature spirits, and settled scores and brought honor to their tribe through bloody battles in which the whole community watched in horror.

The other stories focused on other Pangasinan icons: the legend of Princess Urduja, Palaris, the Hundred Islands, ghosts and spirits (sigsilew, bayo-bayo, talo-talo, palatlat), the Jose Rizal-Leonor Rivera love affair, and the Chinese 'pirate' Limahong (who it turns out was seen as a freedom fighter back in China by his compatriots), Pista'y Dayat, the manag-anito (faith healer or priestess), Bonuan bangus, Lingayen's tamales (who knew there is such a thing?), and Our Lady of Manaoag, among other things.

All the stories are skillfully told, but only in English, alas, although there are Pangasinan words here and there that help establish local color. For me, as a modern-day reader largely estranged from his roots as half-Pangasinense, these books are a treasure trove of new learnings, thanks to unfamiliar words and the mention of curious objects (now considered cultural artifacts) and eye-opening factoids.

I am glad to learn new terms and discover the real meaning of old terms I didn't pay much attention to: kaibaan (dwarf), mamareng (dwarf coconut), pinapin (petticoat), taksayan (aboat used by merchants), sakayan (fishing boat), baitan (a kind of wind), mataban and pasig (Chinese stoneware jars), dalagan (cot), puñeta (heavy iron mace or club or punishing instrument), bobon (fish pond)... Arnis in Pangasinan, it turns out, is kalirongan. Bangus used to be called awa, sabalo, and betel. The popular expression among elders, "Bari, bari!" as a greeting, warning, or by-your-leave to unseen spirits means "Move over, move over." Old Lingayen, the capital town, not just prides itself with the knowledge of cooking an Aztec version of tamales, it also learned to build galleon ships, plus there is a traditional brain dish called inutecan, and a family used it to play a prank on Jose Rizal when he came for a visit. For another example, Binalatongan used to be the capital or center of old Pangasinan called Caboloan. I am particularly surprised that Sison used the supposedly pejorative term, Pangalatoc, at least twice, and he sounds serious at it, not joking.

Somehow, the essence of being Pangasinense is slowly revealed in each character in every story: what the people value, what they take pride in, what they treat with contempt or find laughable, their fears, hopes, wants, longings...

I end up feeling indeed schooled on what the Pangasinan spirit consists in: one that deeply values kinship, high stature, honor, bravery, and faith, among other things.

These two volumes of tales are good buys and worth keeping as each story is worth rereading for more insights into the heart and soul of Pangasinan.

These materials, together with everything aforementioned, are what constitute "soft power," so it is lamentable that they are nowhere to be found in today's culture, particularly in places where they should be stored for posterity and actively promoted among the next generations. We Pangasinenses should be grateful to this author, who, it turns out, is the founder of the successful secondhand book store Booksale.