[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Myths and young blood’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY RHICK LARS VLADIMEALBAY
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=’custom’ color=’#0a0a0a’]
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=’custom’ color=’#0a0a0a’]
A HEART-BROKEN youth discovers the first woman, Maganda, in a garden. The youngest, most beautiful of ten siblings gets sold as a bride to a Tiq’Barang. A boy born with winged feet, a demon in an Augustinian church. Conversing with Death and avoiding a haunted river. Marrying an aswang and fishing for mermaids.
I treasure memories of me sitting beside my lola mama as she recounted for me stories from her youth, some she says were also narrated to her by my great grandmother. From late in the afternoon till supper, she’d go on about birds as large as people and beings that knock on roofs at night. I admit that most of her stories scared me as a child, but the pieces of these tales she’s told me I will keep, for me to impart to my own children someday.
In the Philippine Speculative Fiction anthologies, a new generation of storytellers gives altered perspectives to your grandmother’s tales. Encompassing magical realism, science fiction, and alternate histories; each volume is an impressive collective of narratives that seamlessly blur Philippine folklore and myths with reality and contemporary society.
First established in 2005 by Dean Francis Alfar, PSF is the first and longest running Philippine-published speculative fiction anthology. It collects a wide range of stories that define, explore, and sometimes distort the boundaries of fantasy, horror, dystopia, and all things in between.
The anthology has been shortlisted for the Manila Critics’ Circle National Book Award, and multiple stories from each volume have been cited in roundups of the year’s best speculative fiction across the globe. Past PSF contributors include acclaimed authors Eliza Victoria and Ian Casocot, as well as Palanca Hall of Famer Alfred Yuson.
PSF gives a new avenue to re-explore the Philippine mythos of old. Stories of Apolaki the sun and Mayari the moon. Bathala and the Aninos, the deities of our forbearers. The sigbin, kapre, and manananggal – tales that have echoed through the islands of our country. Tales that could be easily lost, if not given attention.
We are a nation of many indigenous cultures, rich in oral tradition. With countless legends telling of gods, goddesses, creatures, and heroes that are truly ours as Filipinos; yet most of us are more familiar with mythology brought to us by the west. Philippine Speculative Fiction aims to counter that, bringing knowledge of old folktales to a larger audience, and ensuring the encapsulation of Philippine culture for generations to come.
Right at this moment, somewhere, a grandmother is probably telling her grandson about aswangs, partaking in the rich spoken history and culture of our nation./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
