Philosophy of Filipino Myths and Superstitions

Kathryn June C. Almonte

11614285

INTFILO C32

PHILOSOPHY OF FILIPINO MYTHS AND SUPERSTITIONS

        The “Philosophy of Filipino Myths and Superstitions” talk was held on August 10, 2018 at Y508 auditorium. The speaker was Dr. Dolores Taylan who was a professor in the Filipino Department. Since she was more comfortable in speaking the native language, she translated the original name of the talk to “Seryeng Panayam: Ang (Pilosopiya) ng mga Paniniwala at Pamahiing Pilipino.” She emphasized on the open and closed parentheses of the word ‘Pilosopiya’ because she admitted that she was not much of an expert of philosophy and did not want us to get the wrong ideas.

        Starting off the talk she explained that he presentation revolved around 3 main key words. Those words are: Pilosopiya, Paniniwala, and Pamahiin. She talked about where our beliefs in myths and superstitions came from and how they were made up. She mentioned how even before the Spanish colonized our country, our ancestors already had their own beliefs and superstitions. But what the Kastila (Spanish) did was they capitalized these superstitions.  For us Filipinos, we believe in these because it gave us a sort of reassurance in our life. It was an explanation of our existence and how certain things or events occur. Even though it may lack logical explanation or scientific ground, many of us Filipinos still believe in these superstitions because they were instilled in our minds. Stories coming from our parents, grandparents to great grandparents told to us when we were kids. As I grew up, my knowledge expanded and I started questioning these so-called beliefs and the reasons behind them. Starting to disregard them more because in my mind it made no sense whatsoever. But unconsciously, I still followed them whenever something happens. For example, whenever I or someone else says that this person will die, one must knock on wood immediately so that it won’t come true. Knocking on the wood does not necessarily guarantee the safety of a person’s life, but in my mind, it was a way to ‘ward-off’ the possibility and not take the risk of tempting fate. In relation to Dr. Taylan’s talk, she indicated how we Filipinos have a saying of “Wala namang masama, wala namang mawawala.” This is very true because there is no harm in doing some superstitions. What will I lose when I knock on wood? Will it harm me in anyway? And the answer was no. So we continue to follow them because the thought of risking was much scarier. In contrast, Dr. Taylan also said that some superstitions are harmful or they interfere with our lives because we follow them in the wrong way. An example of this is the black cat crossing your path brings bad luck superstition. Because of this belief, black cats are one of the most least adopted cats. From the perspective of an animal love, it is very frustrating to see the way these cats are being treated.