II. Philippine literature

Title

Language

English

Source

The Little Apostle of the Mountain Province 1 (6) November 1924

Year

1924

Subject

Philippine literature

Thought and thinking

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

\Ve had lllso surface measures, like the tagpulo in Bisayan and the pisoson among the Bikols, etc. As to numerical system, the Filipinos always used the decimal, every ten being called p:do which in Tagalog is puo by suppressing the l in pu10. Hence, in Tagalog, ten is sampu, which is a contraction of isag puo; and in Bisayan it is n.ap71/0 in Leyte, a contraction of usa ga puo, and sakaf1t!o in Panay, by contracting the phrase isa ka pulo. The worci five is lima in the Fili115 pino diaiects, because in primitive Malay, lima was the name of the hand, which has five fingers. So in Tagbanwan, hand is alima. I have not gone into more detail., in order not. to charge your patience too much. But with the date given, I hope I have furnished informations about the practical manifestations of thP Filipino culture, besides its intellectual and moral aspects, ahout which I propo5e to speak in the next part of this lecture. II. Philippine Litt:rature. I shall now speak on Filipino literature. Of course, by literature, I mean here the collective body of literary productions. A people like the Filipinos, with a history and culture, must have, as they do have in fact, their literature. The information given in the first 'part of thi,.. iecture. although far from being exhaustive, shows, I hope, that the Filipino people in general possess culture, if we understand by culture the enlightenment and discipline acquired by mental training. It must be ohserved that the present culture of the Filipinos is the product of two main elements, to wit: the native culture possesserl for so many centuries. certainly not so fully developed in the Philippines, as it was in India, its place of origin, because these people were separated from their center their original native land, but developed by themselves in their own way under the peculiar circumstances in which they were placed by Providence. The second element of our culture is the occidental influence brought by the Spanish conquest and continued now with American contact. In speaking of Filipino literature, it seems proper to begin with the Filipino thought and style, which are the gist of all liternture. I shall, therefore, say something about the Filipino way oi thinking and expressing ideas, which is the oriental way, as differentiated from that of the Occidentals. I. Thought and Sentiment. The Filipino, when speaking with an o~cidental, is not always perfectly understood. Sometimes, the Filipino, generally courteous, anrl being respectful and reserved by na.• ture, answers with a smile whatever remark is made to him, even when it is not altogether pleasknt. Al116 though he perfectly knows that his occidental friend is wrong, and even if he has good rea.M>ns in his own favor, the Jt'ilipino usually keeps quiet. Of course, this way of acting is now undergoing imme change, due to the contact with the American people. The natural reserve of the Filipino is being diminished in ~ome individuals of the younger generation. And in some instances, the change is to such an extent, that the characteristic reserve gives way to an exaggerated boldness which undoubtedly is striking to Americans themselves. The change, however, is as yet far from being generalized. The great majority of the Filipino people continue to be attached to their native reserve, and it will take long before they all abandon it, if.it can ever be abandoned by them at all. It is due to this characteristic reserve, that, generally, the Filipino, who has already a family of his own, is very much attached to his home, where he considers to have everything, and has no need for any entertainment outside. This is why, except those accustomed to broader social life, the Filipinos are not generally enthusiastic about going to clubs every day and making it a part of the activities of life. As to the literary thought and style, there is a difference between the Filipino and the Occidentals. One of the most peculiar characteristics of the Filipino thought and sentiment as distinctively oriental, is the activity of imagination, as shown by the frequent use of metaphorical and symbolic language by means of figures of speech. The best example of Oriental literature is, for me, the Bible, which is fraught with symbols and parables. And the Filipino dialects bear these oriental charact~stfos, undoubtedly due to the fact that the Near East as well as the Far }<;ast, are both branches of the primitive oriental culture which had its beginning in the center of Asia, extending itself, with the stems of the human race, in a.11 directions. A Westerner who reads the Bible for the first time, may find in th~s book a loose style, and, if such reader il'.l of a religious temperament, he may attribute such style to the fact that the Bible is an ancient book inspired by God. This is, of course, true; but I believe it is due, in part, to the fact that the Westerner does not think nor express his ideas in the same manner as the Oriental. Moses, and the Prophets, the Evangelists, and the Apostles were orientals. The · Hebrew language, in which the Bible was originally written, is oriental. An ordinary example of this difference of thought and feeling between the Europeans and the Filipinos is the following: In Spanish they say "buenos dias"; in English, "good morning"; in French "bon jour"; in German "guten tag", or "guten morgen"; but in Tagalog, we say "magandag araw.p6" (beautiful day, sir or madam). Please note that the Spanish, the English and the French eay "good day'', that is, they go by utility and goodness, while the Tagalog prefers going by beauty, and says magandag araw, (beautiful day) and not mabutig araw, (good day). The P hi l i pp i n e Independence Commission has _just published a well presented book entitled "Beautiful Philippinesn. The title appeals to me as another striking manifestation of Frnpino psychology, showing, once more, that the. Filipino, instinctively, goes by beauty instead of going by utility. Otherwise, some less idealistic title could havt: been given to the book, likl' 117 "Progressive Philippines'', instead of "Beaut.iful Philippines". And, as I have said, the character of the Filipino is not usually manifested readily to the Westerner, especially when the latter does not speak in the dialed of the former. In the foreign languages, we do not always find adequate expressions to convey our thoughts. When we speak Spanish or English, we hardly think in either English or Spanish, so that mnch of our deficiency in the use of the occidental languages, may be attributed, partly, to our different mode of conceiving and expressing our ideas. (7'o b6 continued.) Price of a Discovery Documents recently brought to light assert what the discovery of America has cost. Christopher Columbus, as head of the expedition, re<1eived a sala:ry of $.'-120, or P640. Look for people now-a-days who would discover America for $2i, or P54 per month. The two captains of the ships under the command of Columbus got $180, or P360 a year. The sailors were given $2.25, or P4.50 per month. The equipment of the entire tl.otilla amounted to $2,800, or P5,600. Eatables, bread, wine, vegetables, meat, fowl cost $0.60, or Pl.20 per head and per month: in all $400, or P800. When Christopher Columbus returned to Europe. he was gh•en the sum of $4,400, or P8,800 as reimbursement as funds for the enterprises he had undertaken. This represents the ouGlay of the expedition, which lasted from August 3rd 1492 to March 4th 1493. If we add to the above sum $2,800, or !'5,600 for the equipment of the vessels, we shall see that one of the greatest discoveries, of which humanity is so proud, has cost only the sum $1,200, or P14,400. These figures have been obtained from Pinzon Brothers, shipowners at Palos, and thanks to whom Christopher Columbus was able to accomplish his first voyage. - "I saw you going into the tavern the other day" said Mich. -"It would have been worse to see me coming out" said Pat.

pages

115-117

Media