It was awesome because I grew up hearing stories of aswang, tikbalang, and white ladies. Actually there are more! Stories of dwedes, manananggals and a lot more. I remember when I was younger I would hear our yayas tell us horror stories of such! It was scary and fascinating at the same time.
I remember in grade school in ICA, my classmates and I would share horror stories we heard from friends and family. We would all look forward to watching the Halloween special of Magandang Gabi, Bayan on Channel 2! Hahaha.. I realized though, that some stories we shared were not true – they were some version of the true story, but nevertheless they were scary.
I remember stories saying that ICA used to be a hospital or a cemetery? Then I would hear that Xavier was one too and that La Salle Greenhills was too. It then dawned on me that, maybe it wasn’t true?! Hahaha.. But it was fascinating, the stories!
I personally believe in superstitions and tales of mythical supernatural creatures. I have personal experiences on some – well, they didn’t happen to me directly, but they happened to someone close to me. In one of the houses I’ve lived in – there was this house, that had a huge mango tree. My mom would always warn me that whenever I would go there, I needed to say ‘Tabi Tabi Po’ she said that she was told that there were ‘dwende’ (dwarfs) that were living in the tree and that I needed to be careful. And so I followed it, whenever I would cross the path of the tree, I would always utter ‘Tabi Tabi Po’ nothing untoward happened to me. But something happened to my brother. One time, he was playing basketaball and the ball accidentally hit the tree. We didn’t know it at that time, but my brother started not feeling well. If I remember it correctly, his leg was suddenly swollen. Everyone was wondering what happened, and then my mom asked him – did the ball hit the tree? And he said, probably – my mom then asked if he said ‘sorry’ I know it seemed silly, right? But I am one who believes in these things. We had one factory worker who was knowledgeable on these things and she said that she spoke to one of the dwendes and the dwende was ‘hurt’ and that we needed to make an offering of food. And we made an offering immediately – and soon enough, the swelling died down! That was my first supernatural experience and that was what made me pass on the ‘Tabi Tabi Po’ habit to my children.
In college, my friend said that she has relatives in Iloilo that were friend with aswang, how to do they know they were aswangs? She said they were fascinated with toes – that they stare into women’s feet in the salon whenever they came in for pedicures. She also said that when you look into their eyes, you’ll see yourself inverted! Creepy, right? I don’t think I’ll have the guts to look into their eyes! Hahaha… I’m sure there are a LOT more stories of the likes that you have heard. Though some may or may not be true – it’s still super fascinating, don’t you think??
While watching the show Trese, I get so kilig seeing on screen portrayals of Pinoy mythical creatures. The white lady on Balete Drive is so iconic! I also loved that they really made sure the cartoon was realistic on the street! My heart flipped when I saw the street sign, it was so surreal and I was smiling so wide! Hahaha.. What were once just part of our imaginations, we not see them portrayed on Netflix, anime style. Isn’t that something to be proud of?
I remember watching an episode of the show Grimm that featured a Filipino ‘aswang’ – it was the Tiktik!! I was super kilig while watching that episode because I knew the history of that particular ‘monster’! It was surreal to see it on screen! Hahaha.. I had that same feeling of kilig when I saw the first episode of Trese! I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears that I was really hearing them verbalize it and portray it on screen anime style!
I’m sorry if I seem to be jumping from one topic to another, but I’m just so happy and excited and my heart is still on a high – with pride of the anime Trese! It’s just so cool to see it onscreen.
Manila’s portrayal was wonderful too! The breaking down of the MRT, the aswangs, the while lady, the tikbalang, the vampires, the balete tree and so much more! The streets of Manila, Makati, New Manila and Manila’s skyline – who would have thought that I’d get to see it onscreen anime style, and on Netflix!
