(Legends) Ano Ang Alamat?

Ang alamat ay isang uri ng panitikan na nagkukuwento tungkol sa mga pinagmulan ng mga bagay-bagay sa daigdig.

Karaniwang nagsasalaysay ang mga ito ng mga pangyayari hinggil sa tunay na mga tao at pook, at mayroong pinagbatayan sa kasaysayan.

Kaugnay ang alamat ng mga mito at kuwentong-bayan. Ang salitang alamat ay panumbas sa salitang "legend" ng ingles. Ito ay nagmula sa salitang "leendus" na nangangahulugang "Kayarian Hinggil sa mga kuwento ng mga bayani"

 Kalimitang may ginaganapang importanteng tungkulin at bahagi ang mga diyos, at iba pang mga itinuturing na banal na mga nilalang. Maaaring ipinananggalang nila o kaya sinasaktan ang bayani ng alamat. Katulad na lamang ng sa paglalakbay ni Odysseus sa Ang Odyssey, tinulungan siya ng diyosang si Athena at sinasaktan ng diyos na si Poseidon.

Kung minsan, ang bayani ang siya mismong inkarnasyon, o nasa kaanyuhang tao, ng isang diyos. Maaari ring anak o ampon ng isang diyos ang isang bayaning pang-alamat, na kalimitang may namanang mga katangian mula sa isang magulang, karaniwang mula sa ama.


Sa panitikang Pilipino, matatandaan ang mga alamat tulad ng Alamat ng Pinya, Alamat ng Unggoy, Alamat ng Ahas.

 Karaniwan ding ibinabase sa alamat ang kasaysayan ng pangalan ng isang lugar, bayan o lalawigan.

Narito ang halimbawa ng isang Alamat:

Ang Alamat ng Pinagmulan ng Pangalan ng Brgy. Lagyo Gumaca, Quezon.

Ang baranggay na ito ay isang maliit  ngunit patuloy na umuunlad na pamayanan sa baybayin ng Lamon Bay, na pinanahanan ng mga masisipag at mapagmahal sa kapayapaang magsasaka at mangingisda.

Narito ang Kwento sa Likod ng Kasaysayan:

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 Ang Maiksing Kasaysayan ng Brgy. Lagyo Gumaca, Quezon.

Ano nga ba ang Lagyo? Bakit Ito ang napiling ipangalan sa baranggay?

Ang lagyo ay isa pang katawagan sa nuon ay kinatatakutang isda ang PATING.

Ayon sa nagpasalin-saling kasaysayan na  mula pa sa mga orihinal na  naninirahan dito nuon. Ganito ang pangyayari…..

Isang araw daw di umano, sa paghibas ng dagat ay tatlong pagkalalaking Lagyo ang natagpuan sa hibasanan. Ang labis na laki ng mga ito ay gumulantang sa mga tao ng baranggay. Nagmamadali silang humangos patungo sa dagat upang kumpirmahin ang katotohanan ng balita. Habang nangyayari ang pagkakagulo, parang sinadya ng pagkakataon na isang dayuhang nagtatala ng mga pangalan ng mga lugar ang dumating. Tinanong niya ang mga tao sa wikang banyaga “ Ano ang pangalan ng lugar na ito?”. Dahil sa pagmamadali at sa pagaakalang tinatanong sila kung ano ang nangyayari tanging “Lagyo! Lagyo! “ na lamang ang isinagot ng mga tao. Di nagtagal mula nuon ang lugar ay pinangalanan nang Lagyo.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x 

Sa pagbubuod, mapagtatanto natin na ang alamat ay isang paraan ng pagpapaliwanag ng mga bagay na hindi natin lubos na nauunawaan. - lawrence avillano

Biography of : Amado V. Hernandez

Photo Credit to National Commission For Culture and the Arts

Amado V . Hernandez (Amado Vera Hernandez) aka Amante Hernani, Herminia dela Riva, Julio Abril. B. Tondo, was born in Manila 13 Sept 1903 and died in Manila 24 March 1970.

He is a National Artist in Literature. He is the son of Juan Hernandez and Clara Vera. He married sarswela actress and kundiman queen Atang dela Rama.

He studied in Gagalangin, Tondo, the Manila High School, and the American Correspondence School where he finished a bachelor of arts degree.

He began his writing career, as a journalist and later editor of various pre-WWII Tagalog newspapers, like Watawat, Pagkakaisa, Makabayan, Sampaguita and Mabuhay Extra. He joined the Akademya ng Wikang Tagalog and the Manila Press Club, During WWII; he served as an intelligence officer for the resistance.

After the war, he was appointed and elected as councilor of Manila in 1945 and 1947, respectively. He sponsored ordinances aimed at promoting worker's rights and freedom. As he immersed himself in the labor movement in the late 1940's and early 1950's. Hernandez's sympathy for the working class grew into strong identification with their struggle for social justice and liberation. He represented the Newspaper Guild of the Philippines in the country's biggest and most militant labor federation, the Congress of Labor Organizations (CLO). In 1947, he was elected the president of the CLO. Because of pursuing the worker's cause, he was imprisoned in 1951 for alleged subversive activities. He was released on parole in 1956 after five years and six months of detention, and was finally acquitted of all charges in 1964. He returned to journalistic practice, writing as a columnist for Taliba from 1962 to 1967, serving as editor of the radical newspaper, Ang Masa , until his death 1970.

"Amado V. Hernandez's poetic sensibility was initially developed in literary circles. "

During the second decade he was a member and vice-president of Aklatang Bayan where he associated with Lope K. Santos, Valeriano Hernandez- Peña, Iñigo Ed. Regalado, and Julian Cruz Balmaseda; later he joined Ilaw at Panitik, where he became close to Jose Corazon de Jesus, Florentino Collantes, and Deogracias Risario.

He wrote poems on sundry topics for his daily column “Sariling Hardin” (My Own Garden) in Pagkakaisa from 1926 to 1932. He continued writing poems for his column “Pangkasalukuyan” (Today) in Mabuhay from 1932 to 1934.

In 1929 he challenged de Jesus, the acknowledged “King of Balagtasan,” to debate in verse on the issue of nationalism and independence. For almost a month, they articulated their positions daily in the newspapers they worked for: de Jesus in Taliba, Hernandez in Pagkakaisa .

In 1940, he published his first anthology of poems entitled Kayumanggi at Iba pang Tula (Brown and Other Poems). His prison ordeal provided the creative impulse of most of the poems in his collection, Isang Dipang Langit (A Stretch of Sky), 1961 and the epic, Bayang Malaya (Free Country), 1969, both of which were written behind bars.. Most famous of his poems are “Isang Dipang Langit,” “Panata sa Kalayaan” (Oath to Freedom), “Bartolina” (Solitary Confinement), “Ang Dalaw” (The Visit), and “Kung Tuyo Na ang Luha Mo Aking Bayan” (When Your Tears Dry Up, My Country).

He published short stories in different newspapers among them “Wala ng Lunas” (No More Remedy), “Kulang sa Dilig” (Needs Watering), “Langaw sa Isang Basong Gatas” (Fly in a Glass of Milk), “Dalawang Metro sa Lupang Di-Malipad ng Uwak” (Two Meters in Land That Stretches Forever), “Ipinanganak ang Isang Kaaway sa Sosyedad” (An Enemy of the Society is Born), “Isang Ulo ng Litson” (Head of a Roast Pig), and “Kislap ng Utak,Pawis ng Noo” (Sparkle of Brain, Sweat on the Forehead).

His experiences as a guerilla, labor leader, and a political detainee were shaped into the novels Mga Ibong Mandaranggit (Birds of Prey), 1969, and Luha ng Buwaya (Crocodile's Tears), 1972.

Hernandez wrote plays based on prison experiences: Muntinglupa , 1957; Hagdan sa Bahaghari (Stairway to the Rainbow), 1958; Ang mga Kagalang- galang (The Venerables), 1959; and Magkabilang Mukha ng Isang Bagol (Two Sides of A Coin), 1960.

He has written many essays, among them, “Si Atang at ang Dulaan” (Atang and the Theater), “Si Jose Corazon de Jesus at ang Ating Panulaan” (Jose Corazon de Jesus and Our Poetry), and “Pilipinismo: Susi sa Bayang Tagumpay” (Filipinism: Key to a Successful Country), among others. In these works, he exposed what he perceived to be the neocolonial nature of Philippine Society and pushed for nationalist and progressive agenda to end the long history of the workers' and people's oppression.

"In the pre-WWII era, Amado V. Hernandez won more than 20 awards for his short stories and poems. "

In 1925, he was proclaimed “Makata ng Ilaw at Panitik” (Poet of Ilaw and Panitik). In 1931 his story “Wala Nang Lunas” won two gold medals also from the Ilaw and Panitik. His stories, “Pilipinas” (Philippines) and “Kayumanggi” (Brown), both won first prize in the Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1938 and 1940, respectively. He won the Republic Cultural Heritage Award for Isang Dipang Langit, 1962; the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature fro his four plays: Muntinglupa, 1958, Magkabilang Mukha ng Isang Bagol , 1961, both first prize winners; and Hagdan sa Bahaghari, 1959, and Ang mga Kagalang-galang , 1960, both second prize winners; the NPC-ESSO Journalism Award for his novel Luha ng Buwaya, 1963, his “Pili sa Pinili” (Chosen form the Select) in Taliba, 1964, and for his essay, “Report on Indonesia,” in 1965; the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan award from the city government of Manila, 1964; the first Balagtas Memorial Award from the Cultural Center of the Philippines for Bayang Malaya , 1969; and the Tanglaw ng Lahi Award from the Ateneo de Manila, 1970. He was proclaimed National Artist for posthumously in 1973 for “his contribution to the development of Tagalog prose.” 

BIOGRAPHY OF NICK JOAQUIN

The Making of a Writer - Nick Joaquin

Nick Joaquín was born in Paco, Manila, one of ten children of Leocadio Joaquín, a colonel under General Emilio Aguinaldo in the 1896 Revolution, and Salome Márquez, a teacher of English and Spanish.

After being read poems and stories by his mother, the boy Joaquín read widely in his father's library and at the National Library of the Philippines. By then, his father had become a successful lawyer after the revolution. From reading, Joaquín became interested in writing.

At age 17, Joaquín had his first piece published, in the literary section of the pre-World War II Tribune, where he worked as a proofreader. It was accepted by the writer and editor Serafín Lanot. After Joaquín won a nationwide essay competition for to honor La Naval de Manila, sponsored by the Dominican Order, the University of Santo Tomas awarded him an honorary Associate in Arts (A.A.). They also awarded him a scholarship to St. Albert's Convent, the Dominican monastery in Hong Kong.

Career

After returning to the Philippines, Joaquín joined the Philippines Free Press, starting as a proofreader. Soon he attracted notice for his poems, stories and plays, as well as his journalism under the pen name Quijano de Manila. His journalism was both intellectual and provocative, an unknown genre in the Philippines at that time, and he raised the level of reportage in the country.

Joaquín deeply admired José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines. Joaquín paid tribute to him in books such as The Storyteller's New Medium - Rizal in Saga, The Complete Poems and Plays of Jose Rizal, and A Question of Heroes: Essays in Criticism on Ten Key Figures of Philippine History. He translated the hero's valedictory poem, in the original Spanish Mi Ultimo Adios, as "Land That I Love, Farewell!"

Joaquín was appointed as a member of the Motion Pictures commission under presidents Diosdado Macapagal and Ferdinand E. Marcos.

After being honored as National Artist, Joaquin used his position to work for intellectual freedom in society. He secured the release of imprisoned writer José F. Lacaba. At a ceremony on Mount Makiling attended by First Lady Imelda Marcos, Joaquín delivered an invocation to Mariang Makiling, the mountain's mythical maiden. Joaquín touched on the importance of freedom and the artist. After that, Joaquín was excluded by the Marcos regime as a speaker from important cultural events.

Joaquín died of cardiac arrest in the early morning of April 29, 2004, at his home in San Juan, Metro Manila. He was then editor of Philippine Graphic magazine and publisher of its sister publication, Mirror Weekly, a women’s magazine. He also wrote the column (“Small Beer”) for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Isyu, an opinion tabloid.

Works

• May Day Eve (1947)
• Prose and Poems (1952)
• The Woman Who had Two Navels (1961)
• La Naval de Manila and Other Essays (1964)
• A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino (1966)
• Tropical Gothic (1972)
• A Question of Heroes (1977)
• Jeseph Estrada and Other Sketches (1977)
• Nora Aunor & Other Profiles (1977)
• Ronnie Poe & Other Silhouettes (1977)
• Reportage on Lovers (1977)
• Reportage on Crime (1977)
• Amalia Fuentes & Other Etchings (1977)
• Gloria Diaz & Other Delineations (1977)
• Doveglion & Other Cameos (1977)
• Language of the Streets and Other Essays (1977)
• Manila: Sin City and Other Chronicles (1977)
• Tropical Baroque (1979),
• Stories for Groovy Kids (1979)
• Language of the Street and Other Essays (1980)
• The Ballad of the Five Battles (1981)
• The Aquinos of Tarlac: An Essay on History as Three Generations (1983)
• Almanac for Manileños
• Cave and Shadows (1983)
• The Quartet of the Tiger Moon: Scenes from the People Power Apocalypse (1986)
• Collected Verse (1987)
• Culture and History: Occasional Notes on the Process of Philippine Becoming (1988)
• Manila, My Manila: A History for the Young (1990),
• The D.M. Guevara Story (1993),
• Mr. F.E.U., the Culture Hero That Was Nicanor Reyes (1995).
• Rizal in Saga (1996)

Awards

• José García Villa's Honor Roll (1940)
• Philippines Free Press Short Story Contest (1949)
• Ten Most Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM), Awardee for Literature (1955)
• Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Literary Awards (1957–1958; 1965; 1976)
• Harper Publishing Company (New York, U.S.A.) writing fellowship
• Stonehill Award for the Novel (1960)
• Republic Cultural Heritage Award (1961)
• Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award from the City of Manila (1964)
• National Artist Award (1976).
• S.E.A. Write Award (1980)
• Ramon Magsaysay Award for Literature (1996)
• Tanglaw ng Lahi Award from the Ateneo de Manila University (1997)
• Several ESSO Journalism awards, including the highly-covetedJournalist of the Year Award.
• Several National Book Awards from the Manila Critics' Circle for The Aquinos of Tarlac: An Essay in History as Three Generations; The Quartet of the Tiger Moon: Scenes from the People Power Apocalypse; Culture and History: Occasional Notes on the Process of Philippine Becoming; The World of Damian Domingo: 19th Century Manila (co-authored with Luciano P.R. Santiago); and Jaime Ongpin: The Enigma: The Profile of a Filipino as Manager.

References

• Nick Joaquin: National Artist for Literature at Panitikan.com
• Nick Joaquin, Encyclopædia Britannica Online
• Hebbar, Reshmi (1998). "Filipino American Literature". http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Filipino.html. , Emory University