MUNICIPALITY OF LIBOG (SANTO DOMINGO), ALBAY, Historical Data of Part 2

PART II

Part I | Part II

About these Historical Data

The transcription of this page was done using AI technology.

[p. 16]

TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS, AND PRACTICES IN DOMESTIC AND
SOCIAL LIFE, BIRTH, BAPTISM, ETC.

A. Domestic and Social Life

Just like any other race or nation, the Filipinos have their own customs and traditions of which no amount of schooling or education has erased them.

At home, take for instance the arrangement of the furniture. The tables are arranged in the opposite direction of the floor to bring good luck. In paying or handing money to someone on the ground one never gives it through the window because money will become elusive to the occupants of the house. So the one paying gives the money through the door. A child is never given to a person on the ground through the window because if it is done, it is believed that the child will elope or run away when he grows up. When the family receives money in lump sum it is not spent at once. It is to remain untouched until the next day so that it will stay longer in the house.

B. At Birth and Baptism

Anyone visiting a newly-born baby for the first time carries with him some money which he gives to the baby so that the baby will become prosperous. When he grows up it is predicted that he will be successful in his ventures. When he is baptized the godparent pays for the baptismal alms and provides the baby with a Christening dress. When the child reaches home after the baptism he is presented with a book, a pencil, money, and a rosary. If the child chooses the book, he will become a wide reader. The selection of the rosary presupposes that the child will become either a priest or a nun or a devout person.

C. Courtship and Marriage

Lovers never give one another any pointed and/or religious article because if they do, their engagement gets broken somehow later. After the marriage ceremonies some brides lean with their hands on the groom’s shoulder so that they can dominate their husbands. In other cases brides and grooms try their best to be the first to reach the house after the marriage ceremony for the same reason. Some parents of the brides require the would-be grooms to give some sort of dowry before giving their daughters away in marriage.

D. Festivals

It is still a common practice in the barrios to hold harvest festivals. After the harvest the choicest grains are selected and cooked nicely and placed at night out in the open fields together with some tasty viands for the ancestors of the family. This is to ensure a rich harvest always.

Each year a fiesta is held in honor of the town’s or barrios

[p. 17]

C. Beliefs on Conceiving

1. Carry a charcoal in your waist if you are in the family way while taking a walk at night to prevent mischiefs from malignos or evil spirits.
2. One in the family way should not go down when there is an eclipse; if you do childbirth will be hard.
3. Childbirth will be hard if one doesn’t go through a door at once. One must not stay hesitatingly at the door if one is in the family way.
4. It is bad to take a bath early in the morning at around four o’clock, for evil spirits are still abroad. Take a bath at sunset instead.
5. If you eat pili nut or anything black while conceiving, the child will be black or dark colored; in like manner, if you eat food that is white the child will be white-complexioned.
6. Drinking water in a dipper while conceiving is bad for the child will have bulging eyes.
7. If a prospective mother gets a liking to eat fern, the child will have a curly hair.
8. Eating too much “adobo” causes an unborn child to have scaly-like skin, especially when the child grows up. This is also the cause of dry skin in the latter life of the child.
9. A conceiving mother who laughs at the unfortunates; the infirmed, crippled, or sick is inviting disaster for her own child is likely to get one of those defects.

D. Beliefs of Nursing Mothers

1. Nursing mothers should not eat eggs for the child will have bad teeth.
2. It is bad to eat banana blossoms for it may cause infantile beriberi to the child.

E. Miscellaneous Beliefs

1. If you don’t want to get bald-headed, don’t take a bath on the first day of the month and on Tuesdays and Fridays.
2. Any clothing apparel lasts longer if you wear it first in going to church; if you don’t it will wear out quickly.
3. A girl who combs her hair at night habitually is liable to be kidnapped.

[p. 18]

4. Playing with fire at night, burning paper or coconut leaf midrib is a bad omen – the parents will die.
5. Throwing anything outside the window at night, say, “Excuse me,” for you might hit invisible people or evil spirits at your own risk.
6. Young women should not and never mend their dresses without taking them off first for if they do without taking them off they will have a hard childbirth later on.
7. While walking in a forest or wilderness or mountains, do not whistle, snakes will follow you if you do. If you get lost, take off your clothes and be naked and you will soon find your way.
8. If you are wearing a hat, never use it for fanning fire; you will get headache if you do.
9. Papaya is not good for children and even adults for it makes the stomach thin.
10. In the toilet don’t sing or you will get a stye.
11. Don’t go to bed if your hair is wet for you will be insane.
12. Don’t point to or talk about things you see in a well, river, or in any uninhabited places because you are likely to get sick under the spell of evil spirits.
13. Eating several kinds of fruit at a time should be avoided. It causes stomachache.
14. It is bad to make use of a piece of wood or charcoal from a house that was burned – your house will get burned too.
15. Don’t sleep with your feet near the door or you’ll die young.
16. Never let a growing child eat an incomplete coconut meat (coconut believed to have been partly eaten by the rainbow) – the child will have a hard time to learn to talk.
17. A child born with a tooth in the upper jaw (known locally as “anonual”) is a bad omen. The children born after him in the same family will all die.

[p. 19]

SUPERSTITIONS

A. During the Holy Week

1. On Good Friday watch for the bending of a banana blossom because the moment it bends a stone will fall. Catch it and hold it for life’s sake and in an instant, a giant will appear to get the stone from you. Fight off the giant for you will then be stronger than he because you have the magic stone. If you succeed in keeping the stone you will forever have the power or strength of ten.
2. Place a dead cat, preferably a black one in a pot. Bury it in a crossroad where the Holy Friday procession will pass. The next year, on the same spot, just after the Holy Friday procession has just passed the spot, dig out the pot. If you still find it look for the bones of the black cat and hold them tightly for a big man will appear to wrest them from your possession. Fight him off and if you beat him you will have an amulet or anting-anting.
3. Pull out three stakes from the fencing made around the tomb of a dead child (angelito) at the strike of the bell announcing the death of Christ. A giant will appear to take hold of the stakes too. Struggle with him in the ensuing battle. If you are successful you will get an amulet. These stakes, if placed under the house of anybody you planned to rob or want to do mischiefs make you invisible.
4. At midnight on a Holy Friday, watch on the seashore. The sea will suddenly sleep at the strike of midnight. Scoop some of the sea water in a container and pronounce some secret incantations at the same time. The “sleeping” sea water sprinkled over any sleeping person, would make such person sleep for three days. If you want to wake him up before the duration of three days, you simply sprinkle an ordinary water.
5. At the toll of the three o’clock bell on Holy Friday, announcing the death of Christ, lay flat on the ground under your house. Stay there until the procession passes by. Look up then. At the end of the procession you will see a priest with spectacles. Grab one of these spectacles from the phantoms and you will have possessed an amulet making you invisible.
6. During the Holy Week, watch for a dead child (an “angelito”) that is being buried. At midnight excavate the coffin and bite off the calf of the child’s knee. Keep it and dry it. You’ll get the power of invisibility. You can change your appearance by praying some magic prayer to the calf-bone.
7. On Holy Thursday during the last “salmos”, watch for the priest. When he blows out the last candle, called serio pascual [the correct term is cirio pascual] being held by him, grab and run away with it. Keep the candle

[p. 20]

[p. 21]

29. Popular songs.

1. Ano Daw Itong sa Gogon
2. Vulcan, Bulusan, Isarog
3. Sarong Bangui
4. Passion Play Song
5. Songs for “Aurora.”
6. My Bonnie is Over the Ocean
7. Romantic Serenaders
8. You Are My Sunshine (G. I. Liberation Song)
9. New Song Hits

Games and Amusements.

1. Sungka
2. Playing Cards (Monte & Entre Quatre)
3. Mahjong
4. Cockfighting
5. Bingo
6. Loto
7. Billiard
8. Pool
9. Black-jack
10. Padis-Padis (Pair-Pair)
11. Running Races (Common and betting among men)
12. Moro-Moro (Comedia)
13. Softball (known as Indoor Baseball before)
14. Volleyball
15. Basketball
16. Sea Bathing and boating especially during summer days
17. Dancing (Old and modern)

30. Puzzles and riddles.

The riddles in the dialect (Bikol) are usually made and written in rhymes; their English translations are devoid of it.

1. House of Santa Ana is surrounded with spears. (pineapple)
2. I have a house in the mud the support of which is thorny. (crab)
3. I have a fish in Mirisbiris the scales of which are inside. (pepper)
4. I have a house in the mountain with only one support. (Mushroom)
5. House of Manguyapot has neither a door nor a tie. (egg)
6. I strike and strike with my bolo yet it could not be cut. (water)
7. Juan is very small but he already carries the world on his head. (hermit crab)
8. Water in Ricandican could not get wet in the rain. (coconut)
9. What fruit looks up at its flower? (corn)
10. It has body, teeth, and feet yet it has no head. (coconut grater)

[p. 22]

11. A magnetic stone with Nene inside. (mirror)
12. It is neither a human being nor an animal but it wears ironed clothes. (pillow)
13. A leaf at night, a piece of bamboo during the day. (ant)
14. It is one long vine with but one leaf. (kite)
15. It is a big tree yet it cannot support even a midrib placed beside it. (smoke)
16. What you planted is not eaten but the place where you planted it is edible. (chicken)
17. I cooked malagkit rice and I ate it all including the pot. (guava)
18. The leaf bore a fruit and the fruit bore a leaf. (pineapple)
19. A small womb is wrapped in a piece of paper. (garlic)
20. The back of the crocodile is dried in the sun every day. (roof)
21. The bait is still alive but the line is already rotten. (carabao)
22. It is neither a man nor an animal but it eats well saute food. (frying pan)
23. Two stores were simultaneously opened. (eyes)
24. Nene is yet very small but she knows well how to sew. (spider)
25. Five friends have but one surname. (days beginning Monday up to Friday of the Holy Week: Lunes Santo, Martes Santo, Miercoles Santo, Jueves Santo, Viernes Santo)
26. What food is it that has the rind inside? (giblet or gizzard)
27. He leaves away all curled up and comes home with a gray hair. (waves)
28. The house of St. John never catches fire. (frying pan)
29. There are twenty brothers but they have only one name. (nails; finger and toe nails)
30. When you smooth and feel it, it is hairy; when you open it, it is reddish. (a tree locally known as “sapran” whose fruit is sometimes used for coloring food and as print)
31. It is neither a human being nor an animal, yet it talks. (radio)
32. I have a cow in Manila whose neighs or baas can be heard here. (thunder)

31. Proverbs and sayings.

1. Everyone has its own defects.
2. Plant and ye shall reap.
3. He who blows into the mortar shall catch cinders into his eyes.
4. You can see the hole of the needle but can’t see the big hole of the ax.

[p. 23]

5. Foul odor will always come out in the end.
6. Bite your smallest finger and try to tell how far the pain would go.
7. There is no brink without its counterpart.
8. It is better to die than to suffer.
9. He that is fond of passing the buck to others is the greatest doer.
10. Noisy water is shallow; silent water is deep.
11. A barking dog seldom bites.
12. No chicken is thin to a hungry owl.
13. Of what use is zacate to a dead horse.
14. An early bird catches worm.
15. Be careful of persons who look by the side of their eyes.
16. A guava tree does bear santol fruit.
17. He that suffers much is nearest to God.
18. Birds of the same feather flock together.
19. Anything that is always near fire will surely catch fire.
20. Bend the tree while it is young.
21. What is money without love.
22. There is dead in the mountain but that it is not yet brought down.
23. A healthy plant will bear good fruit.
24. He chooses and chooses but in the end he gets the worse.
25. You are like a bramboo; good outside but hollow inside.
26. You are likes like a crocodile on dry land. (This expression is referred to a grafter.)
27. He that talks much does little.
28. Thin lips are always talkative.
29. He selects and selects but in the end he gets a harelip. (This has the same meaning as No. 24.)
30. Before opening your mouth, think first.
31. No pen is rotten is-ralled to one who knows how to write.
32. Old comedian player as he is, yet he has fallen down from the stage.
33. Whether you eat or not that is one ganta. (Said to friends during fiestas: Whether you eat or not it will be construed and considered that you have consumed one ganta of rice during the meal.)

[p. 24]

METHODS OF MEASURING TIME

Since time immemorial, man has devised ways and means of measuring or recording time, and keeping track of it. In the town of Libog the people of the past have also developed some ways of reckoning time. These they used to mark the length of time it takes for one to reach a place, the period for accomplishing a certain task, the means of recalling age and date of birth, and other matters pertaining to man’s growth, his age, progress, and work. The following is description of those which are very popular and still in use among the townsfolk, particularly those living in outlying sitios, barrios, and those in the mountains, who have no benefit of the use of a watch or clock.

Measuring Time

1. Sun dial. Some folks in the town estimate the time of the day by means of the shadows cast by the sun, from sunrise to sunset. When the sun is over head, that means high noon or twelve o’clock. The shadow of a coconut tree, the church tower, a pole, or a stick erected upright near the house is used as a means of calculating time of the day.
2. Cigarette method. Other people calculate the time to walk to a place by the extent of a cigarette consumed, lighting it right at the start of the journey, and counting the number of butts consumed, if it takes more than a cigarette to reach the place. This is also used to tell how long a time it takes one to do a certain task, like cooking rice, making twine, or getting the oil from coconut milk. This used by sailors in sailing from one “punta” to another, among the isles bordering the sea.
3. Moon method. At night, when the sky is clear, the moon and the stars (or a particular star like the “bitoon na maka-aga or maka-hapon”) is used to calculate the time.
4. Water and tide method. The people near the seashore and those near a creek or stream use the tide method. The time for the low tides and the high tides is carefully observed and used as a way of measuring time.
5. Historical method. Even now there are very old people whom you may ask how old they are. They will not tell you in years, but they will let you recall who was the capitan or cabeza at the time they were born. With this as your guide, they will lead you to know their age.

[p. 25]

6. Eruption method. The Mayon Volcano is even used as means of reckoning time or period. In the past, this volcano had eruptions at regular intervals of 4 or 5 years. Those eruptions, then, were used to determine age.
7. Typhoon method. Strong typhoons were also used by the people in Libog to determine the time. They recall their age at the time such and such typhoon occurred, and get the year of that typhoon. Then they subtract that from the present year and add their age at that time to the difference, and they get their age.
8. The cock method. Cocks usually crow during certain hours of the day or night. The old folks of this town also tell time by the number of these crows especially at night. It is the common estimate that the first crow at night when it is moonlight night is 10:00 o’clock, while during a dark night, that is 9:00 o’clock. The first successive crows in early dawn is 4:00 o’clock.

OTHER FOLKTALES

The Origin of the Name “Libog”

It is told that this town was not called Libog before the Spanish time. That was the time when very few roads connected the towns of Albay with one another. Most of the people had to hike in going from Legaspi to Tabaco.

It was at such time, one day, when a group of Spanish explorers walked from Legaspi to Tabaco. When they were coming down Naga river (now, Basud, site of the toll house), they met a townfolk on carabao’s back. One of the Spaniards asked the native, “Como se llama este pueblo?” The native gazed at him open-mouthed, and wondering what the Spaniard said. Then he thought that, perhaps he was being asked where he was going. So, pointing to the carabao, he answered, “Libog, libog.”

The Spaniards thought also that what the native said was the answer to his question. So from that time on, the town was called “Labog,” which later on had a change to the present name of Libog by the Americans, who were fond of pronouncing the a as short a, and when others wrote the name, they wrote it as Libog. We thus have the present name Libog.

[p. 26]

Part Three: Other Information

34. Information works and documents treating of the Philippines and the names of their owners, ----- None

35. The names of Filipino authors born or residing in the community, the titles and subjects of their works, whether printed or in manuscript form, and the names of the persons possessing them.

Musical piece.

Title: Sarong Bangui - by Potenciano Gregorio.

This piece was printed, published, and placed on the market and became a very popular piece. Potenciano Gregorio, now deceased, was a native of this town but he resided in Manila as a member of the then Philippine Constabulary Band.

[p. 27]

DIVISION OF ALBAY

2nd Indorsement
Legaspi City, August 27, 1953

Respectfully forwarded to the Director of Public Schools,
Manila, contents noted.

DAMIAN BAYALA
Academic Supervisor
For and in the absence of the Division
Superintendent of Schools

[p. 28]

BUREAU OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS
DIVISION OF ALBAY
DISTRICT OF BACACAY
LIBOG

24 August, 1953

The Division Superintendent of Schools
Legaspi City
(Thru the District Supervisor)

Sir:

I have the honor to submit the Historical Data of Libog and Barrios.

Very respectfully,

Julio N. Navera
Principal

1st Indorsement
DISTRICT OF BACACAY
Bacacay, August 26, 1953

Respectfully forwarded to the Division Superintendent of Schools, Legaspi City, contents noted..

ROSALIO GREGORIO
District Supervisor

Incl.: As stated in
duplicate copies

[p. 29]

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
BUREAU OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS
DIVISION OF ALBAY

2nd Indorsement
Legaspi City, August 27, 1953

Respectfully forwarded to the Director of Public Schools,
Manila, contents noted,

DAMIAN BAYALA
Academic Supervisor
For and in the absence of the Division
Superintendent of Schools

Part I | Part II