Monster Evolution
(picture taken from here)
Boo!
A week's rest after launching Demons of the New Year and I'm back in the blogging saddle again. Given that it's the holy week coming up and most of the people in this country are going on holiday, it's about time I start blogging again. I know a lot of writers who're planning to do some writing in the interim.
In the meantime...
I was reading the first two issues of Budgette Tan's Trese (an excellent series that takes a modern look at the darker side of Filipino mythology) and I got into thinking of evolution of monsters-- specificially, the tiyanak.
There are three theories posited on the creation of these shape-shifting changeling monsters, i.e. (1) from unborn babies, (2) unbaptized babies and (3) aborted babies. I'm wondering from a historical perspective if these theories apply to the different periods in Philippine history or were they already present throughout time. If the first, then the monster myth is actually evolving as time passes.
For example, i'm thinking if the first theory was prevalent during the pre-Spanish period. And when the Spaniards started converting everyone into Christianity, the second theory started spreading.
Now, I'm presuming that abortion had been present even before the Spaniards came (hello herbs!) But I'm thinking that whatever guilt that can be accrued from abortion would have been magnified in the 21st century such that the rise of the collective concept behind the third theory is only a recent thing.
What do you think?
A week's rest after launching Demons of the New Year and I'm back in the blogging saddle again. Given that it's the holy week coming up and most of the people in this country are going on holiday, it's about time I start blogging again. I know a lot of writers who're planning to do some writing in the interim.
In the meantime...
I was reading the first two issues of Budgette Tan's Trese (an excellent series that takes a modern look at the darker side of Filipino mythology) and I got into thinking of evolution of monsters-- specificially, the tiyanak.
There are three theories posited on the creation of these shape-shifting changeling monsters, i.e. (1) from unborn babies, (2) unbaptized babies and (3) aborted babies. I'm wondering from a historical perspective if these theories apply to the different periods in Philippine history or were they already present throughout time. If the first, then the monster myth is actually evolving as time passes.
For example, i'm thinking if the first theory was prevalent during the pre-Spanish period. And when the Spaniards started converting everyone into Christianity, the second theory started spreading.
Now, I'm presuming that abortion had been present even before the Spaniards came (hello herbs!) But I'm thinking that whatever guilt that can be accrued from abortion would have been magnified in the 21st century such that the rise of the collective concept behind the third theory is only a recent thing.
What do you think?
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