Creation

A nd God created the Universe….and the flowers…and the bees…and man..and begins the world…end, begin…all the same huh! Big change…sometimes good…sometimes bad.

That’s how I see “creation stories”.

The Philippines is stuffed with many creation stories. Let me share to you some of it.

The Ifugao Version of Creation
According to an old mumbaki (Ifugao priest), in the beginning Kabunian , chief of the Ifugao Parthenon, created a world which he later destroyed will all things in it (including people) because of their many faults. (Strange, a lot of gods seems to create defective products.) Well…after his second creation, Montalog, the god who taught all the customs and traditions of the Ifugao, married Montiling, a goddess. From their union were born Bugan and Wigan who were not supernatural beings.

Montalog, saw that the two were naked so he dropped some plants from the sky that could be turned into thread and inspired Wigan and Bugan on a fashion trend. Well…. since Bugan has no taste for fashion, she had a dream that changed her taste and started to make beautiful designs.

Meanwhile, Bugan was inspired to prepare the ground for rice production. Unlike the Judeo-Christian Genesis myth, food production is a source of inspiration and not divine punishment. Bugan breast milk became the first rice.

The Mangyan Version.
The Mangyan believe that our world came from worm shit. NO SHIT! In the beginning there was Mahal Makakaako - the sayer of the word (Nope this is not John 1:1). From a tree which he held on his hands, a worm fell and from its feces came the first earth. More worms grew and more feces were deposited making the world grow large.

Mahal Makakaako watched this earth grew and thought that it could be good for something from which he can enjoy. So he called his 2 bothers, Malway and Dalidali, and set them to making something that he could enjoy watching.

Malway was a slow worker compare to Dalidali who works really fast. Malway created flatlands since he always have the time to flatten the pile, while Dalidali created the mountains in a hurry.

The Laguna (Tagalong) Version
In the beginning there was no world existing. There was only a community of the dead under the care of Queen Sinonggol (So here we begin the story from death. Well that makes sense – because since before you were conceived in this planet by your parents – you don’t exist – Alas you’re “dead”.)
The queen had a brother, Sualla, who was an “albulario” or herb doctor and treated the other gods who got sick in their kingdom.

The two lived in a palace in the east side of which stood eight statues made of strong wood. The first statue was created by the Queen into the first man and the woman came from his body. The two had a son named Mentalalan.

The First man, one day did something wrong and displeases the Queen and as punishment, Queen Sinonggol mad him ill.

Sualla gave the man something to cure him, but there is a condition: Who ever touch the medicine other Sualla and the First man will die. The Queen heard of this and asked the devil to touch it to prove her powers over her creations. But instead of the devil, it was Mentalalan who died.

Mentalalan was buried and the place where his body was buried became the world.

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C reation stories are stories in which our ancestor’s try to assume the beginning. They are told to answer the questions where we came from, how and why. These stories are equipped with simple explanation about how our world came about. It doesn’t explain complex phenomena, but simple daily observations our ancestors have noticed on their everyday life. These explanations are sometimes enough for priests or village medicine men…simple stories to answer villagers’ tough questions. These stories don’t need to make sense, since the accounts require magic in order to explain the observable fact. It is just the same as how the Genesis story was created.


Until next time,

Ciao!

John the Atheist

The Elephant Man

According to the Wikipedia article, Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), sometimes incorrectly referred to as John Merrick, was an English man with severe deformities who was exhibited as a human curiosity named the Elephant Man. He became well known in London society after he went to live at the London Hospital. Merrick was born in Leicester and began to develop abnormally during the first few years of his life. His skin appeared thick and lumpy, he developed an enlargement of his lips, and a bony lump grew on his forehead. One of his arms and both feet became enlarged and at some point during his childhood he fell and damaged his hip, resulting in permanent lameness. When he was 11, his mother died and his father soon remarried. Merrick left school at 12, and had difficulty finding employment. Rejected by his father and stepmother, he left home. In late 1879, aged 17, Merrick entered the Leicester Union workhouse.

In 1884, after four years in the workhouse, Merrick contacted a showman named Sam Torr and proposed that Torr should exhibit him. Torr agreed, and arranged for a group of men to manage Merrick, whom they named the Elephant Man. After touring the East Midlands, Merrick travelled to London to be exhibited in a penny gaff shop on Whitechapel Road which was rented by showman Tom Norman. Norman's shop, directly across the street from the London Hospital, was visited by a surgeon named Frederick Treves, who invited Merrick to be examined and photographed. Soon after Merrick's visits to the hospital, Tom Norman's shop was closed by the police and Merrick's managers sent him to tour in Europe.

In Belgium, Merrick was robbed by his road manager and abandoned in Brussels. He eventually made his way back to London; unable to communicate, he was found by the police to have Frederick Treves' card on him. Treves came and took Merrick back to the London Hospital. Although his condition was incurable, Merrick was allowed to stay at the hospital for the remainder of his life. Treves visited him daily and the pair developed quite a close friendship. Merrick also received visits from the wealthy ladies and gentlemen of London society, including Alexandra, The Princess of Wales.

Merrick died on 11 April 1890, aged 27. The official cause of death was asphyxia, although Treves, who dissected the body, said that Merrick had died of a dislocated neck. He believed that Merrick—who had to sleep sitting up because of the weight of his head—had been attempting to sleep lying down, to "be like other people". The exact cause of Merrick's deformities is unclear. The dominant theory throughout much of the 20th century was that Merrick suffered from neurofibromatosis type I. In 1986, a new theory emerged that he had Proteus syndrome. In 2001 it was proposed that Merrick had suffered from a combination of neurofibromatosis type I and Proteus syndrome. DNA tests conducted on his hair and bones have proven inconclusive.

Courtesy of In Search Of...

Why is Friday the 13th considered unlucky?

The reasons why Friday came to be regarded as a day of bad luck have been obscured by the mists of time. Here are some reason why Friday the 13th was considered unlucky:

• Some say the number 13 was purposely vilified by the priests of patriarchal religions because it represented femininity. Thirteen corresponded to the number of lunar (menstrual) cycles in a year, and the number was revered in prehistoric goddess-worshipping cultures.
• Hindus believed that it was unlucky for 13 people to gather in one place. This conviction was shared by the ancient Scandinavians.
• Many biblical events of negative import supposedly occurred on a Friday, including the ejection of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, the start of the Great Flood, and the crucifixion of Jesus.

triskaidekaphobia - fear of the number thirteen.
paraskevidekatriaphobia - fear of Friday the 13th.

All of the following activities as endeavors best avoided on Fridays:
Needleworking: "I knew an old lady who, if she had nearly completed a piece of needlework on a Thursday, would put it aside unfinished, and set a few stitches in her next undertaking, that she might not be obliged either to begin the new task on Friday or to remain idle for a day." (1883)
Harvesting: "My father once decided to start harvest on a Friday, and men went out on the Thursday evening, and, unpaid, cut along one side of the first field with their scythes, in order to dodge the malign fates which a Friday start would begin." (1933)
Laying the keel of, or launching, a ship: "Fisherman would have great misgivings about laying the keel of a new boat on Friday, as well as launching one on that day." (1885)
Beginning a sea voyage: "Sailors are many of them superstitious . . . A voyage begun [on a Friday] is sure to be an unfortunate one." (1823)
Beginning a journey: "I knew another poor woman, who . . . made it a rule never to . . . set out on a journey on a Friday." (1804)
Giving birth: "A child born on a Friday is doomed to misfortune." (1846)
Getting married: "As to Friday, a couple married on that day are doomed to a cat-and-dog life." (1879)
Recovering from illness: "If you have been ill, don't get up for the first time on a Friday." (1923)
Hearing news: "If you hear anything new on a Friday, it gives you another wrinkle on your face, and adds a year to your age." (1883)
Moving: "Don't move on a Friday, or you won't stay there very long." (1982)
Starting a new job: "Servants who go into their situations on Friday, never go to stay." (1923)
Good Friday (the Friday before Easter) was regarded as an exception or 'antidote' to the bad luck usually associated with Friday beginnings:

• 
  "Notwithstanding the prejudice against sailing on a Friday . . . most of the pleasure-boats . . . make their first voyage for the season on Good Friday." (1857)
• 
  "It was accounted unlucky for a child to be born on a Friday, unless it happened to be Good Friday, when the event was counterbalanced by the sanctity of the day." (1870)

Grim Reaper.

Harvest is associated with death because of the end of growing season. Kronos eating his children was used in a poetic sense for time devouring all things, as in the old saying "nothing lasts forever." and the Grim Reaper carrying a scythe are directly derived from Cronus (Cronus (or Kronos) was the father of Zeus and his siblings.). The Romans identified Cronus with their god Saturn. Saturn, the Sower, was also a god of agriculture. The Roman god's festival, called the Saturnalia, was held from the 17th to the 19th of December and was quite popular.

Cronus and Saturn were also identified with time. Harvest and time might be related in the first place, but some suspect this relationship may have happened because of a confusion between the words Cronus and Chronus.Both of these more modern figures are sometimes accompanied by a crow. Images of the Grim Reaper in engravings in the Middle Ages that show a skeletal figure holding a scythe and hourglass with a crow nearby show this connection.

Happy Holloween

The word "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.

According to the History.com, The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

See more Halloween trivia @ this site!

Abracadabra!!!

The Philadelphia Experiment

Claims that the USS Eldridge was made invisible in the summer of 1943 by Carlos Allende, inspired the book “The Philadelphia Experiment”.

The incredible story first surfaced when Allende wrote Morris Jessup, author of The Case for the UFO.

Jacques Vallee, a noted French UFO researcher, suspected a warp of some technically advance, classified test was carried out by the navy. Two ships, the Eldridge and the Engstrom were fitted with a “secret equipment” – that will make the ships invisible.

The truth about it was the ships were fitted by a propeller whose pitch made it harder for submarines to detect, making it invisible. And the disappearance of the ship as witnessed by Allende? It is because the ship use a special inland channel called the Chesapeake-Delaware Canal, which cuts travel time from 2 days to just 6 hours.