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Inspired by 'Trese': Fil-Cans put own spin on PH mythology

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Rowena Papasin | TFC News Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HCywk5NEy9Q?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>Nathalie De Los Santos has been collecting Filipino books that connect her to the rich heritage of mythical creatures from the Philippines. She keeps her two volumes of the Encyclopedia of Philippine Folk Beliefs and Customs within easy reach as reference for her writings.</p><p>She says her parents&#x27; stories about creatures like duendes or dwarves really captured her imagination. &quot;My dad used to tell me stories about all these people passed on to him, like &#x27;don&#x27;t kick those mounds because the duendes will get angry.&#x27; He talked about his dad talking about giants up in the north, and about how farmers used to tell him as a kid there are tiyanaks in the fields and to be careful at night,&quot; shares De Los Santos.</p><p>De Los Santos&#x27; love for stories by Filipino authors inspired her to create a bookstagram of her recommended books. As a graphic artist and avid videogamer, she says she would like to create a videogame populated by witches or aswangs, duendes, and &#x27;nuno sa punso&#x27; or nature spirit.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Nathalie De Los Santos is a Filipino book collector. She is set to publish her own entitled Diyosa Mata." src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/tfc/08/17/20210817_nathalie-delos-santos.jpg"/><figcaption>Nathalie De Los Santos is a Filipino book collector. She is set to publish her own book entitled Diyosa Mata.</figcaption></figure></div><p>De Los Santos will also publish a book entitled Diyosa Mata, which is set in an island that has duendes, the half-man half-horse being called tikbalangs, and fruit bats, with the &#x27;manananggal&#x27; (a creature with a severed torso) as the heroine. &quot;These bats turn into what we now know as the lady that detaches from the torso and from their legs, flying in the air, terrorizing people; and they also start to look like her because she&#x27;s the leader of the rebellion and the opposing forces are vilifying her.&quot;</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="I.J.P. Ruiz, who is interested in Filipino mythology, is working on creating his own universe about three parallel worlds." src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/tfc/08/17/20210817_ijp-ruiz.jpg"/><figcaption>I.J.P. Ruiz, who is interested in Filipino mythology, is working on creating his own universe about three parallel worlds.</figcaption></figure></div><p>De Los Santos&#x27; writer friend, I.J.P. Ruiz is also interested in Filipino mythology. His story Waking Fire is included in the book Immersion, a collection of stories from the Asian Canadian Writer&#x27;s Workshop of the Ricepaper Magazine.</p><p>Ruiz says Filipino writers have a rich heritage to draw from when they&#x27;re creating stories. &quot;For the Filipino mythology, because there&#x27;s a lack of canonicity brought up by the cultural suppression of the colonization of Spain, there is more room for us as creative people, as authors, to explore and find interesting characters, stories, relationships to expand upon in fictional work,&quot; points out Ruiz.</p><p>He is currently working on creating his own ternion universe about three parallel worlds. One of these worlds is inhabited by island people with magic, who are in danger. &quot;There&#x27;s a great threat, like a black tide that&#x27;s absorbing the islands, and [the hero] has to go on a journey, an expedition in fact, to go find a solution to it. Like the sleeping mother goddess who seems to have the solution,&quot; says Ruiz.</p><p>De Los Santos and Ruiz both agree that the success of the hit comic book series Trese has opened doors for other cultures to discover the rich trove of Filipino magical and mythical creatures. Delos Santos believes, &quot;there’s definitely a curiosity behind it. I think about video game culture and I guess mass media entertainment, they’re always looking for diverse works these days.&quot;</p><p>As for Ruiz, &quot;it gives a lot of hope to small creators who are like myself. We&#x27;re just starting out in their journey, and hopefully maybe we will see our adaptations appear to such a broad audience one day.&quot;</p>

Inspired by the success of hit comic book series Trese, some Filipino Canadians are putting their own spin on Philippine mythology.

Inspired by 'Trese': Fil-Cans put own spin on PH mythology

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Inspired by 'Trese': Fil-Cans put own spin on PH mythology

Rowena Papasin | TFC News Vancouver,

British Columbia,

Canada

Published Aug 17, 2021 04:24 PM PHT

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Philippine mythology

Filipino folklore

Filipino Canadians

artists

authors

Nathalie De Los Santos

I.J.P. Ruiz

Trese

TFC News

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