Life in the Colony

Random number between 1 and 302, page 110 of Volume 4 of Kasaysayan, The Story of the Filipino People, "an upper class india" #goliwaliwph #antedated #catchup #august2018 pic.twitter.com/a6EegKuhvf

— glenncruz (@glenncruz) September 1, 2018

Random number between 1 and 302, page 110 of the fourth volume Kasaysayan, The Story of the Filipino People, Life in the Colony (by Maria Serena I. Diokno and Ramon N. Villegas) is the beginning of the sixth chapter, "The Making of the Filipino." The caption for this photograph reads, "An upper class india, dressed in a full dark skirt, covered with a tapis or overskirt of silk. Her upper garment is made of pina, with elaborate embroidery in a larger floral pattern. Note the peineta or gold comb, placed off to one side."

The chapter begins with a creation myth that I haven't heard again after a long, long time:

God, an ancient Filipino creation myth says, scooped a lump of clay from the ground and formed it into a man. He fired the figure in a kiln, but being inexperienced, he removed it too soon, and so emerged the white man. The second time, he left the figure so long in the fire that out came the black man. God only got it right the third time, when he drew out the brown man: neither undercooked nor overdone was the Filipino. [p. 111]

Titles from my personal library were pre-selected for liwaliw Pages this month in observance of National History Month per Proclamation No. 339, series of 2012, by former President Benigno S. Aquino III.


[This post is antedated: 20180901]