Interesting Find about the Origin of Rice Story from Manila and Balanga, Bataan as Recorded in H. Otley Beyer Ethnographic Collection : r/FilipinoHistory Skip to main content

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Interesting Find about the Origin of Rice Story from Manila and Balanga, Bataan as Recorded in H. Otley Beyer Ethnographic Collection

Cultural, Anthropological, Ethnographic, Etc.

Scrubbing the H. Otley Beyer Ethnographic Collection in the National Library, I found this legend of rice story from the Tagalogs of Bataan and Manila. Here are the links of the story:

  https://nlpdl.nlp.gov.ph/OB01/NLPOBMN0037015547/home.htm The legend of Rice, Types of Beliefs in Manila. Leonor,  Felisa. 1924. Manila

  https://nlpdl.nlp.gov.ph/OB01/NLPOBMN0037019697/home.htm The Origin of Rice, Tagalog Folklore and Beliefs from Balanga, Bataan. Banzon, Codrata. 1927. Manila

The story involves the ancient god Siwa, who created a beautiful maiden named "Bright Jewel". Siwa fell in love with his beautiful creation and wanted to marry Bright Jewel but the other gods didn't agree with this as gods can't marry. The gods had an agreement later on that Siwa can marry Bright Jewel but Bright Jewel asked Siwa that before he can marry her, Siwa must bring the greatest food in the world. Siwa descended in search for this greatest food and Bright Jewel waited. Many times passed and Siwa never returned. Bright Jewel descended as well and waited for Siwa until she died. On her body a plant sprouted and the greatest food she was looking grew from her body, Rice.

This legend is very similar to the origin of rice legends about Batara Guru and Dewi Sri in Java and Bali. Even the name Siwa hints of this origin as Batara Guru is what Indonesians call the Hindu God Shiva (also Siwa in Indonesian). I think that together with the legend of the lunar eclipse in Batangas about the giant man Rajo (Laho), it was transmitted to Luzon during pre-colonial times but I am not really sure if this is accurate claim though. Nevertheless, it's interesting that we have another story that's really connected with our Asian neighbors

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Edited

Fix the links...neither one work.

Just from searching, here's a list from NLP that might contain some of these titles on the OP. Some of them at least from the author "Felisa Leonor" (in books authored by her, none of them stated the methodology by which these information were gathered nor referred to any sources or bibliography).

This lists from NLP of various typed documents on the subject of "folk beliefs" + folk history + various subjects authored in ~1920s on subject matters relating to various localities (eg. Sexmoan Pampanga, San Jose Bulacan, San Remigio, Antique etc.) and groups (Iloco, Bisaya, Tagbanua etc.) in the PH.

https://nlpdl.nlp.gov.ph/OB01/titles.htm

Edit: That link and this link (arranged by topic/place) is indeed the Otley Beyer collection (I think orig. from microfiche of typed documents) on the NLP website. The "authors" here are probably his students. In many instances, a brief description or implication that these ethnographic/folktales were gathered in these areas (often the author's hometown) at the time of writing.

Some of those in this collection are now considered "hoaxes" eg. those authored by Pavon (see WH Scott "Cracks in the Parchment...Other Essays", 1982).

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u/Nuclear-Dogfood-920 avatar

A bit off-topic, but was there any instance when any of these stories in Otley Beyer collection was deemed hoax?

u/Repulsive-Buyer-7347 avatar

I haven't heard any claims yet that these stories are hoax. However I read that Beyer let his students collect ethnographic data by interviewing and asking the people in their hometowns.

Deemed inaccurate, not as hoaxes

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A bit off topic, but I knew someone, a schoolmate, who was a direct descendent of Otley Beyer. She even shared during one of our reading and Filipino History classes how her grandmother would have discussions with Beyer himself about his studies.

And that Otley Beyer hoped that one day there would be better technology and research by the Filipinos who would debunk him. I think Beyer himself became aware of his outdated Western ideals and the colonialist social issues he had likely added in our Philippine studies, and of course, identity.

With regards to my schoolmate's grandmother, she may have actually been O. Beyer's wife...or one of his partners. I didn't ask. That's tmi for me. And for the purposes of privacy, I'm not sharing my schoolmate's name. She still has Beyer's surname even after she got married.