side step,
Hey friends, how’s your weekend going? This letter is a bit about a summer more than two decades ago, a bit about village witches. Hope you enjoy and find something useful here. -K
I may have talked about this before, but perhaps some of my favorite childhood memories happened in my grandparents’ house, which stands to this day along the national highway in the town of Jaro in Leyte. The longest we stayed in that house was when my lola died in the summer of ‘94.
It was April, and terribly hot, which is why I often go back to that memory whenever the days are hot like this. I was nine, and my sister was almost six, and since it was my lola’s wake we had to be there, along with a handful of cousins, two of whom were newborn.
It was the first death in my family that I saw up close–not the death itself, but how everyone changed around it. The news came to Manila via phone. We did not have one in our Cavite house, so it reached my aunt in Las Pinas first. It was a commotion that upended our otherwise ordinary family, one that I was barely old enough to understand.
My grandparents were on vacation in Bohol (my lolo’s hometown) when it happened. It was an aneurysm.
My mother was the eldest child, so she had to take on most of the paperwork and was out of the house often. Right after the funeral, she and my dad later had to go back to Manila ahead of everyone else because of work. It’s only now that I realize that in 1994, she was only 35.
Anyway, that summer we stayed to wait for my lola’s 40th day, which is usually marked by a feast. They say the soul wanders for forty days after the death before ascending to heaven, so for her, this would be around mid-May. We had to keep praying for her.
Besides, this was pre-CebPac seat sales, so plane fares were very expensive–all the more if you’re traveling as a big group, so you can’t really afford flying out at the end of the wake, only to fly in a few weeks later for the 40th day. I still remember enjoying traveling by boat with the extended fam as a kid, it was like a big party, but on the sea.
Anyway, bulk of the activities really happened during the wake. We met all sorts of people, many of whom were my lola’s fellow teachers, former students, relatives, and of course, neighbors. We treated them all like family members; as kids, it was customary to be shown around and fawned over.
Except when this one couple visited. Every time they dropped by, we were ushered back into the bedroom and the doors were shut. Later, they would explain to me that the couple–that old woman, particular–was the village witch.
I took all of this at face value, of course. Matter-of-factly, as if all villages had to have a designated witch!
This was in part because, like many kids my age, I was raised on Magandang Gabi Bayan Halloween specials, Gabi ng Lagim during the extended brownouts, and news bits about the manananggal in Tondo in ‘92.
In fact, growing up, I believed that the mango tree some three or four houses down the street from ours housed some kind of kapre–true or not, I suppose our parents just let the rumor swirl instead of correcting it, as it sure helped keep their kids off the streets before dark. Pre-social media, I think our kasambahays, who often congregated with the neighbors in the afternoons while watering the plants, were essential in making such stories “viral”. I don’t think I have ever walked past that house alone ever, not even lately, as a fully grown woman who happened to find herself back home.
In any case, her name was Milagros. A miracle, literally. I know this because they only said her name in whispers. If you look her in the eye on a Tuesday, my aunts would say, Your reflection would definitely be upside down.
At their death beds, my aunts would say, A small beetle-like creature leaves their body and chooses an heir.
They would talk about it over lunch, or during the hot afternoons when there was nothing good on TV, or when the power was out, fanning themselves and us kids profusely while talking about the woman who literally lived next door.
One time, we all fell sick. We were asthmatic kids, so naturally, summer was a bummer: the air was thick and humid and harder to breathe, and then there’s dust, and sweat. The perfect storm. Of course, at some point, we all had asthma. This was particularly worrisome because the hospital was a considerable distance away, and we did not have our nebulizer with us.
Also, by our aunts’ logic, sick children were easy prey for the village witch.
I kid you not: It was like a fever dream. It was one of those summer storms, and my aunts were in the kitchen, lights all on, screaming at some unseen thing that they believed was on the prowl outside the windows, as the children were huddled and sick in bed. They called out to her–using her actual name, which was what made it all the more terrifying–like they were warning her, brandishing their imagined weapons, keeping guard all night.
We got better in the following days, breathing better. My childhood asthma attacks were usually like that–they were really bad at some point, and then they were gone. I eventually shed them in adulthood, though I’m no stranger to ventolin inhalers once in a while. Looking back, I wonder how much of our illness was brought about by that witchy neighbor, whom I never saw again.
Anyway, could you tell some childhood memories got ruffled because of the Trese trailer that just dropped?! We can’t wait for June 11th! Man, that art looks amaziiinggg plus hearing it in Tagalog is so cool! I hope it’s just the beginning for Filipino animated works.
How do you plan to watch this? I feel like there are nuances to be missed in every version, so I guess we want to watch all versions?
Recs from the internet
- side step right left to my beat: BUTTER is so good and catchy ugh PREPOSITION KINGS
- Sara Bareilles is in a show where she’s part of a has-been girlband that’s reuniting several years hence and I AM HERE FOR IT (also seeing Busy Philipps on here is truly a 90s throwback)
- Ben Platt I think is kinda old to be cast as a high school student but oh my god this Dear Evan Hansen film is bound to be a tear-jerker
- Were you invested in the Miss Universe earlier this week? I wasn’t really following, but it was sad to note our candidate Rabiya Mateo did not make it to the Top 10. If, like me, you don’t remember much of what went down, this thread by veteran pageant journo (and very dear friend) Armin Adina for the Inquirer is a great recap.
Here’s my favorite meme for this week, for your use this coming week hehe:
Friday na beh, awat beh. 🥲😂 #Friday #AwatNa
We’re almost in June! Just wow. Where does time go? Have you started your Brag Document yet? Now’s always a good time as any.
Thanks for making it this far! Hope your weekend has been swell.
XO,
K