Things that come in Threes

(Music fades in)

Hello everyone! Kumusta ka! Seriously, I hope everyone’s well, in the face of circumstances. And ‘well’ in this context could mean a variety of things, but I know you did not all come here for a reminder of current events, especially dark events that we have little to no power over beyond staying home as much as possible and slowly going a bit stir crazy. I get it. This podcast could very well be an escape for you, but some things maybe kind of, sort of still need to be said, even if it’s only for a small bit of positivity amidst the greater downpour.

So I hope you and yours are all doing well. I hope you are all taking care of yourselves and that this can be over soon and safely. Ingat po. Take care.

(Music fades out and new music fades in)

So… I’ve got a somewhat fun yet unexpected observation in store for us today. Okay maybe fun is a bit strong, but I found it kind of amusing. 

To start with some behind the scenes peaks at what I’ve been working on, which would be many things. Potentially too many things. Probably. But that list of many, many projects includes a website for Hugot Podcasting, which means I need to work on show concepts and press kits and logos. Etc. Etc. And the fun part of all that is looking for more inspiration. And… Well, I don’t think it would be considered a spoiler in any way to tell you where I’m looking on the audio fiction front. Or one of the many places I’m looking. Namely Tagalog mythology. And in unpacking that, I noticed something… Pretty interesting. Or a little interesting. An amount of interest proportionate to the thing. It’s a small fact, but it will lead to something greater down the line.

But okay, let me take several more steps back for now. 

(Music fades out and new music fades in)

So… in the very beginning of this podcast, a beginning that is not… that fondly remembered by me because I was still learning how to be a podcaster, but no one stops you from launching a podcast for a silly ole reason like not exactly knowing how to do it. But in that beginning, I mentioned how many scholars attribute the arrival of the first people on this archipelago to sea-faring adventurers. Sea-faring adventurers who were more ambitious and covered more ground than what was first thought. And the ensuing trade or migration of these people brought ideas from other parts of Asia onto the islands. And that’s how you can have the opposing deity of Tagalog mythology--the deity of evil and despair--be named Sitan. A name that--if I said it right--should remind you of the Judeo-Christian Satan. 

And that reminder might lead you to a certain conclusion, but in this case, the most obvious conclusion is not the right one or not the one I’m inclined to believe. Felipe Landa Jocano, the anthropologist who was something of the leading expert on the subject, always argued that it wasn’t the Christians who brought the term over. For all the evangelizing and Christianizing they did do, this was not part of that. To him, he who I find to be very believable, Sitan predated them, instead coming from other parts of Asia with these trade groups, but also Sitan  predated any sort of surviving written record, so tracking the movement of this concept is going to be impossible.

But regardless, the Filipino culture clearly was influenced by other early Asian cultures. That statement itself is not controversial or difficult to swallow in any way. But even still, I think there is this temptation to assume that this, now larger, body of people was in some sort of bubble.

As an example, what if I said the word. Trinity. What would you think of then?

(Music fades out and new music fades in)

And that’s not a trick question, I promise. You genuinely might not know but because I know how the world goes and has gone, I can make a reasonable guess as to your answer, stemming from the common schema we’ve all grown up in. 

So, well, if I say trinity, you might think about the Catholic belief in the Holy Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Or Holy Ghost depending on the translation. And even if you weren’t raised Catholic, you might still be aware of it. The word “Trinity” might be still connected to notions of Christianity in your mind, even if you can’t exactly define it. And it likely helps that Trinity is not the sort of word that frequently comes up in conversation.

But even in Asian cultures… Well, things come in threes, as the saying goes. It’s a pattern that we usually invoke when bad things happen. But in Asian culture, divine things can come in threes. And obligatory disclaimer that the Catholic Trinity is belief in one god, but there is something in the human mind that seems drawn to groupings of three, whether it be deities or trials and tribulations. Personally, I think of three as my lucky number as well, but that’s beside the point.

Regardless of the how or why, this is yet another parallel across cultures and religions, and I found that super interesting. 

But here’s another thing of note. This might not be the same sort of trinity you have been expecting. The old Tagalog religion had a trinity of deities, but whereas other religions have a consistent trinity of higher beings, in the Tagalog religion, it changed up a bit a few times. The first one consisted of Bathala, Ulilang Kaluluwa, and Galang Kaluluwa, but I’ve already told you that story. Bathala killed Ulilang but Galang died of an illness in time. 

The second trinity, the one that replaced the beings that got us through the creation of the world, consisted of Bathala, Aman Sinaya, and Amihan.

(Music fades out and new music fades in)

The deities of both those two trinities are primordial beings, or beings that existed at the beginning of time. And yes, that creates some hiccups in the Tagalog origin story I told, but myths are never perfect, and also, transmission and preservation across all those times and circumstances can be difficult. Regardless of consistencies, Aman Sinaya and Amihan are entrenched somewhere in that beginning moment.

To start with Aman Sinaya as the first example. Aman Sinaya is the deity of the ocean and the protector of fishermen. In all accounts, the ocean’s been there pretty much since the dawn of time, so someone had to be the deity over it, I guess. And Ulilang and Galang were somewhat disinterested in it. Or they had other things in mind, but for the Filipino people, whose world was literally immersed in the water, you kind of need to have someone ruling over it. Some deity watching over you. And that’s where Aman Sinaya fits in.

(Music fades out and new music fades in)

Now, in some versions of the origin story, the world starts off with just water and sky. Endless sky and endless water, and that would be consistent with some other origin stories told by other groups, but that’s not the point right now.

Rather, in this version of the story, this is the state the world is in, in the beginning. Aman Sinaya has the water, and Bathala has the sky. And things should be peaceful, right? Unlike some of the other deities, Aman Sinaya doesn’t have great lust for power. He did not want to rule over the world. But, alas, maybe he was bored. Maybe he was lonely and knew there must have been someone else out there if he could just reach out into the heavens above. Really, there’s any number of reasons that could be behind what happened. Who is to say why the gods do what they do. We simply know has been done. 

For his unknown reasons, Aman Sinaya sent intense winds upwards, higher and higher into the Heavens. Higher than he could see. 

He sent the winds so high that they reached up to where Bathala was. Not that he understood what was happening. He only felt a mild annoyance that this was coming to him at all. And certainly there was no good reason for it. Or so one would be inclined to understand. This was before any sort of communication could be had between the two of them. The great distance between the water and sky could not be easily crossed. And so, Bathala responded to the winds by throwing rocks downwards, into the water, as one would understandably do. 

But this gesture likely gave the winds a new reason to exist. And so they got stronger and more frequently as did Bathala’s responses. Eventually, enough boulders made it down to make islands of the Philippines, but that’s not where this story ends.

(Music fades out and new music fades in)

You see, that’s two deities of this trinity. Quite obviously there would be a third. Amihan was that third. 

If the first trinity was brought together by a war and lust for power, these three were brought together because Aman Sinayan was being an annoying younger sibling, I guess. I’m sure some of you would know how that story goes. And Amihan, on the other hand, much like a middle child might be inclined to, was trying to be a peacekeeper between the two beings, least the whole of existence be destroyed in this fight. Or at the very least, the absolute least, Amihan did not want one of their two dear companions to die, so needlessly. In particular, Amihan was closest to Bathala, but there was still a fondness for Aman Sinaya that they wanted to foster into an actual friendship.

Amihan is a genderless deity, fyi. That needs to be pointed out before this gets a bit confusing. In pre-Hispanic times, that wasn’t an issue. Some of the old deities just did not fit into the gender binary. And linguistically, the word for these spirits was always and consistently “anito.”  Which might look like a gendered word, but that’s a romance language thing. 

Word choice aside, in some accounts, Amihan is depicted as a bird, which makes sense. Because they are supposed to be the one flying between Bathala and Aman Sinaya during their conflict, arguing for peace all the while, which is why Amihan is seen as the deity of peace and why birds have such a significant place in Tagalog beliefs as messengers or omen bringers or communicators in some other way. Amihan was the first of these things. But they would not be the last. 

Nor is this the last of the Tagalog trilogies. But that’s going to have to come later. For now, let me say again. Ingat po. Take care always.

(Music fades out and new music fades in)

This show is a production of Miscellany Media Studios with music licensed from the Sounds like an Earful music supply. If you like the show, consider leaving a review or following us on Twitter @miscellanymedia or @hugotpodcasting for updates on more content like this. Thanks.