Using Philippine Folktales in Homeschooling

Philippine folktales, fables, fairytales, epics, legends, and myths are literature showcasing the unique beliefs, practices, and customs of people groups who make up the country’s diverse culture.

Every culture has its own literature, handed down through generations through oral tradition. They come in different narrative genres such as legends, epics, folktales, fables, fairytales, and myths (Oring, 1986).

These stories were circulated by word of mouth to others in their community until they were able to develop a system for writing and storing their oral traditions (Taylor, 2000).

In this brief article, we will explain what these stories are, where they originated, and why learning Filipino folktales and other cultural stories are important for homeschoolers in the Philippines.

If you want to study Philippine folktales, fables, epics, legends, and myths in your homeschooling classes, check out our latest printable workbook/study guide:

Legends are traditional stories circulated about a person or place. Most legends are believed to be based on actual people in the past whose deeds shaped a specific place.

A person often becomes a legend through time when people belonging to a cultural group want to remember instances about his or her good deeds and remarkable feats, which they presume have shaped their lives and the world around them.

But the events surrounding these individuals are often wrapped in supernatural element, which explain why the legend existed, and why they remain popular in the cultural group who are still embracing and propagating these stories.

Many legends in Philippine literature are based on historical people. Among Tagalogs, José Rizal is one the most popular Filipino legends. Yes, he is a historical figure known best for his authorship of two classical novels, the Noli Me Tángere and El Filibusterismo.

Rizal’s execution is also hailed as a major catalyst that further empowered the Filipino revolution against Spain. But there are plenty of legendary stories circulating about Rizal. One popular legend, which is circulated online or in books taught in schools around the country, says José Rizal can speak fluently in 22 languages.

Rizal’s legend is even tied with a folk story of Rizal rescuing a giant bird. As a reward, the giant bird gave him a white stone that made him able to speak multiple languages, even the language of animals.

There is evidence of José Rizal writing in major languages like English, Spanish, and Tagalog. It is also possible for him to know some conversational phrases in other languages spoken during his time. But to say he can “fluently” converse in 22 languages is, unless proven with hard evidence, most likely an exaggeration than a historical fact.

Aside from human legends, there are plenty of legends in Philippine literature about specific places that actually exist. Most of the legends are used by local folk to explain the origins of a popular landform (e.g. mountain, island) or forest and why these places are important for their culture and livelihood.

Examples of legends in Philippine history are:

• The Legend of Maria Makiling
• The Legend of Dina and Gat
• The Legend of Mt. Kanlaon
• The Legend of Daragang Magayon and Panganoron

Epics are long narrative poems about fictional individuals who performed heroic deeds with supernatural skills. In ancient times, when war between tribes were common and hunting was a primary means to gather food, men found glory in killing their enemies or in slaying dangerous beasts they find lurking in nearby forests.

Going to faraway lands to find a beautiful wife, discover hidden treasures, or establish a new kingdom were evidences of a man’s bravery, even as returning home alive to tell their tales was a worthy achievement. Fighters who returned home dead or alive were often hailed as heroes and eventually deified.

Villagers would celebrate the bravery of these men by holding banquets and feasts, and by immortalizing their conquests through songs, plays, and poems.

Scholars agree epics emerged at the peak of a culture’s literary development. Most epics started out as short folk tales circulated orally among the members of the tribe. Eventually, these stories gained more form and structure, and their contents got standardized in song, chants, and written poetry by those in charge of the group’s religious ceremonies.

In Philippine literature, epics usually follow a pattern similar to the Hero’s Journey. The first stage introduces the male character as one born with unusual characteristics. In the second stage, he encounters a miraculous growth into manhood, with a relentless eagerness for adventure.

In the third stage of the epic, he goes on an adventurous journey where he displays his heroic qualities against formidable enemies, many of which are monsters. In the fourth stage, he achieves victory in all his quests and gets rewarded with a beautiful wife, wealth, and honor.

In the final stage, the epic hero either returns home or builds his own home. In case he dies during his quest, he is miraculously restored to life. Then he returns home and lives a happy life.

Most epics and delivered in poetic form. In Philippine literature, examples of epics are:

• Biag ni Lam-ang (Ilokano)
• Indarapatra and Sulayman (Maguindanao)
• Ibalon and Aslon (Bikol)
• Ulagingen at Seleh (Manobo)
• Maragtas, Haraya, Lagda & Hinilawod (Bisaya)

Folktales are fictional stories handed down orally from generation to generation, especially among the common people. Folktales tell us about the lives, beliefs, and behavior of people who lived in the past.

Because folktales are important stories in early communities, bards (i.e. village storytellers or enchanters) were mostly responsible for memorizing and telling these stories to keep them alive.

Folktales are short stories reflecting the ordinary fears and desires of the common people, where its human characters have common interactions with supernatural characters (Bolle & Smith, 2024). Folk tales are designed for the ordinary people. The English word “folktale” is derived from the German word, “volk,” which means ordinary or common people (Taylor, 2000).

These ordinary stories are composed of simple yet creative words, can be straightforward or euphemized to fit the tastes of the common people.

Folktales have different uses in a tribe or community. For one, a folktale is used to promote the worldview of the ethnic group that preserves it. The tribes who first came to the islands now part of the Republic of the Philippines brought with them their own folktales. These stories helped them tell of ideas and practices they want the next generation to carry on.

Folktales also tell about life in these ancient cultures, highlighting their joys, sorrows, and hopes for a better life. Some folktales also have moral lessons, aimed at teaching their people behavior they believe is right and acceptable, especially when it comes to playing their individual roles in their family and community.

Other folktales function to explain issues that are difficult to understand and communicate, especially to a younger audience. Thus, folktales would often explain real-life issues as something initiated by divine beings and must be embraced even though they are questionable.

Folktales are also meant to entertain and motivate. Just like people today, people in the ancient times also sought entertainment to help them idle away the remaining hours of the day or to receive the motivation they need to face their challenges.

• Aponibolinayen and the Sun
• The Story of Kanag
• The Alligator’s Fruit
• The Story of Dogedog
• The Story of Benito
• The Widow’s Son

Fables are short narratives featuring common animals as main characters. The word fable is from the Lain fabula, which means fictitious or untrue. Thus, animal characters in fables could talk, think, and behave like humans, and could display all the follies and weaknesses of human beings.

It is interesting that all cultures around the world have their unique version of fables, showcasing creatures they encounter every day. Thus, Philippine fables would often feature creatures like crabs, fishes, monkeys, turtles, iguanas, and birds. Fables are as old as the first human civilizations. And just like all the other stories passed down orally, the authors of fables are unknown.

But knowing the author of a fable is not important. What matters is knowing the message and motive of the fable.

Fables were created to pass down moral lessons or standards of behavior to members of a community. Now, many believe fables were designed for a young audience because their main characters are animals. After all, children love animal stories, and fables are the best vehicle to teach young minds what is right and wrong.

But because these fables also criticize undesirable human attitudes and behaviors common even among adults, these stories were most likely created for people belonging to all ages. Fables would use animals to exemplify the consequences of greed, envy, laziness, pride, and other foolish actions.

Through these fables, listeners are warned to change their character and deeds so they would not encounter the same fate as the animals in the fable.

Fables were also meant to criticize powerful people in society, especially selfish and destructive leaders. Just like today, people directly challenging powerful people could lead to bad outcomes like imprisonment or death. So, people in ancient cultures used fables to deliver their moral arguments without putting their own lives in danger.

Examples of Philippine fables are:

• Why Dogs Wag their Tails
• The Serpent Eagle
• The Iguana and the Turtle
• A Tyrant

Myths are traditional stories about the origin of the world and everything in it. These stories also attempt to explain why certain things happen. The word myth is from the Greek work mythos, which means “story” or “word.”

In religious studies, myth is often used to describe stories related to events connected with a religious belief about the origin of things. In other literary circles, the word myth is simply used for all stories handed down through generations to explain how and why things are.

Myths circulating around the world can be traced to stories formed among the earliest human civilizations in the Ancient Near East. As humans spread across the continent, they brought with them knowledge they learned from their forebears about the origin of things.

As time passed, these details were preserved by tribes and communities in the form of stories. These myths contain shreds of truth. But as far as we know, there was no reliable technology capable of preserving every detail about events that shaped the ancient world.

Plus, humans, just like today, tend to add their own interpretations and imaginations into stories they receive and pass on. Because of these factors, these myths got corrupted overtime so that the stories we have today contain more fiction than fact.

Despite this, myths are important pieces of literature. You will observe that myths about the origin of the world have similarities with the Genesis account of Creation and the Great Flood. These myths contain insights about the role of a supernatural being in the creation of the world and of humankind.

They also tell about a great flood event that destroyed the ancient world and almost wiped out all living creatures. These myths may sound absurd in many ways. But they can drive us to study the Bible and find a much clearer truth about the origin and meaning of life on earth.

Myths are stories traditionally held by a culture to explain the origin of life and world around them. Myths help explain why people in a culture behave especially in crucial moments like war, peace, life, death, and conflict between good and evil. Examples of myths in Philippine literature are:

• The Creation Story (Tagalog)
• The Creation Story (Igorot)
• The Creation Story (Moro)
• The Sun and the Moon
• The Origin of the World (Bagobo)

The author or original source of all legends, epics, folktales, fables, fairytales, and myths are unknown. Because they were handed down orally, no one could pinpoint the first tale-teller.

Older people were naturally responsible for propagating folktales to the younger members of their community. A parent, for example, would tell their children the stories they themselves got from their own parents when they were younger.

Grandparents and elders in a village would do the same whenever they have a young audience willing to listen to their tales. Folktales in the Philippines were also part of a community daily conversations, where people, regardless of age, would repeat, add on, or change parts of the story for creative purposes (Lwin, 2019).

This process helped them pass down and preserve their common beliefs about life and the world.

Homeschoolers already know much about Western ideas and culture. Folk tales from Europe and America made their way here through early traders and when the Philippines was a colony of Spain and the United States of America.

The stories in Grimms’ Fairy Tales, for example, have captured the hearts and minds of many Filipinos through books and movies. Even today, the Philippines is still influenced by European and American folk literature thanks to the dominance of Western media in the country.

But many Filipinos, homeschoolers included, know little about Philippine folktales. Of course, learning about Western folktales are important for our understanding of culture and human behavior. But we should also balance our learning by reading our own Filipino folktales.

Folktales are part of a “long folk tradition reflecting the lives, experiences, and wisdom of people in the culture” (Lwin, 2019, p.2). Studying these traditions can provide us with a “fuller understanding of human behavior and culture.”

In the Tinguian folktale Aponibolinayen, for example, marriage is approved as a pact between a man and a woman, which no one can destroy. To protect the marriage, the man must prove himself worthy of his beautiful bride by paying the bride’s family a required amount.

Uncovering these themes help homeschoolers appreciate the real-life conditions of people in the past.

In Aponibolinayen, poor people are at the disposal of the rich and powerful. When the beautiful Aponibolinayen and the mighty Gawigawen got married, the bride’s brother, Aponibalagen, ordered the people to bring an old man whom he sacrificed in order to create a spring of water.

When properly read and explained, folk tales can help our homeschoolers understand the reality of injustice, especially against the poor and vulnerable, which is still present in many forms around the world, including the Philippines.

There are a lot more to talk about when reading and studying the folk tales of the Philippines. For now, we believe homeschoolers in the Philippines should be familiar with these folk tales in order to understand what beliefs make up the diverse culture of Filipinos.

As homeschooling families in the Philippines, we want our children to learn and love our own country. Learning about Philippine folk tales can help them appreciate Philippine culture better.

References:

Bolle, K.W. & J.Z. Smith (2024). Relation of myths to other narrative forms. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/myth/Relation-of-myths-to-other-narrative-forms

Piers, K. (2014). “Dr José Rizal and the making of a modern linguistic Messiah.” History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences. Retrieved September 20, 2024 from https://hiphilangsci.net/2014/04/23/dr-jose-rizal-and-the-making-of-a-modern-linguistic-messiah/

Lwin, S.M. (2019). More than “Good Guys vs. Bad Guys”: Wisdom from Folktales as Oral Literary Texts. Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Literature: “Literature as a Source of Wisdom”, July 11-13, 2019. ISBN: 978-623-7086-21-5

Oring, E. (1986). Folk Groups and Folklore Genres: An Introduction. Utah: Utah State University Press

Taylor, E. K. (2000). Using folktales. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.