HIRAYA: Literary and Arts Magazine

The University of the East Senior High School Manila's Official Publication

Alexine Ticman Micah Maguisib

President

VP-Internal

Briseis Manato VP-External

Hans Fontanilla Team Manager

Sarah Vasquez

Jelaine De Jesus

Mariah Miciano

Adella Dela Cruz

Working Comm. Head

PRO

Tracey Gayahan

Saskia Jaminola

Treasurer

Finance Director

Jasmine Bontilao

Avienne Febrero

Auditor

Head of CT

Secretary

Asst. Secretary

Creatives Team Bianca Nicole Cruz Symon Dimaapi Jarene Talavera

Claudine Janolino

KYLAMARIECHELLE VIAJAR

ASHLEY DULDULAO

HANZ LIUS PACAL

AMANDAREGINA ORATE

MICHANELA DELAPENA

JODIE AYVEELYN YU

MARCDANIEL QUINTANA

MARIEL ROANNE BARRO

KATHLEEN QIAN

KAHLIL MARCO MATA

EARL EDWARD JAMIR

LORRAINE JANEA REYES

Our philippine mythology is the collection of stories and epics originating from, and part of, the indigenous Philippine folk religions, which include diverse ethnic faiths distinct from one another. Philippine mythology incorporates elements from diverse sources, including Indonesian and Malay mythologies, as well as Hindu, Muslim, Shinto, Buddhist, and Christian traditions, such as the concept of heaven: kaluwalhatian, kalangitan, kamurawayan, and so on.

Hell on the other hand are: kasamaan, sulad, and so on. The human soul, also known as kaluluwa, kaulolan, makatu, ginokud, and so on. The lives and acts of heroes, deities which referred to as anito or diwata in various ethnic groups and legendary animals are used to explain the nature of the world in Philippine mythology. The majority of these myths were passed down orally and kept with the help of community spiritual leaders or shamans such as babaylan, katalonan, mumbaki, baglan, machanitu, walian, mangubat, bahasa, and community elders. Historically, the myths and indigenous religions of the Philippines have been referred to as Anito or Anitism, which means "ancestral religion."

Anitismo, a Hispano-Filipino translation, and Anitera, a pejorative form used by the majority of Spanish clergy, were also employed.

Nevertheless, today multiple ethnic peoples continue to practice and conserve their unique indigenous religions, notably in ancestral domains, although foreign and foreign-inspired religions continue to influence their life-ways through conversions, inter-marriage, and land-buying. A number of scholarly works have been devoted to Anito and its various aspects, although many of its stories and traditions have yet to be recorded by specialists in the fields of anthropology and folklore

The Tagalogs Angeli Morente In Philippine mythology, the Tagalog (Tagalog: "Sky People") are a race of supernatural beings that dwell in the sky. They are said to have created the stars when they were still children. They also used to live on Earth and would come down at night to play with humans. The Tagalogs were thought to be an early form of humankind, but they were also believed to be more advanced than modern humans.

The Tagalogs lived in caves and other remote areas, and they had no need for tools or weapons since they could chop down trees with their hands.

They lived in harmony with nature until one day when a great flood occurred that destroyed all living creatures except for those who survived on high mountains or islands. Afterward, these survivors moved out into the open sea and became known as manikins (from mani-kini, "little people").

The Tagalogs are described as having golden skin, red eyes, and long black hair. Their bodies were said to resemble those of humans except for having wings on their backs and another pair on top of their heads for flight or swimming underwater.

Untitled Adella Marie Dela Cruz Life is known to be fast and fleeting As fickle as the waves are roaring.

As fast as it may be, it is also slow, It's as slow as watching a seed grow.

There are days where it's fleeting as a short story, But times where it's as slow as a documentary of history.

These fleeting days are found doing what you love, The slow are only known in work you are sick of.

We may never know how life will unfold, But this is something I've been before told, Regardless of how fast or slow, life is a concept we all know.

How quick or un-rushed, that is something unknown.

Embrace Feeling Lost Alexine Ticman

I had been walking for what feels like an eternity.

One step in front of the other, one breath after another— until one turned into a hundred, and then into a thousand. “I must be going somewhere,” I thought to myself.

I had to have been, right? After all, why else would I walk this long without a purpose? But somehow, when the days blurred into nights and the sun and moon were nothing but passerby, I forgot. Like a chip on a ceramic cup, like a missing hand in a compass. Had I left it on the boulder where I turned right? Had I left it by the river where I glimpsed a brief reflection of myself?

Did I even truly have it to begin with?

With a stuttering step I stumbled.

Down the hill, through the bushes, against theboulders. All the nights I’ve spent climbing aimlessly up, came crumbling down. While the wind sings its eulogy, I was plummeting. While the useless maps and broken compasses tear and break, I was descending. Yet somehow, I let myself fall. I busked on the euphoria of going down the high.

As if I knew that at the end of this pain, lay something worthwhile. And for once, I got it right. Because after the momentum had left and time stood still, I brushed off the dust and I saw her.

“Anagolay,” I whispered. A quiet prayer into the night.

“Daughter,” she answered as she reached out her hand.

“My lost, beautiful daughter,” her arm slipped around my shoulders, her hand on the back of my head, and she just– held me.

She held me like a mother does to a child. She held me like she knew I was breaking and she’s not afraid to pick up the pieces. She told me that the fall was the most graceful and brave thing she’s ever seen. The goddess of lost things told me that she has me. She sees me. And that was when every morsel of self-preservation disappeared.

Because I was lost, and so what.

So I cried for every painful step I endured just to claim I was going somewhere. I weeped for every wrong turn I trekked because I was lost and the road was empty. I sobbed for every heaving breath I took because they told me I had to climb to be valued. Then seconds turned into minutes, turned into hours. When my grieving whispers turned into desperate confessions turned into screams, I have never felt more lost.

But oh, feeling lost is enthralling.

“Embrace the feeling of not knowing,” she mumbled into my sobbing soul, “embrace the journey of the road.

Embrace the butterflies of being naive.” She was healing me, I realized. Anagolay is stitching up my wounds and patching up my tattered clothes but I couldn’t help but notice that my compass and map lay still. No magic, no fixer-upper.

“The journey of being lost and being found is the epitome of humanity.”

Embrace the feeling of being lost, my daughter.

Feminism of the Femme Fatale Zazzie Sanoy

Women all over the word have been battling for equivalent privileges for themselves and for others since the dark ages. Indeed, we're still regularly confronted with blunt discrimination based on our gender however genuine changes has been paved for our convenience. To celebrate International Women's Day, we have written a list of iconic and influential women throughout the years as a means of inspiring this generation to free themselves from the stereotypical limitations our society has chained us from.

The game of chess has truly captured the value of queens and women overall in a historical society led by men with close minded and traditional beliefs. It is always a hypocritical argument that women are the ones who love drama, when history has proved that monarchies are more successful and flourishing when queen regents lead them rather than their male counterparts. Parchment after parchment of amendments and records of reign have shown the resilience of women born with little to no power but has fought the odds of a male dominated position.

Strong examples of iconic queens are Cleopatra, the cunning seductress that caused one of history's greatest betrayal of the Roman Empire; Queen Teodora who worked for women’s marriage and dowry rights, anti-rape legislation, and was supportive of the many young girls who were sold into sexual slavery; Queen Elizabeth I who is considered England's greatest ruler with her politically stabilizing force of Great Britain's colonial expansion, and as a patronage of the arts that led to Shakespeare; and Queen Catherine, the formerly penniless Prussian princess who used her wits and cunning to usurp the throne, spearheaded judicial reforms, dabbled in vaccination, founded the country’s first state-funded school for women and drafted her own legal code.

Moving on from royalties and medieval times, it was always a controversial predicament to grant the female gender of the full education that men always had the privilege of achieving. Even in the Tudor era, it was an accepted ideal that women should be taught to cook, clean, knit, and just be overall submissive to their husbands' whims and desires. It was only in the 19th century that the blossoming of higher education for women really started to accelerate around the world, and it was actually jaw-dropping for the men from those times to learn that their counterparts were rising up the ranks of geniuses despite millions of years of setback. Perhaps an underrated list of women that paved the path to the advancement of education and technology are: the actress Hedy Lamarr who was not credited enough for being the inventor of WiFi, and the radio system that was used in the World War II; feminist Margaret Sanger who wrote the pamphlets for women health clinics and coined birth control; Jane Goodall on her extensive research, which had spanned almost 60 years that provided some of the most groundbreaking insight into the minds and social lives of our closest relative - the chimpanzees; Marie Curie who was a giant in the fields of physics and chemistry, and the first person ever to win two Nobel Prizes; and Katherine Johnson, a pioneer of African American women at NASA on her complex calculation that helped achieve the first landing on the moon.

Feminism of the Femme Fatale A correlation to the evidences of the genius of the female race are their roles in literature, and its evolution throughout history that lead women to develop into strong, independent influences. The interesting voice of female minorities is a typical subject in many coming of age books that permit every writer to lay out a different personality for their characters and themselves. A list consisting of well-known female writers that changed the advancement of book publishing are: the rebel feminist Jane Austen, who paved the path for the appreciation of English Literature with female character leads and their experiences on oppression; Anne Frank, who was a young Jewish girl that chronicled her experiences during the Holocaust, thus helped historians to better understand the heinous acts of Adolf Hitler; Virginia Woolf who was considered an ambivalent activist of politics, but a confident supporter of feminism and anti-homophobia acts throughout her literary career; and lastly, Betty Friedan, who was best known for writing 'The Feminine Mystique', in which she encourages women to seek more opportunities for themselves outside traditional home-based roles and founded the National Organization for Women.

With the 'stereotypical' achievements of the female species said and understood, it should not be shocking to know that women in politics and military have been shining in their positions since the 20th century. It may be hard to believe since it was just in the 1920s that women were granted the right to vote and participate in acts that were once only acceptable to the male gender, but it was truly the quickness of these ladies' bravery and political statute that resulted in these immediate successes.

Outstanding examples of that are former UN Human Rights Commission Chair Eleanor Roosevelt's advocation to women and children’s causes; Grace Hopper being the first woman to earn a PhD in mathematics, and the high rank of rear admiral in the U.S Navy; Edith Cowan being the first ever female member of the parliament for her women’s rights activist despite controversial backlash; and Amelia Earhart, for her fearlessness to be the first woman to fly solo across the world. As for the latter who is probably the most popular name on the list, Earhart not only preceded her mysterious disappearance on the Atlantic Ocean but her legacy lives on through her flying accomplishments, contributions to American aviation, works to motivate women to pursue their careers, and her support of the Equal Rights Amendment as well.

These examples of women and their impacts have significantly set the standards of feminism of the femme fatale for centuries to come. Each and every one of them were once little girls who never would have thought that they would be more remembered and loved than the princes they wished to be. All of them may be pioneers on very different fields and advocacies, but their one great similarity is that they are all mothers who dreamed of a world more accommodating and open minded for their children compared to the cruel and harsh society they were forced to adjust in. It is truly just beyond fascinating to think that women have reached a success so immense and iconic in a man's world.

Mariah Louise Miciano

In a faraway land lived a fairy with two beautiful daughters – Araw and Buwan. They are known for being the exact opposite of each other, Araw is the kind one, and Buwan is the cruel one. There would be times when Buwan would discretely do cruel things towards Araw to pick on her and there would also be times when Buwan would secretly hate on her. One day, their mother came home and caught Buwan mistreating her older sister, Araw. Their mother felt so bad and helpless so she asked God for help. Even before this time, God had already prepared valuable gifts for both of them. These gifts were two enormous diamonds that could light up the whole universe.

Upon hearing the prayer from their mother, God went down and disguised himself as a beggar. He carefully assessed both of them and observed that Araw was really the kind-hearted one and Buwan was the opposite. He then decided to only give Araw’s diamond. Consequently, Buwan was angered by the favoritism of the Almighty so she went to heaven and stole the other diamond.

However, she found out that the diamond she stole was not as brilliant as Araw’s. God found out what she did and commanded two angels to punish her but the angels didn’t listen to him.

They abused their commission and seized both sisters and threw them into the sea. Their diamonds were then thrown into the sky – the brightest stone was named after Araw and the other was named after Buwan.

This was the story of why the sun shines more brightly than the moon – which people commonly know. However, no one knows the origin of Buwan’s anger and envy. No one knows how a beautiful lady turned out to be a cruel one. What she did was wrong but did she really mean it? Or was she just forced to do so?

Buwan was born years after Araw so there were already a lot of expectations from her. They expect her to be as modest as her older sister, as kind as her older sister, and as optimistic as her older sister. However, Buwan was naturally playful and excited. She would go around pulling pranks and telling jokes because it’s her way of making people laugh. She would also go around running and chasing animals because they were her only friends. She was also very clumsy so she would often go home with small scrape wounds.

Mariah Louise Miciano

People praise her for being joyful but would most often compare her to her modest sister. They would compare how they act and how they talk.

Buwan grew up being compared to her sister but she never got mad and never kept a grudge against her. It was until she felt that her mother favored Araw more than her because she was more helpful when it comes to household chores while she was just making a mess because of her clumsiness. It was a small thing but for Buwan, it was the start of her comparing herself to her sister. What didn’t matter for her suddenly matters and hurts her.

Since then, Buwan started to drift away from her original personality. The harmless pranks turned into cruel ones, the jokes turned into insults, and she started avoiding and glaring at people she encounters with. People wondered why Buwan had suddenly changed and just assumed that it was because her ‘true color’ had finally shown. It got worst as she grew older, especially that time when their father came back and refused to accept that Buwan was his because of her cruel behavior.

Buwan felt so betrayed and neglected that her grudge and envy grew and grew until she couldn’t control it anymore. She grew to hate herself more and released it by hurting everyone and everything around her. She had a hard time changing because people had set their minds on her cruel behavior even when she was little and even got harder when she became one of her enemies. Her own self became one of her greatest enemies she couldn’t fight.

Just like their stones that are now lighting up the whole universe, Buwan may not be as bright as Araw but she is also shining brightly in her own silvery and luminous way.

An Asian Dream

Hans Fontanilla

Over decades, the world has gone thru drastic human rights changes, yet we cannot deny the fact that many are still excluded and treated with contempt for being who they are – being an Asian. We hear awful incidents involving Asian people from all over the world that made headlines on various social media sites. The pandemic has further resurfaced the negligence of hate crimes committed toward the Asian community, even as they surge. Racism against Asian people has not yet been solved.

Reports of Asian migrant workers who are discriminated in their working environment are still dominant these days. Edelman Trust Barometer in May 2021’s survey says that 67% of their Asian – American respondents believe that business has largely ignored the problem of racism against the community. In June last year, two Jewish practitioners at Stanford have complained with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accusing that one of the university's diversity, equity, and inclusion programs forced them to participate in a "racially separated 'whiteness accountability' alliance designed for ‘staff who hold advantage via white identity.'

An Asian Dream Hans Fontanilla

With the current coronavirus crisis, there has been an upswing in documented incidents of racist behavior against people of Chinese or Asian heritage in the European Union, according to the European Union's Agency for Fundamental Rights. Similarly in the US thousands of racism episodes have been reported in recent months, ranging from being hawked, verbally abused to physical assault. These are racist attacks, according to advocates and organizers, and are frequently linked to discourse that condemns Asians the development of COVID-19.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) recognizes the existing and permanent dignity as well as the inalienable rights of every human as the foundation of freedom and justice around the world. Thus, the United Nations entitles everyone without any discrimination the freedom the UDHR provides. Efforts to suppress racial discrimination were everywhere to be seen, policies and legislations were reformed in a way where everybody will benefit.

In 1964, the United States Federal Government declared the 14th Amendment of the state’s provisions, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had been the standard for the civil rights ruling in the country. The Act made prejudice in public venues and federally funded programs illegal. Also, it increased voting rights enforcement and school desegregation efforts. The ratification of the United States policies gave birth to a new era where everything is possible whoever they are. In addition, the European Union (EU) as well has moved its arms against racial discrimination.

From 1980s, EU has been one of the pioneers in combatting racial discrimination. In 1997, EU policy makers devised the Treaty of Amsterdam where matters of human rights policies were then elaborated. In the same year was the year for EU’s European Year Against Racism where the parliament started working to make a European strategy to support the national response to end racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism in the culture. We see, these efforts tend to create a wonderful new world for people to interact freely with no reasons to build walls against each other.

It must be pointed out however that amending legislation would not change people's hearts. In many ways, racial tensions around the world are still present and alarms human rights. Right now, many are still denied access to essential and basic human rights. This means we will still hear violence. Yet, our hopes for a development in cultural acceptance, in which all persons, regardless of race, are treated with respect and fairness still must not be exhausted.

Once I hear Joe Biden address, “Hate can have no safe harbor in America. It should have no safe harbor anywhere in the world.” We cannot live in a promising future if we are still living with the awful past.

The University of the East Senior High School Manila's Official Publication