8/10/2019 Rice for the Moon by Manuel S. Diaz

1/5

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i'

r,

nl,::

rri

Pamulinawen-

Pamulinawen,

Pusok

indengam

man

Toy

umasasu$

agrayo

ita sadiam,

Panunotem

man,

dika

pagintutulngan

Toy

agayat,

agraYo

ita

sadiam

Essem

ti

diak

kaliPatan

Ta

nasudi

unay

a

nagan

Uny

sadin

ti

aYan,

disso

sadino

man,

No

malagiPla,

Pusok

ti

mabang'aran

Rice

For

the

lloon

Manuel

S.

Diaz

Pamulinawen

Translation

bY

L.

Yabes

Pamulinawen,

mY

love,

Please

heu

Ple

who

am

sighing,

tonging

for

You;

Kindly

thou

think,

kndly

do

not

tum

deaf

To

me

who

an

longtng

for

You.

forget

I never

can

Yow

most

sweet

and

beloved

name;

No

matter

where

(l

an),

if

I

remember

you,

lly

heat

leaPs

with

ioY,

rAfter

a

mythical

bind,

This

badengor

love

song

is uniquely

Ilokano.

Prehispanlc,

it remains

popular until

today'

-x

IN

NA0SMO,

when

the

moon

peered over

the

high

Caraballo

Mountain

while

we

were

eating,

Mother

would

get

up

from

the

table,

spade

her

fingers

into

the

smoking

rice,

scoop

out

a handful

then

run

to

the

open

window

and

hurl

the

cereal

toward

the

moon,

siying

under

her

breath:

'llle'll eat

ahead

ofyou''

ihis

was

aritualwhich

Motheralways performed

every

night

after

the

full

moon,

in the

belief

that

an

offering

to

the

moon

brought

good

luck,

which

Father

scoffed

at,

but

I myself

tended

to

believe

because

after

the

rice

was

thrown,

the

moon

would

usually

shine

with

more

luster,

bringrng

us

children

out

into

the

bright

night

to

laugh

and

play'

But the war came and

in

its wake carne hunger

and

fear,

hahed

and

death'

Mother

stopped

throwing

rice to the

moon,

since

we

seldom

had

rice,

only

those

sometimes

when

Father

could

go

to

the

rich

man,

Don

0aspar,

who

lived

near

the

mountains'

fle

would

bring

home

a

ganta

each

time,

which

was

enough

fortwo

orthree

meals.

Mothermade

do.with

cassava

and

sweet

ptatoes which

Eew

bountifully

on

our

farm

and

which

we

would

eat

with

wilted

vegetable

leaves

and

salted

fish.

The

dry

and

bitter

taste

of

the

cassava

urould

kick

at

my

stomaclt

although

I

did

my best

to

pretend

that

it

was

rice'

But, of

course,

I never

succeeded.

The

way

Mother

looked

atme,l

didn'td

almysneedledher,tel

moon.

ltlhichshercsei

OnedaY,

tlomet

usthatttre

bigwarmtgl

why,'the

two

men

sait

trills,close

to

the

geal

nigh ,

we

Packed

uP

family+nd

moved

al

banio

dePated

as

so