Man of Earth by Amador T. Daguio (and more!)

Amador Daguio's poem, "Man of Earth" compares the Filipino to the bamboo "tree". The poem alludes to the legend of the first Filipinos and to the flexibility of the Filipino.

Photo courtesy of Bambooman.Com

Man of Earth 
by Amador T. Daguio

Pliant is the bamboo;
I am man of earth;
They say that from the bamboo
We had our first birth.

Am I of the body,
Or of the green leaf?
Do I have to whisper
My every sin and grief?

If the wind passes by,
Must I stoop and try
To measure fully
My flexibility?

I might have been the bamboo,
But I will be a man.
Bend me then, O Lord,
Bend me if you can.

* * *

In many Asian cultures, the bamboo is an important symbol. According the Asian-Bamboo.Com, 

The mystique and beauty of the bamboo forest is one of the most common themes for paintings and jade carvings, and bamboo forests have been used as atmospheric backdrops in many movies. For example, the Oscar-winning "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", directed by Ang Lee, was partly filmed in a bamboo forest. 

From the movie. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", bamboo forest fight scene.

In Chinese culture, the bamboo, plum blossom, orchid, and chrysanthemum (often known as méi lán zhú jú) are collectively referred to as the Four Noble Ones. These four plants also represent the four seasons. The pine tree, the bamboo, and the plum blossom (song zhú méi) are also admired for their perseverance under harsh conditions, and are together known as the "Three Friends in Winter".

A Japanese Buddhist Shinto shrine surrounded by a bamboo forest. Photo courtesy of GreenShinto.Com.

In Japan, a bamboo forest sometimes surrounds a Shinto shrine as part of a sacred barrier against evil. Many Buddhist temples also have bamboo groves.

Some extreme Vietnamese vovinam action!

In Vietnam, bamboo symbolises the spirit of Vovinam, a Vietnamese martial art, the hometown and qualities of the Vietnamese soul. A Vietnamese proverb says: "When the bamboo is old, the bamboo sprouts appear", meaning that Vietnam will never be destroyed because if the previous generation dies, the children will take its place.

Several Asian cultures believe that humanity emerged from a bamboo stem. In the Philippine creation myth, legend tells that the first man and the first woman each emerged from split bamboo stems on an island created after the battle of the elemental forces (Sky and Ocean). In Malaysian legends a similar story includes a man who dreams of a beautiful woman while sleeping under a bamboo plant; he wakes up and breaks the bamboo stem, discovering the woman inside.

 

The Japanese folktale "Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" (Taketori Monogatari) tells of a princess from the Moon emerging from a shining bamboo section.

* * *

Below is the story of how the world, humankind, the three classes of Tagalog society, and  the three colors of humankind originated according to a Tagalog legend:

The Creation Story

When the world first began, there was no land, only the sea and the sky, and between them was a crow.  One day this bird, which had nowhere to land, grew tired of flying around, so she stirred up the sea until it threw its waters against the sky.  The sky, in order to restrain the sea, showered upon it many islands until it could no longer rise but instead flow back and forth, making a tide.  Then the sky ordered the crow to land on one of the islands to build her nest and to leave the sea and the sky in peace.

Now at this time the land breeze and the sea breeze were married, and they had a child which was a bamboo.  One day when this bamboo was floating about on the water, it struck the feet of the crow who was on the beach.  The bird, angry that anything should strike it, pecked at the bamboo, and out of one section came a man and from the other a woman.

Then the earthquake called on all the birds and fish to see what should be done with these two, and it was decided that they should marry.  Many children were born to the couple, and from them came all the different races of people.

After a while the parents grew very tired of having so many idle, useless children around.  They wished to be rid of them, but they knew of no place to send them to.  Time went on, and the children became so numerous that the parents enjoyed no peace.  One day, in desperation, the father seized a stick and began beating them.

This so frightened the children that they fled in different directions, seeking hidden rooms in the house.  Some concealed themselves in the walls, some ran outside, others hid in the earthen stove, and several fled to the sea.

Now it happened that those who went into the hidden rooms of the house later became the chiefs of the islands, and those who concealed themselves in the walls became slaves, while those who ran outside were free men.   Those who hid in the stove became dark-skinned people. Those who fled to the sea were gone many years, and when their children came back, they were white people.

For more creation stories from different parts of the Philippines, check out "Creation Myths from the Philippines" compiled and edited by D. L. Ashliman (2003).

A Google image search for "Bamboo Philippines" inevitably shows this. #TeamBamboo