Luwa in Aklan, May 24, 2015

Luwa in Aklan

Ni

Melchor F. Cichon

May 24, 2015

We can say that luwa in Panay came into being during the Spanish period. My father  told us, his children,  that his mother used to recite luwa during the wake. She was born during the Spanish-American war. When she died at the age of 104 in the early 1970s, the teenagers in our neighborhood played bordon and recited luwa during her wake. Since most of the luwa then were bawdy and humorous, we the audience along with the participating group would laugh. Of course, bordon was just one of the games being played during the wake. We used to play, Truth or Consequence,  using an empty bottle, and the loser was asked to do something, like kissing his girlfriend or boyfriend if he or she happened to be around.

During funerals, the people more particularly in Lezo, Aklan, were  generally solemn. Humorous stories and jokes were taboo during the funeral march. The people usually talked on the experiences they have had with the deceased. Or about politics and their economic situations. The music being played during the funeral march were also solemn. The song Ave Maria was generally being  played during the funeral march from the house of the deceased to the church for the mass, and again from the church to the cemetery.   It is  only during the wake when the people play parlor games to help the bereaved family cope with their sadness. It is during this time when luwa are recited.

A luwa is a form of poetry that is usually written in four lines. It used to be the first stanza of corrido, that kind of poetry that relates the exploits of kings and princesses. There are also luwa that are longer ones. There are also luwa  that are used to get the hands of a lady. This is known as enamoracion.

It is said that it is not advisable to recite luwa if one is not in the wake, because it is believed that a member of the family will die if this is done not in its proper place.

Because luwa were recited in wakes as part of a punishment to whoever is the loser in a game like konggit, truth or consequence, bordon, it is very much appreciated if the lines have rhymes, rhythms, and humor. This is one reason why there are nonsense luwa. The rhythms are not consistent though, but there are a lot of luwa that have rhymes. These include luwa with aaaa, aabb, abab patterns.

There are also some luwa that have abcd endings.

Here are examples:

Example of a luwa with an aaaa rhyme:

Pag-agto ko sa Ibajay,

May hakita ako nga patay;

Ginbagting ko ra eagay,

Mas mabaskog pa sa lingganay.

Here you will notice that the endings of all lines are in ay.

For the aabb example:

Pag-agto ko sa bukid

Nakakita ako it ibid;

Paglingot ko sa waea

Gatueok kakon rang nobya.—Melchor F. Cichon (MFC)

Here the first and second lines end in id, while the third and fourth lines end in a.

Here is another ending. The abab:

Igto sa bukid,

May busay nga naga-ilig;

Kon magpaligos igto si Ismid,

May daeang butong nga binulig. --MFC

There are luwa with Spanish and English words.

Paris it navagante

Sa tunga it travisya

Kinueabos rang suwerte

Hay gulpi nga nagisgrasya.

***

Igto sa bukid

May kwarta nga nagaligid

Nagaligid-naga roll

Dumiretso sa waterfall.

There are other luwa that are bawdy, but full of imagery. Here is an example:

Pag-agto ni Inday sa Boracay

Napusa ro anang tuway;

Pagkasayod ka anang nanay,

Ana imaw nga ginminueay.-- MFC

For a nonsense luwa here is a classic example:

Secut erat en principio

Bisan libat basta gwapo;

En principio secut erat

Gwapo pero libat.

Secut erat is a Latin word that means Glory be, a Catholic prayer.

Here are other nonsense luwas:

Nag-agto ako sa Navas

May hakita ako nga bayawas;

Akon nga ginpaeas,

May nahueog nga sibuyas.

There are luwa that have double meanings. These are the luwa that belong to the adults, if they can decipher the meaning. Here is an example:

Maligos ako kunta

Sa maisot mo nga sapa

Ugaling ro kinasaea

May guardia civil sa tunga.--MFC

There are luwa that are really metaphysical. Here is one:

Ako mangunguma nga taga-Lezo

Maagto sa eanas agod mag-arado

Rang saeaburan puno’t bungot-bungot

Rang mabuot nga arado, indi magdueot kon indi magtindog.-- MFC

***

Ako si Haring Marikudo

Manugtanum it amamakoe

Pero ro gusto-gusto gid ni Inday kuno

Amamakoe nga sukoe.-- MFC

***

Kon gusto mo gid man ako

Nga mangin nobya mo;

Ro adlaw imo nga tukuran

Agod indi kita madueman.

Some of the topics being touched in luwa are love, death, courtship, sorrows, happiness, desires. disasters, anything and everything under and above the sun.

What is the difference between the old and the new luwa? In terms of subject matter, number of lines, number of syllables per line, the same.

Perhaps, until proven otherwise, the contemporary luwa have wider scopes like tsunami, and politics, and snows since some of the poets are college trained and have gone to different countries like Canada, America, Switzerland and Germany.

From the luwa that I heard and gathered, I noticed that politics is not given so much importance.

This is one aspect of luwa that should be looked into. I know that luwa like any other poetry can be used to dissect our society, including our politics.

Luwa is dying in Aklan. In fact many of our martial law babies have not heard of luwa.

But luwa is not only confined in Aklan. This was also common in Iloilo, Capiz, Antique, and Guimaras.

Because of this, I wrote luwa. These can now be read in my website: http://aklanonlitarchive.blogspot.com/2006/10/mga-luwa-ni-tay-itsong.html.

In the book, which I helped edited, Haiku, Luwa and Other Poems by Aklanons, 2005, about a hundred of luwa are published.

Luwa writing is easy. Just remember these:

1.      Focus on one subject.

2.      If possible, inject humor in your luwa.

3.      Try to use rhyme and meter if possible.

4.      Maximize the use of the various figures of speech.

5.      Be careful with your spelling. Prefixes should be attached to the root words, like pagbakae, ginsueat, etc. Remember the rule on the use of ko and ku.

6.      Read and write luwa. There is no other way to learn how to write luwa but to write it yourself.