In this personal essay by listener DM Gasparillo Adil II, he shares childhood anecdotes about his late father’s leping, a twin-spirit that’s part of Maguindanaoan folklore. Here’s a snippet:
My stepmom loved taking pictures of my father. One time, she accidentally took a photo of what we thought was him standing right outside their bedroom door… At first glance, you’d say that it’s my dad because the “person” in the picture has the same facial features as he had—a bald head, a large, well-chiseled nose, a set of pleading eyes, and a wrinkly smile revealing his not-so-young age. It was my Aunt Ola who told us that what was captured in the frame was actually Moharidan.
Read it in full here or go to cotabatoliteraryjournal.com for other works from Cotabato Region writers.
You can also listen to this episode on Anchor, Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, or search for “Stories After Dark” wherever you listen to your podcasts.
This episode’s companion photos: instagram.com/p/CLVeqitrEe3
References:
- https://asiasociety.org/education/religion-philippines#:~:text=The%20Philippines%20proudly%20boasts%20to,well%20over%20100%20Protestant%20denominations.
- https://cotabatoliteraryjournal.com/2020/11/15/leping-ni-ama/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_Philippines
- Williams, Mark S. “Causality, Power, and Cultural Traits of the Maguindanao.” Philippine Sociological Review 45, no. 1/4 (1997): 34-63. Accessed January 28, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41853689
Music: “This House” and “Echoes of Time v2” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Photo above via Google Maps
