Biag ni Lam-ang

by Pedro Bucaneg

Archetypal Analysis

           At an early age, Lam-ang already possessed extraordinary abilities. It took four people to help his mother, Namongan, to give birth and when he came out, he told her that he would be given the name Lam-ang. 

    

          Lam-ang was only nine months old when he decided to look for his father, Don Juan, after not returning home from a battle. Aware of his son's extraordinary capabilities, Namongan allowed him to go for a quest though she was sad to let him go. During his exhausting journey, Lam-ang fell asleep and dreamed of his father's head being stuck on a pole by the Igorot. Lam-ang was furious when he learned about what happened to his father and hurriedly went to the village. He killed all the people except for one, so that he could tell others about Lam-ang's greatness.

          Upon returning to Nalbuan, he was bathed by women in the Amburayan river and the dirt from his body caused the death of fishes, crabs, and shrimps in the river because of his strong odor. 

         There was a woman whom Lam-ang wanted to court, and her name is Ines Kannoyan. Ines lived in Calanutian, and upon visiting her, Lam-ang brought along with him his gray dog and white rooster. While on their journey, Lam-ang encountered one of Ines' suitors, Sumarang, which he fought later on and defeated. 

        Ines' house was surrounded by many suitors, so Lam-ang thought of something to catch her attention. He had his rooster crow, which caused a nearby house to fall. His dog barked, and suddenly, the house rose up again. This caught the attention of Ines' parents and called Lam-ang. The rooster expressed his love and finally, Ines' parents agreed to a marriage with their daughter if Lam-ang could give them a double value of their wealth. Lam-ang had no problem with this, so he and Ines got married. 

          It was a tradition for the people of Nalbuan to have a newly married man dive for a rarang fish. Unfortunately, Lam-ang was eaten by a river monster, Berkakan. His bones were recovered by Marcos, and Ines covered them with a piece of cloth. The rooster crowed and the dog barked, and gradually, the bones started to move. Upon his resurrection, Lam-ang, together with his wife, lived happily ever after with their gray dog and white rooster. 

 Biag ni Lam-ang has the usual plot of a monomyth:

* Ines Kannoyan - symbolizes the ideal woman, the good and innocent which every man in every story desires to have as their partner.

* The river in the story symbolizes purification, such as when Lam-ang was bathed by women in order to remove the dirt and odor from his body; fertility, when he asked to dive in the water for their "married man tradition" to have a healthy married life, and; birth-death-resurrection when he was eaten by the shark and was eventually recovered and resurrected with the help of Marcos and his two magical pets. 

* The shark, or the Berkakan, symbolizes danger and death, which must be avoided in order to have a peaceful and successful life, like the couple in the story experienced and had overcome. 

* The rooster and gray dog in the story symbolizes downfall, hope and resurrection, that in every situation, you must have to experience failure in order to rise up again, and hope, to never give up, especially when you know that success will always be at the end of the story; because everything happens for a reason, and if all is not well, then it's not yet the end of the story.