In Chamorro folk belief, there exists a very scary and dangerous wild boar who attacks naughty children when they break any of the rules of Lent. He is called the BABUEN KUARESMA, or "Lenten Boar" in English.
The Babuen Kuaresma is larger than the usual jungle boar; some say even ten times bigger. It has razor sharp tusks (in Chamorro, kotniyos) and can swallow a small child in one gulp. Some say its skin is full of thorns, so you better not touch.
Somehow these Babuen Kuaresma have a great respect for the rules of Lent and will punish any child or teenager who breaks them. Some of the rules are not to eat meat on Fridays; not the mix meat and fish in the same meal all of Lent; not to swim or play games; not to make noise, especially during Holy Week (Semåna Sånta).
Parents, grandparents and elders in general warned children that, if they broke any of these rules, the Babuen Kuaresma would emerge from the jungle and bite them or worse.
WILD PIGS
We don't know how or when this folk belief started, but naturally it came about during Catholic times so after 1668 and it came about when pigs finally came to Guam, which happened around the same time the Spanish missionaries came. Before that, the Marianas had no swine.
The Spanish, Mexican and Filipino settlers brought them to the Marianas and raised them here. Some pigs escaped into the jungle where they became wild. The Babuen Kuaresma may not exist but the Babuen Hålom Tåno', or the Wild Jungle Pig, does exist and they've recently become a problem on Guam. Being so numerous now they have damaged plants, crops and private property and on occasion have attacked other animals and maybe even humans.
It seems the story of the Babuen Kuaresma is based on the very real wild jungle pig, which is dangerous enough whether it be Lent or not.
PROBABLY UNIQUE TO GUAM
The world is a big place and who knows if there might be some other place where a pig or some other scary animal, or maybe a monster of some sort, enforces Lenten rules.
But it seems the Chamorros of the Marianas are the unique keepers of such a tradition.
It seems very clear that it was a story invented by elders to scare the youngest of children who are very gullible and don't know enough yet about the world to question the idea.
For example, if a boar attacked, bit or ate you, wouldn't that create noise? Noise from the pig and noise from the victim? And yet isn't that exactly what the Babuen Kuaresma is supposed to enforce? Lenten silence?
If the Babuen Kuaresma exists, why hasn't it ever been seen? Or photographed? Why don't we find its skeletons in the jungle? We see wild pigs in the jungle, but never a Babuen Kuaresma.
What does the Babuen Kuaresma do when it's not Lent? Disappear until next Ash Wednesday? Does he still live in the jungle, but cares less about the bad things children do outside of Lent?
So many customs, beliefs, practices and names were invented in the old days that were never documented. At one time, most Chamorros couldn't read or write, and the mentality of those days was not to record everything. Sometimes the story about the thing was passed down, word-of-mouth, to the next generation. But, in the case of the Babuen Kuaresma, we will never know how and when it came about.
But, it's part of our culture and perhaps only ours, even if today we just talk and laugh about it, and don't believe it at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment