ers who mostly interviewed the Atis and the Bukidnons as well as rural folk. There are aside from Creation myths like the above, historical myths. One is the strange but perhaps not-so-strange myth from the Bukidnon people, of a girl chosen from early childhood to be “binukot,” which means a woman to be confined, secluded, restricted to her house, not to be seen in public so that her bride price will be high and bring prestige to the family. Except that, realistically speaking, it had to stop as “binukots” from being so sheltered — never outdoors, never under the sun — turned out to be weak and unhealthy which probably meant leaving the world earlier than the “binukot” family would have preferred. Today “binukot” is something from the past remembered in the present. The custom enshrined in myth was impractical and inconvenient and was finally discarded as pragmatism demanded. But it remains in memory as the myth of the secluded, sheltered woman for the convenience of her clan.

Another one is that of Saravia (named after a governor general of Negros but its original name was Uyog), a town during the Spanish era and perhaps even before that, that was constantly raided by Moro pirates because it was along the coast. Aside from harvests and other goods, the pirates would kidnap people to turn into slaves. So much so that the townspeople decided to have watchtowers where young guards could warn them of an impending attack from the sea. The strange thing is that they decided that the bell that would be rung to designate oncoming attackers was to be made of pure gold. Perhaps they had gold in their environment and decided to make the bell of gold. The golden bell worked a few times. When it rang, everyone left town for the forests and the pirates would be frustrated to find a deserted town. The pirates soon figured out that it was the bell that was setting off the alarm. So, they came through another way, by land, where the watchtowers were not in place. The villagers were thus caught by surprise. The pirates took what they wanted including the golden bell. In reality, gold is one of the densest matter in the world so they could not carry it away as planned. They dumped it in the sea and sometimes in the quiet of the night or the late afternoon when the wind is down and the waves are calm, it is said one can hear its golden tone ringing from the deep, an echo of past history.

As you can see, these myths and legends are romantic, as to adventure, ambition, skill and courage, and everything else that is human. You do not only get entertained but Ms. Hoffarth who is an anthropologist (disclosure: she was my classmate long ago in graduate studies in anthropology at the Ateneo de Manila University, and who has gone on to obtaining a doctorate from Columbia and New York universities), puts them in context with our environment, our native perspectives, our cultural habits, our past and everything else that is part of us or that has come to us and made us what we are.

The book explains the cultural context of the stories that are myths and legends as well as ties them to our cultural behavior, good or bad, neutral or individualistic.

Song of Negros may be about the myths of Negros but it can be a mirror image of all the other myths that come from this archipelago. Helpfully, Ms. Hoffarth includes a glossary of Ilonggo words and a bibliography.

And she puts the myths and legends parallel to our history, our belief systems and our cultural behavior from which we can make our own analysis of any other myths and legends we encounter (not from social media, not from election propaganda of which we’ve had more than enough) but from age-old stories given by people who carry their racial consciousness established enough to express it.