Nangkaan, Mataasnakahoy, Batangas: Historical Data
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| Historical data from the National Library of the Philippines. |
Full transcription of the so-called “Historical Data” for the barrio of Nangkaan in the Municipality of Mataasnakahoy, Batangas, the original scanned documents at the National Library of the Philippines Digital Collections not having OCR or optical character recognition properties. This transcription has been edited for grammar, spelling and punctuation where possible. The original pagination is provided for citation purposes.
[p. 1]
HISTORY AND CULTURAL LIFE OF THE BARRIO NANGKAAN
I N T R O D U C T I O N
Nangkaan is located in the northwestern part of the municipality of Mataasnakahoy. It is a progressive barrio. It is a one-road barrio winding down the eastern shore of Taal Lake. There are one hundred sixty-five houses of temporary and semi-permanent types. It is inhabited by more than eight hundred industrious and peace-loving people.
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* PART ONE: HISTORY *
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1. Present official name of the barrio.
2. Popular name of the barrio, present and past; derivation and meaning of this name. Names of sitios within the territorial jurisdiction of the barrio.
3. Date of establishment
4. Original families
5. List of tenientes from the earliest time to date
6. Date of historical sites, structures, buildings, old ruins, etc.
7. Important facts, incidents, or events that took place
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latter part of the Japanese occupation, the different sitios of this barrio served as the evacuation places of the people of this barrio, the town of Mataasnakahoy and Lipa, the latter now a city.
8. Destruction of lives, properties and institutions during wars, especially in 1899-1900 and 1941-45
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* PART TWO: FOLKWAYS *
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1. Traditional customs and practices in domestic and social life
2. Myths, Legends, Beliefs, Superstitions, etc.
A. Legends
HOW NANGKAAN GOT ITS NAME
In the olden days, there was not a place called Nangkaan. It was a great wilderness. It was the home of roaming wild birds and animals. It was a horrible place to trod alone. Not even a jut [?] could be seen anywhere. But as days passed, a daring couple with great forbearance was moved by a fervent desire to live there. They were attracted by the fertility of the soil and its favorable location.
In spite of the great hardship and agonies they encountered in life, they patiently lived in a small hut with an old bolo and hoe. They depended on these simple instruments for their existence.
On the first year of their stay in the vast wilderness, they suffered the greatest torment of life for lack of food. They depended on hunting wild birds and animals and on edible fruits for their living. Fruits were in abundance and most of the time, they depended on it as their food.
All the time they went out to gather fruits, they did not forget to take home with them the jackfruit, nangka as it was called. This was their favorite fruit.
The couple had lived for a long time and before they passed away, nearly all the lands that they had cleared and cultivated were planted with evergreen nangka. Thus led in giving a way for the place to be called “Nangkaan.”
B. Folktale
MANG TONIO AND THE TIANAC
In the ancient time, there in Nangkaan lived a poor couple. Because they were so poor, they had to work hard to earn a living. They were living together for several years but they remained childless. Being desirous of having a child, the couple made numerous vows to the saints and patrons of various places.
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[page torn] Aling Marta, the young wife, told her husband, Mang Tonio
[page torn] their wish would soon be realized. Mang Tonio was overwhelmed
[page torn] that he promised his wife that he would work hard to give their
[page torn] a bright future.
Several months elapsed, very soon Aling Marta would soon give birth to a child. On the hand, Mang Tonio was even more industrious than before. Oftentimes, he came home very late at night.
One evening, while Mang Tonio was going home from work, a horrible storm occurred. The night was dark and he could hardly find his way. He sat under a big tree and waited for the rain to stop. All of a sudden, he heard a peculiar sound. Mang Tonio listened carefully and went to the place where the strange noise came from. To his surprise, he saw a strange white bird. He was so excited that he took hold of his long sharp bolo and struck the bird angrily. A very strange happening occurred. At that moment the bird was struck, a cry of a newly-born baby was heard. Strange as it might have seemed, Mang Tonio saw numerous white birds surrounding him. He was so confused and did not know what to do. All the white birds made an awful cry and fear crept over him. Now, he recalled the old folks’ stories about the so-called “patianac.”
Trembling with fear, Mang Tonio hurriedly went home. To his amusement, his fear was changed to an everlasting joy when he saw Aling Marta with their lovely baby lying by her side.
3. Proverbs and Sayings
b. Haste makes waste.
c. Behind the clouds is a rising sun.
d. A rolling stone gathers no moss.
e. Modesty is an emblem of virtue.
f. Do not do unto others what you don’t like others to do unto you.
g. Not all that glistens is gold.
h. Still water runs deep.
4. Methods of measuring time, special calendars
5. Popular songs