LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

The Earth rat
MARCH L. FIANZA

BAGUIO CITY -- This space gives way to Dr. Charles Cheng, scholar, scientific researcher and book author who is highly knowledgeable about the history of the Chinese in the Cordillera, their likely descendants, their present and past activities. As the Chinese Spring Festival or Chinese Lunar New Year 2008 is celebrated, we take this occasion to express gratefulness for their contributions to the communities where their early forebears took root.

Many of them accept the fact that they are Igorot-Chinese because they were born here, while those who came later adopted themselves to an unfamiliar culture, but at the same time adopting the community as their own. Indeed, their ancestors walked these mountains for more than a century now, more than many of us Igorot-Filipinos did.

In a press conference held at the Supreme Hotel of Peter and Ivy Ng, Dr. Cheng said Lingayen in Pangasinan where the Chinese pirate Lim Ah Hong landed may have been called “Lim Ka Yan,” meaning, “Lim family home.” Dagupan may have been “Tay Gu Fan,” meaning, “large capital” – which explains why the city has been the big and busy business hub that people go to.

Hotelier Peter Ng in an interesting conversation last year said the native huts he saw in the uplands of China were similarly constructed like the Ibaloi and Kankanaey cogon huts in Benguet. By the way in Kapangan where intermarriage between the Chinese and natives is more prevalent, the names of the places are more Chinese-sounding, like Paykek or Datakan – and indeed, Lumon is a place not only in Kapangan, but in China .

Dr. Cheng referred to the year of the Earth rat as a prosperous year. Prosperity because the rat keeps on working, but warned that even thieves and criminals will prosper because the rat has a reputation of doing things through trickery and stealth. And the rat is known for his “intelligence in locating, acquiring and hoarding his booty.” True, we have many two-legged rats around us. One does not have to look far because there are many of them among his relatives.

Below is the continuation of Dr. Cheng’s article. Read on. “Traditionally, the rat has been highly respected in the Orient while it is despised in the West. The Chinese declare the rat to represent the beginning of things. According to a Buddhist legend, the rat earned the first place through sheer guile and craftiness. The story goes that when Buddha was dying, he summoned all the animals to his bedside to say farewell.”

“The faithful ox got the head start and was leading when the rat came scampering, caught up with him and begged the ox for a ride on his back. The patient and good-natured ox agreed and when they were near the entrance where the Buddha was, the rat suddenly leaped from the back of the ox and raced ahead to be the first to reach the bedside of the dying Buddha. As a reward for such respect, the Buddhahonored him with the first position in the zodiac sign.”

“The presence of rat in a home or barn has been considered as auspicious, a symbol of prosperity since the rat will remain only where there is food. Thus the Japanese have a saying: ‘Getting rich is to invite the rat.’ But for believers of a clean environment, this adage is unwelcome for fear it will bring the source of illness such as dengue and liptospirosis.”

“The Chinese think the rat shows impartiality. He is good to businessmen making money but also good to thieves and robbers thus, an increase in crime in the rat year. The rat’s power to multiply fast implies rapid multiplication of riches more so with over population and overcrowding.

“In China and Japan , small carved ivory figure of the rat is given as good luck gifts and amulets to ward off bad luck and ensure prosperity. There is an ancient tradition that a house is safe as long as rats live in it, since they have a way of knowing beforehand the coming of flood or fire and will disappear before disaster strikes. The presence of rats is therefore an assurance of safety in the home. In a sinking ship, the rat is always the first to abandon the ship.”

“The year of the Earth rat is a time of hard work and constant activity, but, one that will assure abundant food. It is a year of steady gain. The rat is never idle, always seeking for food, transports it a little at a time over the course of the day, never in bulk. The rat stands for timidity, works steadily and patiently but remains humble about success.”

“Born in the year of the rat, people exhibit the same qualities. They are active and hardworking, their lives marked by constant effort and steady accumulation, a little at a time.They may be stingy and ‘kuripot’ but thye sve and scrimp for things they reallywant. They are generous to those they really love, to the point of squandering their hard won wealth.”

“In general, those born in the year of the rat have charming personalities, honest, ambitious, persistent, given to self-denial and prone to gossip.”