BOOK REVIEW: “Janus Silang at ang Tiyanak ng Tabon” by Edgar Calabia Samar
Edgar Calabia Samar takes familiar mythological creatures of darkness, such as the tiyanak, the manananggal, and the mambabarang, and gives his own spin to popular connotations about them in his Janus Silang series. Despite the intricate world Samar created, this series took some time before being heard by the majority of Young Adult Filipino readers. Reading even just the first book, Si Janus Silang at ang Tiyanak ng Tabon, Samar simultaneously introduces the casual reader to classic Filipino mythology and provides a different perspective, especially to the eponymous Tiyanak. I was enthralled by the series that I eagerly await each installment.
Even simply focusing on the first book, it is clear how Samar took liberties to expand the readers’ knowledge about these creatures. As J. Neil Garcia says, “artists encourage us to see the world afresh, to perceive its magic, rapture, and awe once again” (258). He sets them in the context of online gaming, a rising fascination for Filipino youth even to this day. Janus Silang, much like the average prepubescent Filipino kid, spends much of his time in computer shops playing the popular game TALA or Terra Anima Legion of Anitos. The story centers around the mysterious death of kids who played TALA. They suddenly turn into ashes once reaching a certain level. For some reason, Janus survived.
From here, he is introduced to a world where the Tiyanak terrorizes the unseen spirit world. Samar’s tiyanak is not a simple unbaptized baby. In this lore, the Tiyanak birthed all the other monsters in Philippine lower mythology, including the manananggal, mambabarang, duwende, etc. The Tiyanak was said to be birthed by the very human whose bones were found in the Tabon Cave. Even this well-known anthropological fact, Samar tweaks to his amazing narrative. The Tabon Man was said to be female and had twin children– the Tiyanak and a girl named Tala, who was rumored to have the power to stop her evil twin.
Samar also added shape-shifting to the Tiyanak’s abilities. This is the reason why the Tiyanak was able to fool Janus for years into believing he has a younger brother, when in fact, his actual brother was stillborn. This update– the ability of the Tiyanak to shape-shift and grow up– gives an added element of fear to the readers. It’s important to note this because fear is how these mythical creatures are able to still live in our consciousness to this day despite existing since the pre-Hispanic era.
According to Samar’s book, Mga Nilalang na Kagila-gilalas, “itinutulak [tayo] ng pagharap sa mga halimaw tungo sa pagkakaisa” (v). He further explains that communities were built, civilization thrived, and we were able to establish a sense of national identity because we keep on trying to address the things that fear us. This is why Samar’s choice to evolve the Tiyanak, and the other creatures in the Janus Silang series, is important. It is engraved in our identity as Filipinos.
The literary work certainly shows this in the way Janus learned that his father was a monstrous doppelganger, his younger brother didn’t exist, and his mother got killed by the Tiyanak. After this, he had to flee for his life, seeking sanctuary in the haven for people with abilities like him. And together, they built a community of superpowered people determined to bring down the forces of the Tiyanak. The rest of the series explores how this community is established.
Samar’s choice to write this literary work for Young Adults is also a brave and innovative choice. The younger generation of Filipinos need to be familiar with this fear which drives them to survival and to finding who they are. Reading stories about ancient monsters is a smart way of marrying our ancient learnings and contemporary sensibilities in order to target present-day issues in society. And this is what mythology does, according to J. Neil Garcia:
“When we read myths, we become aware that our actual situations are like the mythic realities of the characters of these ancient stories in the sense that they both are underwritten by the same transcendent Truth.”
Works Cited
Garcia, J. Neil. “The Literary Uses of Mythology.” Myth and Writing: Occasional Prose. Diliman, Quezon City: The University of the Philippines Press, pp. 253–262.
Samar, Edgar Calabia. “Kung Bakit Kailangan Nating Matakot.” Mga Nilalang na Kagila-gilalas. Quezon City: Adarna Press, pp. I-v.
Samar, Edgar Calabia. Si Janus Silang at ang Tiyanak ng Tabon. Quezon City: Adarna Press.