Asuangs or Vampires

Last night I went to see a play written by Filipina Jessica Haggedorn, "Fe."   Before the play she read parts of a play/book she is writing called "Three Vampires" which was inspired by the Filipino Asuangs -  spirits that come out at night to eat animals and people. 

The reading brought memories of my mom's telling of Asuangs as a warning to us if we went out into the night alone. She always told me that there were spirits everywhere and that they were always watching me and I had better be good or she would find out.   She would tell me that everything had a spirit and that we were responsible in treating things well.  For example, if something were made out of wood, their spirits of being a tree, still inhabited the table and we needed to care for the table.  As technology and plastics came into being, the opportunity to share the "spirit"s of items and furniture became less and less   I don't know that at the end of her life what she believed about asuangs.  I do know that in her DNA she was raised with these mythical creatures.   We have our "boogey man" and she had her asuangs.   If you can find the book, "Jose and the Asuangs" its worth a read.

Today my mom would have been 85 years old.   I do miss her.