Santillan: Being called Alunsina

TWO weeks ago, we just released our debut single, Damgo, in Spotify, Band Camp, and Youtube. We peddled it to local radio stations but still got no response. If you have the time, search us online and give our single a listen.

Being in a band feels surreal. I have only dreamt of it since I was a kid. I did not think it would happen. Now that it has happened, it’s even more surreal when people call me by my band’s name.

The band’s name is Alunsina. Just Alunsina, guys. Not Alunsina Band. Honestly, adding “band” makes it sound banal, okay?

Maybe it’s because I’m the vocalist and the de-facto “face” of the band is the reason why they call me Alunsina. It’s amusing how people have this recall to call me by our band’s name. Some of my workmates have even resorted to call me Alunsina.

Alunsina, if you don’t know, is a deity from the Bisaya mythological pantheon. She is the wife of Tungkunglangit – the God of Creation. She, on the other hand, is the Virgin Goddess of the Eastern Skies. Their love story is the stuff of legends and folklore. I keep telling this story during our gigs but I don’t think people get their story. Maybe I’m not such a good storyteller after all.

So, here it goes. Tungkunglangit, being the God of Creation is busy with, what else, creating the World. Alunsina, left at home and missing her husband, asks the breeze (yes, because elements are anthropomorphic in folklore) to tell him to come home. Tungkunglangit refuses to go home as he needs to finish his Creation.

This cycle goes on for days (and probably months) until Alunsina makes an ultimatum. “Come home or you’ll never see me again,” she says. Tungkunglangit ignores this and goes home the next day. When he arrives home, he is left with her crown, necklace, and earrings. These jewels are his gifts to her.

He asks the breeze to find her but to no avail. Out of anger and frustration, he throws the crown, the necklace, and the earrings towards the sky. Some even speculate he did that in the hopes of Alunsina coming home. She never did. Instead, the crown becomes the sun. The necklace becomes the moon. And, the earrings become the stars.

It is said that Tungkunglangit remembers Alunsina when it rains. Some say Alunsina makes it rain to spite him. For me, I think the rain is Tungkunglangit’s regret.

Perhaps, I am like her – needing attention and reassurance of being loved. And when that doesn’t happen, I leave and never return. Perhaps I am Tungkunglangit – busy with creating stories and songs that I inadvertently ignore the ones I love and end up alone. Either way, every time people call me Alunsina, I remember their story.

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph