lb. Despite the aggressive christianization by the Spanish, many elements from Philippine mythology have survived. Roman Catholic rituals are ubiquitously married with indigenous customs and the pre-Christian god Bathala is even commonly invoked in the everyday expression “Bahala na” (approximative translation: que sera sera). Traditional mythology has always been a leitmotif in Philippine pop culture – from Comics to children’s books. What used to be terrifying figures like nuno sa punso or tiktik are now part of everyday Philippine life and some have even obtained a cutesy sheen.
As recently as 2021, the comic series “Trese” from 2005, where a female detective in Manila solves supernatural crimes, experienced a revival with its netflix adaptation of the same name. Later that year, for the first time, a gothic novel appeared in the german-speaking region: Mo Schneyder’s “Torn into Pieces” lures us into the Château de Syrah, where her protagonist, a Filipina overseas worker, has just landed a job as a nanny for a noble family in France. But although Lailani had hoped for better working conditions, many of her premonitions take a turn for the worse – just as the genre predicts. In the book, several socio-political problems are interwoven with fiction; it also brings to life some of the figures we know from Philippine mythology. Schneyder delivers a page turner, although the struggle for emancipation still appears to be haunted by some diehard clichees. Despite its English title, the self-published debut novel (2021) is written in German and can be ordered in Switzerland, for instance via LMS (Lernmedien-Shop). A small glossary at the back provides an overview of the few words that appear from Tagalog.
