Inday Inday Nakain Ka

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Inday, Inday, Nakain Ka?

A Waray-Waray Folk Song

There are three little folksongs in Waray that commemorate a little-heard-of event in
Philippine history, the Balangiga incident, known popularly as the Balangiga Massacre. This
happened in September 27 of 1901. The USA was spreading out to the countryside to enforce
its power over its new colony. In late July 1901, a contingent of seventy soldiers landed in the
obscure little town of Balangiga in the southeastern coast of Samar Island. More than half of
the contingent was killed by the rebellious locals on the 27th of September of that year,
unhappy over the intrusion and impositions done on their own life ways. The Americans
responded with a brutal reprisal operation that turned the island into a “howling wilderness.”
Local families sent their sons and daughters and their menfolk away, anyone who could be
target of reprisal actions, out of Samar. Four songs came out of that period, well-remembered
and well-loved record of those years of terror.
I Inday, Inday, nakain ka
Han kasunog han munyika?
Pito ka tuig an paglaga,
An aso waray kitaa.
II Di ak nahuhulop ha tiyempo amihan.
Damo an sundalo nga pagpipilian.
An pipilion ko an binansilan
Kay maopay ini pagburubag-iran.
III Di ak’ nagtatangis,
di ak’ nagtatangis
Han kawaray banig.
An igintatangisan ko
An kawaray dirig.
Ini nga lawas ko
Nangingibig-kibig,
Baga gud an bata
Nagpurupulilid.
IV Inday, kun waray ka la magyaga-yaga
kinasal na kita yana,
May ada na naton bata,
mata-bata, nagdurudalagan ha tuna.
The speaker asks the illusive Inday: “Nakain ka han kasunog han munyika.” He tells
her, “Pito ka tuig an paglaga. An aso waray kitaa.” The song uses the device of a riddle to
hide the horrors experienced by the people in the wake of the massacre. The Americans
torched the town, including the church. The proud bells that summoned the local warriors to
action on that fatal day were taken down as war trophy by the American army. These bells
are subject now of negotiation between the two governments. No one outside of Samar and
Leyte had any knowledge of the purging that took place. None of our history books mention
Balangiga, although it is said to be the only battle won by the Filipinos against the
Americans. The smoke of this conflagration was well-kept from the eyes of the generations
that came after.
The poem provides a good opportunity to study the political function of literature. The
riddling verses serve as an instrument of resistance against oppression.

Source:
https://tinalunay.wordpress.com/2016/07/11/teaching-literature-in-the-mother-language/

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