#27 From Netherlands to Tagumbao: How a famous Dutch landscape painting helped me reminisce the village where I grew up

 

The Harvesters (ca. 1565) by Pieter Bruegel | Oil on wood | 45 7/8 x 62 7/8 in.
You can examine the artwork here.

    Pieter Bruegel the Elder's (ca. 1525-1569) work above depicted one hot summer in a Dutch countryside. It was part of his original six paintings, but five survived, showing the different seasons of the year. The one above is currently displayed at the Met Museum in New York City, while the other four are exhibited in Vienna, Austria, and Prague, Czech Republic.

    It is interesting that as I examined the details of this Dutch masterpiece, it brought memories of the barrio (village) where I grew up in the 1980s. It is fascinating despite significant differences between the year (the 1500s versus the 1980s) and place (the Netherlands versus the Philippines), the subjects in the painting and my experiences shared similarities. As a result, those similarities triggered the memories of the village I grew fond of.

   On the right side of the painting, we see a group of juveniles pick apples while their friend shakes the tree. This scene reminded me of those summers when my friends and I loved to climb fruit-bearing trees to get riped fruits. First, we asked a skilled climber shook the tree mightily. Then we waited excitedly for the juicy and sweet or sour fruits to fall - balimbing (starfruit), santol (wild mangosteen), caimito (star apple), atis (sweetsop), and other tropical fruits common in the village. Unfortunately, this adventure sometimes put us into trouble for trespassing on others' properties and technically stealing from their beloved trees; others did not care because only birds feasted on the fruits.

   Although I did not belong to a farming family, I witnessed the hard work of many farmers in my village. Since our backyard was acres and acres of planting fields, I noticed the toils and joys of farmers through the changing of seasons, from planting to harvesting different crops such as sugarcane, sweet potatoes, turnips, and mostly rice. Farmers in the village worked from dawn to dusk. Moreover, farming was a family business. Men, women, adults, and children were involved in all aspects of the farming cycle. The bending women on the right, the resting man in the center, the three men on the left, and the eating farmers all reminded me of the labor and endurance of farmers in my community.

  At the foot of the hills, we can see a group of monks dip in the pond to beat the day's scorching heat. This scene brings back memories of when my friends and youth group loved going to lakes and rivers, planning picnics, and taking random swimming escapades. When we were younger, I recollect the times when my parents warned us sternly, "Don't go to that pond (lake or river); it's deep you will drown!" Fortunately, nobody drowned among us during those times, although there were rare reports of accidents and even deaths in other villages or towns.

   In the center-left, next to the lake, we can also see a group of villagers participate in a blood sport called cock throwing, where they hang a rooster and throw sticks aiming at the target. What came to mind after seeing this detail was the time my friends loved to play tumbang preso (knock down the prisoner). The it person guards an empty can in a small circle while others try to hit or knock it down using their slippers. Once the can is knocked down, others can collect their slippers from the circle. Beware, though, that once the it tags you, you will be the next it. We had fun hitting the empty target can, just like the villagers targeting the rooster. We love to play it after school, during weekends, and even at night during a full moon. 

   Another favorite game we played that involved critters was spider fights. We selected and collected nonpoisonous spiders at sunset and put them in compartmentalized matchboxes. I remember my friends collecting them at dusk on rice fields where we could catch them easily from their webs. During the day, we used these poor creatures for our amusement. We released two spiders on both ends of a long thin stick then they approach the center to destroy each other. It sounds like a gruesome fascination, but the adequacy of this arachnid in my village became the subject of enjoyment among young boys and teens.

   There are other scenes in the painting that remind me of my village. The grazing cattle in the middle helped me recall the memories of hot weekends when I needed to pasture our goats in the morning and pick them up before dusk. It was common to see grazing water buffaloes, cows, and goats on the fields. You will also see a cow carrying a wheat load on the left side of the painting. Water buffaloes, called nuang in my vernacular, were typical beasts of burden in my village. They moved local crops such as rice, sweet potatoes, and turnips. They were also the main transportation among farming families. Finally, with the help of carriages, these versatile creatures were used by villagers to help neighbors transfer their houses from one location to another!

   It had been almost two decades since the last time I saw my village. I am sure it looks different now. But thanks to Bruegel's painting. It triggered nostalgia for my childhood and the landscapes of the village where I grew up.

Bruegel's The Harvesters at the Met Museum in Gallery 625.