Anunsiyo, Simbolo at Kapangyarihan
By: Darlene Machell Espena
Anunsiyo and Spirituality
On the face of it, jueteng and spirituality seem to belong to different realms. The former is regarded generally as a vice or even against the will of God. The latter pertains to or attached to something divine, otherworldly, supernatural and moral. But, the result of my work in the field proves that the contradiction between the two is not absolute. In fact, there are congruencies, or complementing features involving jueteng and spirituality.
When I asked my respondents if they pray to their God to let them win in jueteng, I received quite a diverse responses. Some of them related that they do not pray for God’s intervention in jueteng because they know that God does not approve of it. Others confessed that they sometimes pray that God would allow them to win particularly in those situations when they are dire need of financial help.
Once they win the draws, they would ascribe it to God and take it as His blessing. However, their loss is most often attributed to plain bad luck, or timing. This only demonstrates that people could see jueteng as a medium for God’s blessing. For them, God is understanding and generous. He does not bestow or intend their losses in jueteng though He disprove their gambling.
One of the things that caught my attention during the course of my field work is the story of Aling Sheena. She owns a sari-sari store, married to her second husband and is now a certified grandmother. A self confessed pathological gambler, Aling Sheena further confided to me that when her father died just a few months ago, she persistently asks her father to make her win the jueteng. I was amazed by Aling Sheena’s conviction that her father would be able to help her win. She narrated that she whispered several times to her deceased father and also prayed that her combination would come out.
Aling Sheena placed her bets on 3-24, since her father was born on March 24. In less than a month, that combination came out four times but not a single time did she win. She was very disappointed while she was talking to me, as she remembers her mistake. She said that her father really want her to win because he gave her four chances of winning but she failed to heed her him.
Evidently, anunsiyo and jueteng are not simply attached to the individual’s view of the world and his/her perception of God, but are further attached to his/her concept of the dead and the otherworld. In simpler terms, people’s concept of the dead is manifested and reflected in their attitude towards jueteng and anunsiyo. In this manner, spirituality and jueteng forges a connection, a relation which demolishes the perceived absolute ideological contradiction between the two.
The perpetuation of anunsiyo…the survival of jueteng
“Kung walang anunsiyo, walang jueteng…” (If there is no anunsiyo, there is no jueteng.)
An acquaintance told me that statement and it struck me big time. What if the people sees no anunsiyo? Is it probable that jueteng will just fade away? Is it that simple? I guess not. Supposing my respondent is right in concluding that there will be no jueteng if there is no anunsiyo? Come to think of it, jueteng will undeniably continue to exist. This is because the basis for anunsiyo is occurring anytime and anywhere. Anunsiyo could be found in dreams, experiences and feelings. These are constant variables in life. These are facts of life. If anunsiyos can be taken out of the facts of life then it is difficult to put an end to jueteng.
Furthermore, despite the people’s acknowledgment that jueteng is truly a gamble, they still manage to defy the “rule” and continue placing their bets and reading anunsiyos. This is important since it proves that the people are indeed capable of bending the rules regardless of their prior knowledge concerning the norms or what is right or wrong. People are not simple passive recipients of culture. They do not obey all the time. As evident in jueteng, people have the capacity to shape and re-shape culture to suit their needs. They always have a way of rationalizing things and justifying their actions. In this case, their bets essentially signifies and concretizes their hope of winning and getting a lot out of a little investment.
Anunsiyo perpetuates because it serves as a means to provide meaning and explanation to mysterious and peculiar events and feelings that people often experience. Jueteng propagates because it is an enticing investment, it offers a promise of winning a large amount of money at the very least cost. Jueteng continues because the people continuously hope for a better and more comfortable life. Not to add the fact that a lot of people are wholly dependent on jueteng for a living. One should realize that jueteng is, plain and simple, not merely a symptom of people’s need and desire for a quality life but a demonstration of the people’s belief in luck and chance coupled with their faith in God.
Conclusion
Jueteng is commonly seen as a vice that needs to be uprooted from the society and culture. But, based from the modest amount of information I have gathered, there is more to jueteng for the people who are associated to it. Anunsiyo/jueteng proves to be an arena where various interpretations are made by individuals regarding his/her environment and his/herself. In this arena, people are able to connect their feelings and thoughts with numbers. As previously mentioned, anunsiyo is both a process and a product of an individual’s attempt to read and find the meaning in his/her everyday life. For an individual, jueteng and anunsiyo is an opportunity to live a more comfortable life with the least cost.
Similarly, they are able to interpret the events happening around them and ascribe them with meaningful numbers. In anunsiyo and jueteng, new meanings and interpretations are ascribed to outwardly simple and ordinary things. A dog is seen not simply as a dog but the number 3. A handsome young man is not plainly a handsome young man but it’s the numbers 10 and 26.
At the end of the day, or say, at the end of my research, I realized that anunsiyos are only wild guesses, hints or inklings because the winning combination will be always determined by the jueteng operators, by the human hand. But the concept of God and spirituality becomes so palpable when we take into account the rationale and process behind the people’s betting - when people are able to find a way to associate their bets, the winning combinations and their anunsiyos to the realm of the spiritual and when prayers are whispered for a chance and perhaps luck of winning.
As I have become conscious with the everyday truths in Baccuit Norte (although not entirely), I recognized that anunsiyo has a value, meaning and a role in the lives of those people I have been acquainted with. They are hoping that with a proper and skillful reading of anunsiyos, their anunsiyo will match the “anunsiyo” of the jueteng operators. I realized that anunsiyo/jueteng is not merely a means to earn money because it symbolizes something about them. Anunsiyo symbolizes hope and their intense desire to win not only jueteng, the numbers game, but the larger and more difficult game called life.
Anunsiyo and Spirituality
On the face of it, jueteng and spirituality seem to belong to different realms. The former is regarded generally as a vice or even against the will of God. The latter pertains to or attached to something divine, otherworldly, supernatural and moral. But, the result of my work in the field proves that the contradiction between the two is not absolute. In fact, there are congruencies, or complementing features involving jueteng and spirituality.
When I asked my respondents if they pray to their God to let them win in jueteng, I received quite a diverse responses. Some of them related that they do not pray for God’s intervention in jueteng because they know that God does not approve of it. Others confessed that they sometimes pray that God would allow them to win particularly in those situations when they are dire need of financial help.
Once they win the draws, they would ascribe it to God and take it as His blessing. However, their loss is most often attributed to plain bad luck, or timing. This only demonstrates that people could see jueteng as a medium for God’s blessing. For them, God is understanding and generous. He does not bestow or intend their losses in jueteng though He disprove their gambling.
One of the things that caught my attention during the course of my field work is the story of Aling Sheena. She owns a sari-sari store, married to her second husband and is now a certified grandmother. A self confessed pathological gambler, Aling Sheena further confided to me that when her father died just a few months ago, she persistently asks her father to make her win the jueteng. I was amazed by Aling Sheena’s conviction that her father would be able to help her win. She narrated that she whispered several times to her deceased father and also prayed that her combination would come out.
Aling Sheena placed her bets on 3-24, since her father was born on March 24. In less than a month, that combination came out four times but not a single time did she win. She was very disappointed while she was talking to me, as she remembers her mistake. She said that her father really want her to win because he gave her four chances of winning but she failed to heed her him.
Evidently, anunsiyo and jueteng are not simply attached to the individual’s view of the world and his/her perception of God, but are further attached to his/her concept of the dead and the otherworld. In simpler terms, people’s concept of the dead is manifested and reflected in their attitude towards jueteng and anunsiyo. In this manner, spirituality and jueteng forges a connection, a relation which demolishes the perceived absolute ideological contradiction between the two.
The perpetuation of anunsiyo…the survival of jueteng
“Kung walang anunsiyo, walang jueteng…” (If there is no anunsiyo, there is no jueteng.)
An acquaintance told me that statement and it struck me big time. What if the people sees no anunsiyo? Is it probable that jueteng will just fade away? Is it that simple? I guess not. Supposing my respondent is right in concluding that there will be no jueteng if there is no anunsiyo? Come to think of it, jueteng will undeniably continue to exist. This is because the basis for anunsiyo is occurring anytime and anywhere. Anunsiyo could be found in dreams, experiences and feelings. These are constant variables in life. These are facts of life. If anunsiyos can be taken out of the facts of life then it is difficult to put an end to jueteng.
Furthermore, despite the people’s acknowledgment that jueteng is truly a gamble, they still manage to defy the “rule” and continue placing their bets and reading anunsiyos. This is important since it proves that the people are indeed capable of bending the rules regardless of their prior knowledge concerning the norms or what is right or wrong. People are not simple passive recipients of culture. They do not obey all the time. As evident in jueteng, people have the capacity to shape and re-shape culture to suit their needs. They always have a way of rationalizing things and justifying their actions. In this case, their bets essentially signifies and concretizes their hope of winning and getting a lot out of a little investment.
Anunsiyo perpetuates because it serves as a means to provide meaning and explanation to mysterious and peculiar events and feelings that people often experience. Jueteng propagates because it is an enticing investment, it offers a promise of winning a large amount of money at the very least cost. Jueteng continues because the people continuously hope for a better and more comfortable life. Not to add the fact that a lot of people are wholly dependent on jueteng for a living. One should realize that jueteng is, plain and simple, not merely a symptom of people’s need and desire for a quality life but a demonstration of the people’s belief in luck and chance coupled with their faith in God.
Conclusion
Jueteng is commonly seen as a vice that needs to be uprooted from the society and culture. But, based from the modest amount of information I have gathered, there is more to jueteng for the people who are associated to it. Anunsiyo/jueteng proves to be an arena where various interpretations are made by individuals regarding his/her environment and his/herself. In this arena, people are able to connect their feelings and thoughts with numbers. As previously mentioned, anunsiyo is both a process and a product of an individual’s attempt to read and find the meaning in his/her everyday life. For an individual, jueteng and anunsiyo is an opportunity to live a more comfortable life with the least cost.
Similarly, they are able to interpret the events happening around them and ascribe them with meaningful numbers. In anunsiyo and jueteng, new meanings and interpretations are ascribed to outwardly simple and ordinary things. A dog is seen not simply as a dog but the number 3. A handsome young man is not plainly a handsome young man but it’s the numbers 10 and 26.
At the end of the day, or say, at the end of my research, I realized that anunsiyos are only wild guesses, hints or inklings because the winning combination will be always determined by the jueteng operators, by the human hand. But the concept of God and spirituality becomes so palpable when we take into account the rationale and process behind the people’s betting - when people are able to find a way to associate their bets, the winning combinations and their anunsiyos to the realm of the spiritual and when prayers are whispered for a chance and perhaps luck of winning.
As I have become conscious with the everyday truths in Baccuit Norte (although not entirely), I recognized that anunsiyo has a value, meaning and a role in the lives of those people I have been acquainted with. They are hoping that with a proper and skillful reading of anunsiyos, their anunsiyo will match the “anunsiyo” of the jueteng operators. I realized that anunsiyo/jueteng is not merely a means to earn money because it symbolizes something about them. Anunsiyo symbolizes hope and their intense desire to win not only jueteng, the numbers game, but the larger and more difficult game called life.
Comments