A very good friend of mine (and I think my one and only avid supporter of my story, HAHAHA) in Wattpad asked me a question about the meaning of Dayanghirang. I thought the answer was pretty obvious but then I realized that not all was familiar with the dialect that I spoke or knew of. And since I wrote the story in English, I later realized (how dumb of me!) that not all of the possible readers of my story might know how to speak Tagalog. I am referring to my first story that I wrote: Lira the Diwata –ang Dayanghirang. So let’s decode the code and decipher the ones that needed deciphering.

: is actually a Filipino family name I happened to stumble upon on when I was searching for a good ol’ Filipino family name. in Tagalog means ‘young women’ or a 'lady' and in Tausug it means ‘Princess’. Does the song ‘Dayang-Dayang’ ring any bell to you, fellow Filipinos out there? is a Tagalog word which means ‘chosen’, ‘selected’ or ‘appointed’. So put them together we have Dayanghirang –the chosen lady.

diwata, in the Philippine folklore resembles a fairy or a nymph but they were popularly believed to be a sort of god/goddesses. In our stories of the past, Diwatas are beautiful, benevolent spirits who usually resides on forests, mountains and seas; they protect the Philippine land from those who wish to do harm to it. Popular Diwatas are the Three Marias: Maria Makiling, Maria Sinukuan and Maria Cacao.

And oh! I might have mentioned Lira carrying a in her pocket. Balisong is a kind of a butterfly knife, and its illegal nowadays (I think) to carry that around. But hey, carrying a foldable knife is easier than carrying a wooden stake (which will never work, trust me) to defend yourself if you were studying in a vampire infested school.

My sources? My grandfather’s stories! Hahaha. Seriously, every kid in the Philippines knows what a Diwata is, or what Hirang means.

PS: If you have any other questions, please, do ask me. I don’t bite :)