Myth and Legends

The Flat Noses

In the beginning of time, the early inhabitants of the earth did not have well formed noses as we do today. What used to be the nose were too small holes located at the middle of the face. It was a little later that the creator thought of adding noses on the face that He sent down from the heavens on a boat to distribute to woman to make her more beautiful.

Of the five races of woman formed by God, our early Filipino ancestors belonged to the brown race. Josefina and her friends were browned skinned people among whites, the reds, the yellows and the blacks living in the same island before the population of each race multiplied that eventually forced them to disperse in search for lands everywhere to survive.

God was experimenting with noses at the time and needed a patient to put it on. He looked down from the heavens and spotted Josefina. That time, Josefina was playing with her friends. The Creator thus caused by Josefina to slip and fall on nearby muddy pol. When she got up, she noticed a handful of mud sticking on the middle of her face.

She and her friends tried to remove it for some time but without success. Finally, she gave up. By which time the water of the pool is cleared. She was alone when she walked over to the pool to have a look at her and was very pleased with the mud form on her face that has dried up, as was the Creator who was watching from above.

From that day on, Josefina become more beautiful on account of the piece of mud on her face. Everyone in the island, including her friends began to envy her. They flocked to her, asking her where she got the “thing.” As she was an honest girl, she told them everything, and so everybody rushed to the muddy pool to try to make the “thing” out for them, but the mud just fell off their faces, leaving them all disappointed and wondering how Josefina did it.

On another occasion, Josefina who was on the way back on an errand for her father, slipped on a banana peel and fell down to the ground on her face. As she struggled to her feet, the piece of the mud dropped to the ground, she tried to stick it back to her face, but the mud would not stay on. She tried several times to put it back on, but it kept falling off. Finally she gave up.

When she came home without “it” her father almost did not recognize him and so did her friends. Then one day, Josefina and her friends saw a boat anchored on the shore close to their village. Thinking it was just an ordinary boat they ignored it and just kept on playing.

Suddenly one of the white folks came running all excited toward her village that lies on the other side of the island yelling. “I’ve got myself a nose!” and even showed it to his folks. She told everyone she met that she got it from a mysterious boat that anchored itself on the shore.

The boat carried plenty of noses that they remembered as the mud on Josefina’s face. ‘Noses for free’ was apparently what was written on the side of the boat. Soon the news spread and had almost everyone rushed madly to the boat that instant.

Everyone got herself a nose. But since Josefina and her friends were late in coming to the boat as they tried were late in coming to the boat as they tried to finish off their games first, they found only flat-noses. They were actually flattened by heavy footsteps during the earlier mad rush.

Reluctantly, they all put in on and were happy with it just the same. To this day, the Filipinos who were believed to have descended from the line of Josefina and her friends generally have flat noses. That according to legend, was why Filipinos have flat nose.