Legend of Sampaguita
By Rudy Arizala
There are so many legends written or I have haard about Philippine flowers, especially "Sampagita" our national flower. By the way, the Sampagita was declared a national flower of the Philippines in 1934 by then U.S, Governor General Frank Murphy.
Hereunder is what I heard about the legend of Sampagita which could have been adopted from the legend of the Ilang-Ilang, another Philippine flower with some slight variations.
Once upon a time there was a beautiful maiden who lived near the forest. She was very pretty with white complexion like that of a Sampaga flower. So, her parents named her "Sampagita" (which means small or tiny Sampaga).
She had many suitors but she fell in love with a poor woodcutter whom she met one day while fetching water from a spring at the edge of the forest. The two fell in love with each other and often met whenever Sampagita fetches water.
One day Sampagita´s parents discovered about the love affair between the woodcutter and Sampagita. The parents of Sampagita objected to such love affair because they want their daughter to marry a rich man instead of the poor woodcutter. The parents of Sampagita prohibited her from going out of the house since then, not even to fetch water from the spring.
Sampagita became lonely and could not eat, until she became ill and died. Her dying wish was to be buried at a place near the spring where she used to fetch water and meet her lover, the woodcutter.
Her poor woodcutter lover was so sad that he sat day and night near the grave of Sampagita and cried. His tears dropped over the grave of Sampagita.
Several days later, he was surprised to discover a tiny green plant was growing over the grave of Sampagita. He took good care of said plant until it grew into a robust shrub. One day the people of the village were attracted to the sweet frangrance coming from the grave of Sampagita. The plant was in full bloom with white tiny starlike flowers. And they remember Sampagita´s love affair with the poor woodcutter who grieved and shedded tears over the grave of Sampagita. Since then, they also called the flower Sampagita. Symbol of pure, undying sweet love affair.