Phobia

What is Lygophobia?

Lygophobia is a fear of gloomy or dark places. The word was derived from the Greek word Lygo which means shadow or darkness.

I suffered a mild lygophobia back in 1981.

I remember it like yesterday. It was the day when schools around Metro Manila were tasked to go and line up in Roxas Boulevard to await the arrival of the then Pope. Pope John Paul II. We were told to stand there quietly and when the Pope had arrived we were to shout Totus Tuus (Totally Yours).

But we waited and waited from 10:00 am in the blistering sun by the Manila de Bay. It was almost 2:00 pm but still no sign of the Pope. We cannot take the heat any longer, so my friends and I went to a nearby museum. I think it was the Metropolitan Art Museum. It was so dark inside, frighteningly so. You have to walk slowly guided by a rope to go from painting to painting. You have to have pretty good eyesight to appreciate the arts as they were corded up at least a couple of meters away, ensuring that they can’t be touched. Pretty different from the great museums of the world where you can go near and be face to face with life-size great works of art.

Anyway, the museum was so dark that it was not inviting. It was huge but it felt like being in a suffocating cavernous cave. No wonder ordinary Filipinos were not natural museum-goers then. I don’t know if this is still the case.