10:25pm poetics with the moon to guide me to luminous waters that will serve my soul. Her cries of the land will call upon mine and together we will sing all that is good. i sing for my ancestors to bring me to the feast. they are awaiting this guest to bring this story to others who are blinded by city lights. i hear them calling, i hear it crying, i hear the silence, i hear the fading of a history waiting to be restored. i hear a soul being restored.
if you don’t know, now you know January 14, 2009
Friends of ours just recently visited the T’boli tribe. Thanks JR, Jay and Manny for the creative videos – its inspiring! (safe travel home! ingat!) Thanks to the T’boli tribe for being so welcoming and for also shedding some light into traveling to Mindanao. Don’t get me wrong, there is political and social struggle there as well as, other regions of the Philippines. Always take precautions and do your research – contact people you know that can take you there or get linked to trusted people that can…at least that’s what Aimee and I are doing!
Aimee and I are also looking to preserve this culture. It is so beautiful and if it doesn’t speak to your spirit…watch it again until it does! It makes my spirit dance!!
“Music, Weaving and dancing is all part of the T’Boli culture. This video shows the T’Boli people. One of the few preserved tribal cultures of the Philippines.”
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ALSO, if you don’t know of the kulintang and this first video wasn’t enough to convince you that our culture is rich and well deserving to be preserved…
“Finally i got to hear the music of kulintang. The T’Boli people were so nice to provide us not only a performance but also some of their knowledge and teachings. We also had a chance to go through the rainforest and see some amazing falls. Best camping ever.”
Poetic Tries II January 11, 2009
7:50 pm poetics: heavy in the chest because its unknown. the breaking of my spirit, my breaking of my condition. a window of thoughts that will blow out my memory’s storage. a shoulder to cry on, a balikbayan to laugh at, a woman to be discovered. guidance will come easy and so will a hot breeze as reminders of this true path. she will use my shoulder, they will laugh at her too, and she will also discover a new being within her.
Mendung Sabal January 8, 2009
I was informed from some new friends that Mendung Sabal’s earth life passed on January 8, 2008.
MENDUNG SABAL, T’BOLI CHANTER AND INSTRUMENTALIST:
“I belong to the first generation, the first people, I should say; and I can survive in my own way. My dream is that we preserve what we have by uniting as a tribe and also by uniting with other tribes. We can only move on this way. My life is getting shorter; I would like that our ways remain, as I continue contributing a little to it. Our place, S’bu, is the place where our ancestors have gathered us, and this, we must maintain.” — Mendung Sabal, 2001
Mendung Sabal’s words told to Grace Nono:
“My knowledge is special because the spirits themselves taught me through my dreams… Lentinum is my main teacher… She bestowed on me the gifts she gave to the T’boli people.
My assignment is to heal and recount history; to teach how we must relate with our neighbors; how to handle conflicts and promote peace; to teach the values of bravery and the protection of our territory. I also teach how datu must deal with their wives…When people fight and kill and I sing to them, they start crying.
I think there would be peace if my song reaches the government. I am unlettered. I blame my father for not sending me to school….But now that my songs are written down, I am confident. They won’t be lost….it gives the spirits joy and fulfillment. I feel successful because my relationship with them is complete. Success means following the guidance of the spirits.
My dream is for us to keep alive what we have…”
If you are interested to know more about Mendung Sabal please visit: http://kathang-pinay.blogspot.com/
what is babaylan? January 8, 2009
Babaylan is a term identifying an indigenous Filipino religious leader, who functions as a healer, a shaman, a seer and a community “miracle-worker” (or a combination of any of those). Although the role and function of a babaylan is open to both sexes, most babaylans from the pre-hispanic era are female.
“The babaylan in Filipino indigenous tradition is a person who is gifted to heal the spirit and the body; a woman who serves the community through her role as a folk therapist, wisdom-keeper and philosopher; a woman who provides stability to the community’s social structure; a woman who can access the spirit realm and other states of consciousness and traffic easily in and out of these worlds; a woman who has vast knowledge of healing therapies”.[1] In addition to this, a babaylan is someone who “intercedes for the community and individuals” and is also someone who “serves.” Any study of the babaylan must take into consideration the suppression of the babaylan’s practices since the onset of European and American colonialism in the Philippines.
Prior to, during and after the Philippine Revolution of 1896-1898, the babaylans of Dios Buhawi and Papa Isio of Negros Occidental participated in the struggle to throw off the Spanish yoke. Their primary agenda was religious freedom and agrarian reform; most followers of the babaylan tradition were dispossessed land owners thrown off their property by the Spanish hacienderos and in some cases by Spanish friars bent on acquiring land.
-thanks wikipedia!
sino ka? (who are you?) January 7, 2009
what is your last name and do you know the meaning and origin of the name?
where is your family from?
have you been to the Philippines? what did you like and dislike about the trip/stay OR if you haven’t been, what would you want to do there and what have you heard about the Philippines?
Every answer is a great answer!
late night planning January 7, 2009
Last night we planned our tentative route at Kapisanan Philippine Centre for our journey in the Philippines. Thank God for familia because they will make our stay much more comfortable. sooo…there are some really key places that we want to visit. Manila (Quezon city, Makati), Baguio, Banaue rice terraces, Chocolate hills in Bohol, mango plantations of Guimaras ahhhh….Palawan! these are just to name a few. The most important part of the trip is our social work there…in Olongopo with sex trade workers. i am expecting to break down, feel hopeless, and feel useless. The culture shock will be crazy, i imagine. At the same time, I expect nothing. This trip will be such an eye opener for the both of us. I told Aimee (the one I am going to the Philippines with) that I will probably end up crying a lot…lets be real, I am going to a foreign country. As much I am Filipino, I am Filipino-Canadian. I was born in a western society where the culture and way of life appears more ‘privelaged’ and ‘modern’. I am sure that this condition in which I was born into will play with my emotions and mind in the conditions of the Philippine islands…its good, our late night planning with tentative dates, times, activities is such an awesome start. I must say, I am excited. I haven’t even touched on the things we’ll be doing there and I can’t even imagine what it would be like. I will be open and willing to experience anything that will teach me about the Philippines, my family, people, and myself. Its gonna be dope!
rice terraces
Image of the Banaue Rice Terraces in Luzon, the northern region of the Philippines. My mom tells me that its a dangerous trip up the mountain! (image taken from the internet, thanks internet!)
poetic tries January 5, 2009
9 am poetics from the heart: I desire to grasp my past through experience of flight. overseas i imagine the possibilities of unity of peoples that define me. islands that separate as plates collide and so will my mind in the presence of the elders. the bind of generations and of two friends that will re-discover or rather recover identity. a filipina. a canadian. a spirit. an energy of nothingness with an end to reach out for simplicity and positivity.
