20/07/2020
Soul Boats - A Filipino Journey of Self-Discovery, Selected Essays of Alfredo E Evangelista (2001, NCCA) is worth reading too.
In our veins run the blood of the ancient maritime people. Our very names are evidences of this: we call ourselves Ilokano (people of look or 'bay'), Tausug (people of the sug or 'current'), Subanon (people of suba or 'river'), Palawan (people of the palaw or 'island'), Tagalog (people of the alog or shallow waters/ilog or 'river'), Maranaw (people of danaw or 'lake'), and Kapampangan (bordering the pampang or riverbank). Our folklores have gods and goddesses riding in flying boats; we imagine that the aldaw ('sun') is lumulubog (literally 'drowning' but it means sunset) and sumisikat (literally 'rising'), and is being devoured by the bakunawa ('sea dragon' among the Visayans) during lawo ('eclipse'). Our ancient writings follow the contour of the rivers or shores. Our ancient communities, named after balangay or ancient boat, were once connected by rivers--those residing by the iraya ('headwaters') and those by the ilawud ('downstream'). Ancient Kapampangans called their fellow barangay-mates kabangka ('kabarangay').
The kabilang buhay for our ancestors was an extension of our maritime world. Kabaong or coffins in the ancient times were shaped like bangka or sea vessel (thus, the cadaver is bangkay). The cap of the Manunggul Jar of Palawan depicts a bangkero or oarsman transporting the bangkay in a boat to kabilang buhay. While the ancient gravesite markers of the Ivatans in Batanes and of the Sama-Bajaus in the Great Santa Cruz Island in Zamboanga City are shaped like tataya (boat in Ivatan) and lepa (boat in Sama-Bajau). The hanging coffins of Sagada, Mt. Province are also boat-like.
Our ancestors also practiced reinternment by collecting the bodily remains (kalansay) of their departed loved ones and containing them in a banga or jar, like the Manunggul Jar and those discovered in Maitum in Sarangani Province. Through this practice, our ancestors seemed to bring back the physical body of their loved ones to the representation of a mother's womb (which was the banga)—most likely the same idea when a bangkay was placed in a boat-shaped coffin, for the boat was universally likened to a mother.
No wonder why we produce the biggest number of seafarers in the world. We have a proud maritime heritage. Water is us.
Know more about the 2021 Quincentennial Commemorations in the Philippines here [https://nqc.gov.ph/en/about/].
📷 Illustration of ancient boats of our ancestors, from the Center for Kapampangan Studies.
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Seeing this post? Curious what is this all about? In 2021 we are commemorating the Philippine part in the achievement of science and humankind in circumnavigating the planet for the first time. Central in this commemoration is the 500th anniversary of the Victory at Mactan on 27 April 2021. These and more are collectively known as the 2021 Quincentennial Commemorations in the Philippines by virtue of Executive Order No. 103 (2020). Know more about the event here: 👇
🖱 About us 👉[https://nqc.gov.ph/en/about]
🎞 Watch our video 👍 [https://youtu.be/ptgU1ZUgFZc]
🎧 Listen to Quincentennial Soundtrack 🤟[https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QeUjyif0IAF0bfc4yIXrp?si=D60adpTgQgyc8gcITEc3WA]
🎨 Join the Quincentennial Art Competition 👋[https://nqc.gov.ph/en/quincentennial-art-competition/]
🕵️♀️ Check out our activities [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hzz96ecT-aSjzLdDIbhwbv1Z0ztyvVjO?usp=sharing]
