Suguidanon: Epics of Panay Bukidnon transcript

ah [Music] in 1988 and 1989 up visayas based anthropologist dr alicia magos had a chance to explore the mountains of central panay for 10 days with a group of ncip region 6 field personnel taking the eastern route to central panay with interior tapas copies as the target two years later in 1991 and 1992 she organized her own group composed of upv iloilo research assistants anna raisa limoso and judith pabito along with the hollywoodline youth ricardo kamarig serving as the guide in her journey to the heartland of panay various agencies facilitated funding support recognizing that there is a dearth of information in this area of research the purpose of that trip was to see more of the panayano and halawoodland barangays she as well verified the presence and distribution of epic chanting in these areas it was during that trek that she was able to see an 84 year old kept maiden as well as women chanters who were sisters or close relatives of a binocut she also learned that the people inhabiting the interior mountains of the pascapes and kalinogiluilo are descendants of mountain people of interior panay previously called by various names montes by eugenio mundos by aldama and solod by hukano she theorized that their origin was once the coast before the colonizers came in but moved to the farm mountains following the course of two major rivers halawood and pangai rivers dr magos also explored central kanai in the early 1990s to clarify and strongly establish the ip identity of panay bukidnon and thereby clarifying their ethnic name [Applause] all mountain dwellers in central panay covering the four provinces are panay bukidnon the use of the names are names referring to their source of sustenance the halawa and pannai river respectively [Music] living in mineral or groups of houses these villagers must have come from the sea coast but moved to the interior and near water bodies the rivers and creeks [Applause] a bukidnon house is usually a one-room affair that is elevated from the ground by bamboo pools and is made of bamboo and lipa or kugon a common fixture in their household is a duan and where they pound the rice other tools and materials that you can find inside their houses are the following sanduko a long black knife for cutting busong and halo a mortar and pestle for pounding rice tagad a bamboo or wood sharpened at the end for digging holes the wind a small woven basket tied to one's waist containing rice seeds tabongos is a big woven container made of bamboo strips for containing cadance of rice and iwa ebola the mountains hills and patches of land where they form and get the visayan varieties of rice such as bisaya and malido while working on the farm there were songs being sung to entertain themselves their lives in the mountains focused around dealing the land in searching the environment for their sustenance high indian farming is a common activity they also make charcoal that they sell to the lowlands the bukidnon spend hours of trekking through a rugged trail and rivers carrying their products to the nearby market by means of a short bamboo pole called tuang tuwangan this balances whatever it is that they are transporting in their bodies and makes the baggage bearable they also plant coffee abakka gabi palawan and other root crops root crops are staples during lean months when rice is not available weaving is a common activity for the bukidnon because of the availability of bamboo and ratan products from these are used in their everyday chores and are sold to augment their needs [Music] it is in the katalunan or forest where they trap wild animals using balatik limbaugh and ligpit they place traps for wild animals such as legit wild boars and deers alimbaong is a hole big enough to trap the animal with sharp pointed bamboo sticks or luba and covered on top with leaves the odd or baghot is a hanging rope serving as trap set on a branch of a sloping area the tiglapak a curved branch digby set under a tree and once the safety is released the pig's legs is caught [Music] the luba also a trap works when a wild boar jumps on it and if it is hit by a pointed stick the farmer or hunter traces the blood to locate it [Music] it is in the katobigan or water body such as rivers waters springs and streams where they get food also by chopping fish and fresh water shrimps bukidnon children also make the waterfalls as their playing ground [Applause] pangonog is a method of catching indigenous little fishes in the river called unog by using a cloth tied on the neck some traditional techniques used for gathering food are the following but where branches of trees are placed on one part of the river for water to flow and allow fishes and crustaceans to come in [Music] a fish trap or a woven bamboo trap is set against the flow of the river current to allow fish to come the now gone a fish trap with a bait inside it is similar to itaon [Music] patahan is a huge bamboo trap set on the intersection of the river where in two sides of the flowing water goes to the trap [Music] diving down the deep part of the river armed with a bus light pointed iwa or lance using a lente to protect the ice and see clearly through the water the big fishes and fresh water shrimps pasullo or padamag are catching fishes crabs and crustaceans in the early evening by using a torch to attract this fishes and crustaceans respect of the spirit beings inhabiting the forests the rivers and the land prevails in the bukit dun psych despite having missionaries coming from the low land and western medicines reaching the bukidnons they are still strongly attached to the babilanes and the maaram that offer cure and provides advice would listen to the elder members of the family who would sing these are epics that tells the exploits of the mythical characters of humadapnon malitumyawa and others epics are sang or chanted long stories handed down mostly by kept maidens or binucot the epic chants give lessons and shows the worldview and social structure of the epic people the ancestors of the panay bukidnon it also serves as lullabies for children and this entertainment its theme are mostly about romance and adventure now the traditional wedding figures in the lives of the bukidnon as it is a time for fist in celebration people come to join the celebration and enjoy the rapper day of the bride and groom's parents [Music] federico caballero to ohan was awarded the gamaba or the national living treasure by the national commission for culture and the arts in the year 2000 for epic literature this is for his mastery of the ten epics comes from the term to tell or narrate he comes from a family of at least five generations of epic chanters his great-grandparents are mostly chanters or manoghsugidan arbiters this is from the lineage of ango pin to angurang who is lula his siblings are also good epic chanters paino good chanters come from the family with the binocular lineage is a maiden jealously hidden from the eyes of men and commands a high bride gift at the early age of four or five or even before the girl is born the child is already pledged for marriage to a young boy as agreed by the parents this is sealed by a tourist a precious material or gift to seal the agreement in the course of dr maga's research she has collected a series of suggidano stories about the adventures of different characters that revolves around the land and sea a total of 10 epic stories of thirteen volumes were gathered this are the komcadlum where paiiburo goes to a hunting spree with his dog tikkum and cuts a magical bamboo tree owned by masangladon a great witch and monster amburokai tells of a hermit woman or an ugly monster who owns a gold pubic hair and took to her care to beautiful young girls the kayung pada is about a gold medallion that synagogue offers for marriage to a lovely binocular matanayan who was already pledged in a child marriage to labao dungun hence conflict follows on the other hand tells about a warrior who grows to halawood to pursue matanayan but was interrupted by sarandihon at the river bangaan and ends with a fight where balanakhan was defeated kalampai is about a huge crab where masang ladon a man from the underworld falls in love with matanayan and commands kalampai to disguise as an island to deceive her a deity from the upper world falls in love with the lovely matanayan sinagnayan is about matanayan who is now wife of labao dungun who longs for her sister pinahilixapingan and persuades la babunggun to get her from sinagnayan and make her his wife too humadapnun in his story of four volumes talks about humadup nunuan [Music] this is by far the longest of the epics with three-month storytelling they tell of humadapn's pursuit for mali their wedding and misunderstandings alayao is about a sweet scented flower the beautiful malitungawa was pursued by the hansam humadapnun using a garland of sweet scented flowers called alayo nagbuhis a ceremonial ritual now an old woman gets sick and performs a ceremony of power transferred to her daughter mali all conflicts in the epic are settled with launcina as arbiter or manokusai when federico caballero became a gamaba awardee a balayturunan was built in karangan and later in akalaga to propagate the culture every saturday children would go to school and learn about epic chanting weaving and playing of musical instruments as well as bin of dancing [Music] the school for living traditions are informal schools with living elders serving as masters teaching the children the skills during weekends there were eight more slts built in kalino iloilo and tapascapies epic chanting gives lessons and entertainment and inspires children to learn the skills of elders and their ancestors dance and eagle hawk dance mentioned in the sugi still survives today to remind the younger generation of their binocular ancestors who are good dancers women who dance bin and all wears a padong headdress beninkit necklace and a walkout belt which are all made of ancient coins [Music] pano bok is a special needlework a traditionally designed form of embroidery most of which are inspired by plants and animals in the environment and by the epic characters and are being embroidered in the clothes of bukidnons that are used during special occasions this also have suddikama designs inspired by the skin of the python snake and batangpunai that is patterned after the eyes of the punai bird an epic character in the alaiyao a child with interest in any of the traditional musical instruments are taught or are encouraged to learn the following gong litgeth tikumbo sugangang subing is a stringed instrument likened to a guitar aside from epic chanting there are other oral literatures that are sung by the bukit nons these are ulauhai ambahan talda and dilot laohai are long stories but shorter than the epics and told in a chanting style ambahan on the other hand are chanted lines sang by the elders when they gather it expresses a longing or parting dilot is a chanted repertae with a general theme centered on love between a couple a young man and a woman or a parent and child while talda which is also a chanted repertaie is used to outwit or indirectly insult in a subtle manner the other person 23 years had lapsed since we first started working on the epics of an eye the sugi dan [Applause] and now we want to show to this present generation that these epics are their very own to value and to cherish dr margus has facilitated the digitalizing of the epics from the sensitive tape recording to dvds with the assistance of the up dilemma college of music they were transcribed and encoded with the help of our researchers the archive documents of the ten epics with thirteen volumes at the center for west design studies were secured and later on translated to kinaraya filipino and english eventually it will be an ebook copies and hard copies which will all be published by the up press there are many more that needs to be done and dr magus invites scholars and cultural workers to continue research on the epics in the bukidnon culture the works of dr magus and nonpedrin has gone far because of the dedication that they gave to resurrect a dying culture in the heartland of panay we are now recipients of a rich cultural heritage the place of the panay bukidnon and the recognition as an endogenous group has been secured it is a legacy that dr alicia magos and gamaba awardee federico caballero have bestowed upon us the panayanos 26 years at lapse since i started exploring central hanai for the presence of the epics i started translating the epics 23 years ago and now we have published epic one which is about to come out i wish to thank the university of the philippines for making possible the publication of the ethics as well as its popularization [Applause] um [Music] you