Mandirigma.org» Pre Colonial Philippines https://mandirigma.org Mandirigma Research Organization Fri, 23 May 2025 08:49:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6 Baybayin: Surat Bisaya https://mandirigma.org/?p=3868 https://mandirigma.org/?p=3868#respond Sun, 15 Mar 2020 11:40:59 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=3868  

Original Article from Prehispanic CEBU:

https://prehispaniccebu.wordpress.com/2020/11/02/surat-bisaya/?fbclid=IwAR0c3WbOE-USQB3V4Yy7paNkvV_qzKa-LyzrzOVYi1gaFFhlrSd9_bN4u5Y

 

 

Surat Bisaya

   Etymology and Origins   2 Minutes

House Bill 1022 or the “National Writing System Act” was previously approved last April 23, 2018 and declares Baybayin as the country’s national writing system and thus aims to put the script to use in street signs, public facilities, government halls, publications and even food labels. Many linguists, historians and several Filipinos were upset that other Philippine scripts are ignored.

Prehispanic writing system has enjoyed a resurgence over the past few years with some Filipinos taking interest in learning as their means of tracing one’s roots and connecting with one’s culture. Of our 17 accounted Philippine syllabaries, systems of consonant plus vowel syllables, only four (4) remain in use among indigenous communities of present-day according to UNESCO.

Brahmic Scripts

Prehispanic Philippine syllabaries are the writing systems that developed (and soon flourished) all over the Philippines. Many of the Southeast Asian writing systems clearly descended from ancient alphabets used in India over 2000 years ago. In the languages of Sumatra, Sulawesi as well as Philippines, the native name for letter, or script, is the indigineous term: surat. By the 21st century, various Filipino cultural organizations simply collectively referred the scripts as suyat.

The country’s surat–or suyat–are related closely to other Southeast Asian writing, nearly all are abugidas or alpha-syllabary where any consonant is pronounced with the inherent vowel /a/ following it; using diacritical marks to express other vowels. It developed from South Indian Brahmi scripts utilized in Asoka Inscriptions and Pallava Grantha–type of writings during the ascendancy of India’s Pallava dynasty around the 5th century.

Surat (Suyat)

Baybayin does not encompass an entirety of writing systems being just one of those 17 prehispanic scripts present around the Philippines. Widespread use was likewise reported among other coastal-groups like the Bisaya, Iloko, Pangasinan, Bikol, and Pampanga in the 16th century. H.B. 1022 critics worry that relegating the Baybayin would erase the diversity that continue to exist and also perpetuate Tagalog-centric national identity.

The Visayans have Surat Bisaya, Suwat Bisaya or Sulat Bisaya (aka Badlit; Surat is historically the more appropriate name for Visayan scripts). It is written from left to right and requires “no spaces” between words. Space is applied only after ends of a sentence or punctuation, although in its modern writing it usually contains spaces after each word to enhance readability of the narrative. Artifacts found with Surat inscriptions then deciphered through our Visayan language included the Calatagan Pot, Monreal Stones (two) and Limasawa Pot.

When the Spaniards arrived, they studied and used surat to communicate with the early Filipinos; and teach Catholicism. As Filipinos soon started to learn the Roman alphabet from the Spanish, the use of our native scripts especially in lowland places began to disappear. Meanwhile, surat of Sulu and Maguindanao were replaced by the Arabic alphabet around the 14th and 15th centuries, respectively.

Phonemes and Diacritics

Surat Bisaya has 20 (originally from 18) phonemes: 15 primary consonants and 5 (from 3) vowels. Basic consonants (or sinugdanan na katingog)–b, k, d, g, h, l, m, n, ŋ (ng), p, r, s, t, w, j (y)–followed by inherent vowel /a/, are as follows: Ba, Ka, Da, Ga, Ha, La, Ma, Na, Nga, Pa, Ra, Sa, Ta, Wa, Ya.

Five vowels (the pantingog) are: A, U, O, I, E. In prehispanic period, Bisaya only had three vowel-phonemes: /a/, /i/, and /u/. This was later expanded into five (5) with the introduction plus integration of some Hispanic-words: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/.

Kudlit (or diacritical marks) enables the writer to change the default /a/ sound of any of our basic consonants via using the same character. Put that kudlit below the syllable to change the consonants default vowel to /u/ or /o/, or above the syllable for /i/ or /e/. Spaniards even introduced to terminate consonants default vowel as well as various panulbok (“punctuation marks”).

 

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]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=3868 0 Keeping ‘balangay’ legacy alive By: Erwin M. Mascariñas https://mandirigma.org/?p=3790 https://mandirigma.org/?p=3790#respond Sun, 16 Feb 2020 22:19:28 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=3790 Keeping ‘balangay’ legacy alive

 

BUTUAN CITY, Agusan del Norte, Philippines — On Dec. 17 last year, two wooden boats docked at the port of nearby Nasipit town, in Agusan del Norte province, the modern gateway for goods and people in the Caraga region. They had earlier sailed from Palawan to Cebu in time for the launching of a 500-day countdown to the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Mactan next year.

The 18-meter and 21-meter boats are replicas of the “balangay,” a vessel used by mariners of an ancient civilization that developed along the mighty Agusan River during the third century. These balangay are navigated through the way of ancient mariners by relying on the position of the sun and stars, wind direction, cloud formations, wave patterns and bird flights.

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Tapping the traditional navigational methods would, in a way, “resurrect the seafaring spirit of our forefathers,” leading people to appreciate “what [they were] are capable of doing, … as adventurous seafarers and discoverers,” said Arturo Valdez, who led the crew.

 

 

The boats do not have modern navigational aids and are only equipped with small engines for use in case of emergency.“Now I am back here in Butuan City, the home of the balangay, hopefully to stir the conscience and revive the pride, and remind everyone here that the balangay is a Butuan boat, and that Butuan is the balangay,” Valdez said.

In 2006, Valdez organized the conquest by Filipino climbers of Mt. Everest.

 

To honor their arrival in Butuan, the city government hosted a welcome ceremony for Valdez and his crew.

Glorious past

The balangay, Valdez said, indicated that Butuan was once a center of trade and commerce in this part of the world, long before the arrival of the Spaniards.

Italian chronicler Antonio Pigafetta mentioned about the vessel in his accounts of Ferdinand Magellan’s voyage in the 1500s.

Historians have pointed out that jars found in an archaeological site in Butuan indicated that the city had trading ties with old kingdoms in its immediate neighborhood of Southeast Asia and China, and as far as Persia, now Iran.

“We have a boat that precedes even the Viking ships,” said Valdez, who has been using the balangay voyages since 2009 to talk about the Philippines’ precolonial past and drum up pride in it.

 

 

Archaeological excavations in Butuan City unearthed a skull and coffin, dating back to the 14th century, several meters from where an ancient balangay was found. Pottery shards were also recovered from a balangay in 2012.

The oldest balangay unearthed in Barangay Libertad in Butuan dates back to 320 AD. Other finds were dated around 900 AD and 1250 AD.

Treasure hunters discovered the ancient boats in 1976. Experts from the National Museum counted nine vessels, but in 2012, more diggings in the area yielded the tenth.

The boats have been declared national cultural treasures under Proclamation No. 86, issued by then President Corazon Aquino in March 1987.So far, remnants of three boats had been dug. A more complete boat is on display at the Maritime Hall of the National Museum in Manila while another is at a National Museum site in Libertad.

Replica

Excavations stopped in 2014 as funding ran short and access problems cropped up as the site sits on private property.

Efforts to revive the balangay legacy came when the three replicas were built starting 2009. The boats set off on a voyage, with Valdez leading the crew that used the traditional navigation methods.

Valdez tapped the centuries-old boat-building knowledge of the Sama people of Tawi-Tawi to build the balangay replicas. He sought permission from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to harvest local hardwood species, like red “lawaan,” apitong and “yakal,” to build the boats.

UNEARTHING HISTORY A technician of the National Museum cleans parts of a wooden plank of a “balangay” during an archaeological excavation in Butuan City eight years ago.

Work on one boat, named “Diwata ng Lahi,” was done at the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex next to Manila Bay while two — “Masawa Hong Butuan” and “Sama Tawi-Tawi” — were done in Butuan.

Diwata ng Lahi’s first voyage was on Sept. 1, 2009, sailing from Manila to Butuan and passing by 54 ports. On Feb. 4, 2010, Masawa Hong Butuan joined Diwata ng Lahi in a voyage to Zamboanga City and on to Sulu where the third boat, Sama Tawi-Tawi, caught up with them from Butuan.

By September that year, all three boats journeyed to Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore, and back to the Philippines. 

After the voyage, the Diwata ng Lahi was loaned to the National Museum as a cultural exhibit. So was the Masawa Hong Butuan in Butuan.

Two more balangay were built in 2016 for a journey to commemorate the 600th year since the 1417 voyage of Sulu Sultan Paduka Pahala, popularly known as Sultan Paduka Batara, from Maimbung, Sulu, to Dezhou, a city in China’s Shandong province.

For the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Mactan next year, the two replicas were named Raya Siyagu and Raya Kolambu in honor of the kings of Mazaua and Butuan, respectively.

More support

The building of the replicas has always been a private initiative. The first three boats were the fruits of collaboration among the TAO Community of Companies, Butuan Global Forum (BGF) and Kaya ng Pinoy Inc. Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan donated the wood materials, while private donors gave cash.

Today, the Sama Tawi-Tawi is docked in Palawan province, needing repairs.

Valdez and Jody Navarra of BGF cited the need for more support for the maintenance of the balangay as a way of continually reminding Filipinos of their rich history.

LOCAL TREASURE Remnants of the “balangay,” dated 320 AD, are on display at a National Museum site in Butuan’s Barangay Libertad. —PHOTOS BY ERWIN MASCARIÑAS

Agusan del Norte Rep. Lawrence Fortun, who is pushing for the declaration of balangay as the country’s national boat, said the government should take a big part in funding the initiatives. He also hoped to have the private estate in Libertad declared a national historical site so that full development could be undertaken, and to hasten the settlement of ownership over the land.

Butuan Mayor Ronnie Vicente Lagnada promised to keep the balangay legacy alive by building more replicas. Tours along the Agusan River using the balangay are already being planned, he said.

“It’s been more than a decade … I think it is time to pass on the torch and I think there is no other better place to pass this on than to the people of Butuan, to the home of the balangay,” Valdez said.

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Archaeological excavations in Butuan City unearthed a skull and coffin, dating back to the 14th century, several meters from where an ancient balangay was found. Pottery shards were also recovered from a balangay in 2012.

 

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UNEARTHING HISTORY A technician of the National Museum cleans parts of a wooden plank of a “balangay” during an archaeological excavation in Butuan City eight years ago.

 

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LOCAL TREASURE Remnants of the “balangay,” dated 320 AD, are on display at a National Museum site in Butuan’s Barangay Libertad. —PHOTOS BY ERWIN MASCARIÑAS

 

Original Article:

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1229287/keeping-balangay-legacy-alive?fbclid=IwAR1YggQXamckrHH40aFpZ0VxXZHUG53bmshIovcMwfycyVx1PrjbfsB_QWs&__cf_chl_captcha_tk__=c30e204c50e1ac76a137a385c13b422fe9de2256-1596233840-0-AXuOWxa3-3ruXH2IPDD24YANNzCanQGpoK6fNNdFBHNfjU-PVwFNZ6-XQAJR8TMflwId2ku4aZyPfcg5xHqjDb-IfMICNJLdsNVbwKf369M-8dE0Bw5N8jSQdAyvE0Nt7WTsOD4NWi_m8tq0ExPvIjq0u5s0a-dHEa4YTLgrF_bZh11kxLRb05xUXaODm336lVz9ACwvKVdCqUZoAgeoW0MnMHRfrBKqnXjxGcO-n_ohCNDK6-oJrZ-RfOJpSgpPSkAVooWJzx1VBQpaC6vk1ICLbbkMrpqRq_dtiPMO2IN30_9IJGUaFt8M7JzapYMb4WwRZJGz3eKHyeXa5NU3Cr82xktRJFY4pXZl-teojsjm8qWs5C3sqi4CrYoDzIUhE4RsoV10DlBjQDnuSDusVmpfXivdiEhnpm_bRAGOnMge2qWqunCdPejM-mJLvgd-vBsNGf1MTUmVDT-IM4GU5lPZsqdaZoILTRLjyNSrF0WmJpwB1tL3cOP-fEXDFER1eBiemr7WPpTpVtuC7uzrrlDi-dTkGJ01C3LM9KTdDqjhzyc6Rs5Jrz2mThIub6eks4iU9pBh3w2ko4DCdTqRiWAmMzbJKdcKEvx_-mRZZqbxbp2KsSM5-qQp3fThYZ_-jFSeVYIt5VAMqK1Yy5hYxxo

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=3790 0 Rajah Sulaiman III, Last Muslim King of Manila (1558 – 1575) – Written in Tagalog by Jose N. Sevilla and Tolentino in the early 1920′s https://mandirigma.org/?p=3538 https://mandirigma.org/?p=3538#respond Sun, 14 Oct 2018 19:55:51 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=3538

Rajah Sulaiman III, Last Muslim King of Manila (1558 – 1575) – Written in Tagalog by Jose N. Sevilla and Tolentino in the early 1920′s

Rajah Suliman, Last Muslim King of Manila

Rajah Sulaiman III (1558 – 1575) was the last native Muslim king of Manila, now the site of the capital of the Philippines, Manila. He was one of three chieftains, along with Rajah Rajah Lakandula and Adults, to have played a significant role in the Spanish conquests of the kingdoms of the Manila Bay-Pasig River area, first by Martín de Goiti, and Juan de Salcedo in 1570; and later by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1571

The following biography of Rajah Soliman was written in Tagalog by Jose N. Sevilla and Tolentino in the early 1920s:

 

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TALAMBUHAY NI RAHA SOLIMAN

Bago nagíng̃ Rahá si Solimán, ay nagíng̃ katulong̃ muna sa pang̃ang̃asiwà ng̃ mg̃a súliranin dito sa Maynilà, ni Raháng̃ Matandâ.

Si Lakán Dulà na nanánahanan sa Tundó ay siyá niyáng̃ kasama. Itó ay nang̃ kapanáhunan ni Raháng̃ Matandâ nang̃ taóng̃ 1570. Noón ay isáng̃ pulutóng̃ nang̃ mg̃a sasakyáng̃ kastilà na pinamumunuan ni Martin de Goití at Juan de Salcedo ang̃ dumaong̃ sa luók ng̃ Maynilà. Niyaóng̃ unang̃ datíng̃ dito niná Goití ay dî sila nakalunsád pagdaka. Ang̃ Maynilà, ay may matitibay na mg̃a muóg at sila’y pinaputukán at sinagupà.

Nabalitaan niláng isá sa mg̃a makapang̃yarihan doón ay si Solimán, kaya’t nagpadalá sina Goití rito ng̃ sugò na nagsásaysáy na silá’y dî naparito upáng̃ makidigmâ kundî upáng̃ makipagkásundô, at ang̃ ganitó’y tinugón sa pamamagitan ng̃ sugò, na ang̃ Hari sa Maynilà ay nagnanasà ng̃ makipagkaibigan sa mg̃a kastilà.

Pagtang̃gáp ni Goití ng̃ paklí ni Solimán ay nasók siyá at ang̃ kanyáng̃ mg̃a tao sa ilog ng̃ Pasig at silá’y lumunsád sa isáng̃ baybáy na itinakdâ ng̃ Harì. Sinalubong̃ silá ni Raháng Matandâ at nakipagkamáy sa kanilá, pagkaliban ng̃ iláng̃ sandali ay dumatíng si Rahá Solimán at nakipágkamáy din ng̃uni’t nagpasubalì ng̃ gayari: «Kamí ay nagnánasang̃ makipagkaibigan sa mg̃a kastilà samantalang̃ silá’y mabuti sa amin; ng̃uni’t mahíhirapan silá ng̃ gaya ng̃ hirap na tiniís na ng̃ ibá, kailán ma’t nasain niláng̃ kami’y alisán ng̃ puri».

Pagkaraán ng̃ iláng̃ araw si Goití ay nagkulang̃ sa pagkakáibigan sa pagpapaputók ng̃ kaniláng̃ kanyón, at si Rahá Solimán ay napilitang̃ magbago ng̃ kilos. Ipinawasák nitó ang̃ mg̃a sasakyán nina Goití at ipinapuksâ ang̃ kanyáng̃ mg̃a kawal.

Nápakabuti ang̃ pagtatang̃gól sa mg̃a kutà at dî nagawâ nang̃ mg̃a kastilà ang̃ makapasok agád, ng̃uni’t nang̃ mang̃asalantà ang̃ mg̃a tao ni Solimán at maubos na ang̃ mg̃a punlô ay napipilan din. At nang̃ makuha ng̃ mg̃a kastilà ang̃ Maynilà ay sinalakay ang̃ bahay ni Solimán at dito’y nátagpuán nilá ang̃ isáng̃ mainam na gusali, maiinam na kasang̃kapang̃ sigay, mg̃a damit na mariring̃al na nagkakahalagá ng̃ may 23.000 piso.

Hindî nagtaksíl kailán man si Solimán, gaya ng̃ ipinararatang̃ sa kanyá ng̃ mg̃a kastilà. Siyá’y tumupád lamáng̃ sa kanyáng̃ dakilang̃ katung̃kulan na makibaka sa sino mang̃ magnánasang̃ sumirà ng̃ kanyáng̃ kapuriháng̃ pagkaharì, at yáyamang̃ ang̃ mg̃a kastilà ay siyáng̃ nagpasimulâ ng̃ pagbabaka, ay siyá ay nagtang̃gól lamang̃ at natalo, ng̃uni’t hindî kailán man nagtaksíl.

Ang̃ kanyáng̃ pagibig sa sariling̃ Lupà ay nagudyók sa kanyáng̃ makibaka at siyá ay nakibaka dahil doón.

Kung̃ saán mákikitang̃ ang pagguhò ng̃ kaharian ni Solimàn ay utang̃ sa kagahaman ng̃ isáng̃ lahing̃ mang̃aalipin; sa isáng̃ pámahalaáng̃ pinagágaláw ng̃ lakás ng̃ lakás at di ng̃ lakás ng̃ katuwiran.

Kawawang̃ bayang̃ maliliít na linúlupig at ginágahasà ng̃ malalakíng bansâ.

Ang̃ daigdíg ay patung̃o sa pagunlád, at buhat niyaóng̃ 1914 na gahasain ang̃ Belhika, ang malalakíng̃ Bansâ ay nagsasapì at ipinagtang̃gól ang̃ katwiran ng̃ maliliít na bayan. Panibagong̃ kilos sa daigdíg na bung̃a ng̃ mayamang̃ diwà ng̃ dakilang̃ Wilson sa kaamerikahan.

 

kapisanang mandirigma

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=3538 0 Indigenous peoples of the Philippines https://mandirigma.org/?p=3491 https://mandirigma.org/?p=3491#respond Fri, 04 May 2018 10:54:43 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=3491 Indigenous peoples of the Philippines

kali arnis eskrima escrima lameco sulite mandirigma.org

384px-TribalPhilippinesTraditionalRange

 

Indigenous peoples of the Philippines

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The indigenous peoples of the Philippines consist of a large number of indigenous ethnic groups living in the country. They are the descendants of the original inhabitants of the Philippines who have managed to resist centuries of Spanish and United States colonization and in the process have retained their customs and traditions.[1]

In the 1990s, there were more than 100 highland tribal groups constituted approximately 3% of the population. The upland tribal groups were a blend in ethnic origin like other lowland Filipinos, although they did not have contact with the outside world. They displayed a variety of social organization, cultural expression and artistic skills. They showed a high degree of creativity, usually employed to embellish utilitarian objects, such as bowls, baskets, clothing, weapons and spoons. These groups ranged from various Igorot tribes, a group that includes the Bontoc, Ibaloi, Ifugao, Isneg, Kalinga and Kankana-ey, who built the Rice Terraces. They also covered a wide spectrum in terms of their integration and acculturation with lowland Christian and Muslim Filipinos. Native groups such as the Bukidnon in Mindanao, had intermarried with lowlanders for almost a century. Other groups such as the Kalinga in Luzon have remained isolated from lowland influence.

There were several indigenous groups living in the Cordillera Central of Luzon in 1990. At one time it was employed by lowland Filipinos in a pejorative sense, but in recent years it came to be used with pride by native groups in the mountain region as a positive expression of their ethnic identity. The Ifugaos of Ifugao Province, the Bontocs, Kalinga, Tinguian, the Kankana-ey and Ibaloi were all farmers who constructed the rice terraces for many centuries.

Other mountain peoples of Luzon are the Isnegs of northern Kalinga-Apayao Province, the Gaddangs of the border between Kalinga-Apayao, and Isabela provinces and the Ilongots of Nueva Vizcaya Province and Caraballo Mountains all developed hunting and gathering, farming cultivation and headhunting. Other indigenous people such as the Negritos formerly dominated the highlands throughout the islands for thousands of years, but have been reduced to a small population, living in widely scattered locations, primarily along the eastern ranges of the mountains.

In the southern Philippines, upland and lowland tribal groups were concentrated on Mindanao and western Visayas, although there are several indigenous groups such as the Mangyan living in Mindoro. Among the most important groups found on Mindanao are collectively called the Lumad, and includes the Manobo, Bukidnon of Bukidnon Province, Bagobo, Mandaya, and Mansaka, who inhabited the mountains bordering the Davao Gulf; the Subanon of upland areas in the Zamboanga; the Mamanua in the Agusan-Surigao border region; the Bila-an, Tiruray and Tboli in the region of the Cotabato province, and the Samal and Bajau in the Sulu Archipelago. The tribal groups of the Philippines are known for their carved wooden figures, baskets, weaving, pottery and weapons.

Reservation

The Philippine government succeeded in establishing a number of protected reservations for tribal groups. Indigenous people were expected to speak their native language, dress in their traditional tribal clothing, live in houses constructed of natural materials using traditional architectural designs and celebrate their traditional ceremonies of propitiation of spirits believed to be inhabiting their environment. They are also encouraged to re-establish their traditional authority structure in which, as in indigenous society were governed by chieftains known as Rajah and Datu.

Contact between “primitive” and “modern” ethnic groups usually resulted in weakening or destroying tribal culture without assimilating the indigenous groups into modern society. It seemed doubtful that the shift of the Philippine government policy from assimilation to cultural pluralism could reverse the process. Several Filipino tribes tends to lead to the abandonment of traditional culture because land security makes it easier for tribal members to adopt the economic process of the larger society and facilitates marriage with outsiders. In the past, the Philippine government bureaus could not preserve tribes as social museum exhibits, but with the aid of various nationwide organizations, they hoped to help the tribes adapt to modern society without completely losing their ethnic identity.

 

luzon visayas mindanao lameco eskrima mandirigma.org luzon visayas mindanao lameco eskrima mandirigma.org

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=3491 0 House panel approves use of Baybayin as country’s national writing system – Audrey Morallo (philstar.com) https://mandirigma.org/?p=3498 https://mandirigma.org/?p=3498#respond Mon, 23 Apr 2018 14:05:54 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=3498 https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/04/23/1808717/house-panel-approves-use-baybayin-countrys-national-writing-system

 

House panel approves use of Baybayin as country’s national writing system

Audrey Morallo (philstar.com) – April 23, 2018 – 7:05pm

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos may have to learn to write in and read Baybayin, a pre-Spanish script of the Philippines, after a House committee approved a bill designating it as the country’s official national writing system.

The House Committee on Basic Education and Culture has approved House Bill 1022, or the proposed “National Writing System Act,” which seeks to declare Baybayin as the Philippines’ national writing system, generate a greater awareness on its plight and develop wider appreciation for its importance and beauty.

The bill, filed by Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil (Pangasinan), was supported by the Department of Education, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and Buhayin, a Baybayin advocacy group.

“The importance of writing in general and of the alphabet in particular for the preservation and progress of civilization is incalculable,” Bataoil said in a press release from the House Press and Public Affairs Bureau.

 

If passed into law, the measure will require all manufacturers of locally-produced food products to inscribe Baybayin scripts and provide a Baybayin translation on their labels.

The proposed law will also mandate local government units to included Baybayin signs for street names, public facilities, public buildings and other necessary signage for public offices like hospitals, fire and police stations, community centers and government halls.

Newspapers and other print publications will also be required to provide a Baybayin translation of their names, according to the bill.

Government agencies will also be directed to disseminate knowledge and information about Baybayin by distributing reading materials on all levels of education and in government and private agencies and offices.

Bataoil said that these materials would raise awareness on Baybayin as the national writing system. He added that appropriate training should be conducted for the proper handling of these documents.

 

The NCAA together with DepEd, the Department of Interior and Local Government and the Commission on Higher Education will formulate the implementing rules and regulations of the bill.

 

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]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=3498 0 Evidence of pre-colonial FILIPINO MARTIAL ARTS by Perry Gil S. Mallari FIGHT Times Editor https://mandirigma.org/?p=2409 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2409#respond Sat, 24 May 2014 12:36:08 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2409 Evidence of pre-colonial FILIPINO MARTIAL ARTS

May 25, 2014 12:30 am

by Perry Gil S. Mallari FIGHT Times Editor

While there is scant mention of the specific names of the martial arts that pre-colonial Filipinos practiced, I believe that various prototypes of Filipino martial arts (FMA) were already in existence long before the arrival of Spain. To me, three things serve as indicators of the existence of indigenous FMA: organized method of warfare, metallurgical technology and sophisticated blade culture. All three aforementioned were chronicled by the Spaniards when they arrived in the Philippines.

 

A typical forge of iron workers in northern Luzon highlands (FROM THE BOOK THE TINGUIAN SOCIAL, RELIGIOUS, AND ECONOMIC LIFE OF A PHILIPPINE TRIBE BY FAY- COOPER COLE, 1922).

A typical forge of iron workers in northern Luzon highlands (FROM THE BOOK THE TINGUIAN SOCIAL, RELIGIOUS, AND ECONOMIC LIFE OF A PHILIPPINE TRIBE BY FAY- COOPER COLE, 1922).


 
Organized method of warfare

Asdang is the prehispanic Filipino term for hand-to-hand combat as mentioned by William Henry Scott in his excellent book Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society (1994), “Asdang was hand-to-hand combat. Bulu was a duel. Hulaw was a man known to be on the lookout for an enemy,” he wrote.

While it may be true that sheer number is the prime factor why the native army of Lapulapu defeated the forces of Magellan in Mactan, I am firm in my stand that the pre-colonial Filipinos were already schooled in their own methods of warfare.

Scott in his book wrote that the Visayan general term for warfare was gubat. He distinguished combat engagements into two—gahat (by land) and mangayaw (by sea). Salakay is the word used for attacking.”

On land attacks, he comments, “The preferred tactic on land was ambush—habon, saghid, hoom or pool—either by lying in wait or by such strategies as exposing a few agile warriors to enemy view to lure them into a trap. Sayang was to pass by hidden enemies unawares.”

Sulu warriors armed with swords and spears circa 1890s (PHOTO FROM THE PHILIPPINE PHOTOGRAPHS DIGITAL ARCHIVE, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN)

Sulu warriors armed with swords and spears circa 1890s (PHOTO FROM THE PHILIPPINE PHOTOGRAPHS DIGITAL ARCHIVE, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN)


 

Scott even referred to an individual tactic used while being pursued by the enemy as well as how the concept of death could affect a warrior’s psyche, “Pinaorihiyan was for a fleeing warrior to turn and spear his pursuer; naga kamatayan was to fight to the death; and mangin matay was a desperate man determined to die on the field of battle.”

Terminologies pertaining to military affairs also abound as the following lines from Scott’s book indicate, “Special roles connected with the conduct of war included away, enemy; bantay, sentinel; bila, allies; kagon, mediator; and laway, spy.”

 

Continue reading article here: http://www.manilatimes.net/evidence-of-pre-colonial-filipino-martial-arts-2/99117/

 

 

Evidence of pre-colonial FILIPINO MARTIAL ARTS

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2409 0 Comparative table of Baybayin variations by Pedro Paterno, 19th century. https://mandirigma.org/?p=2283 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2283#respond Fri, 31 Jan 2014 03:19:10 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2283 Comparative table of Baybayin variations

In the 19th century Pedro Paterno published this comparative table of the various baybayin variations.

Baybayin the correct term for our pre-Spanish syllabary not “Alibata”.

paterno

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2283 0 Baybayin – The Ancient Script of the Philippines by Paul Morrow https://mandirigma.org/?p=2121 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2121#respond Sun, 13 Oct 2013 22:14:05 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2121 Ang Baybayin

Baybayin – The Ancient Script of the Philippines  by Paul Morrow

 

This language of ours is like any other,
it once had an alphabet and its own letters
that vanished as though a tempest had set upon
a boat on a lake in a time now long gone.

“To My Fellow Children”,
attributed to Jose Rizal, 1869
English translation by P. Morrow

The tempest in Rizal’s verse struck the Philippines in the 16th century. It was the Spanish Empire and the lost alphabet was a script that is known today as the baybayin.

Contrary to the common misconception, when the Spaniards arrived in the islands they found more than just a loose collection of backward and belligerent tribes. They found a civilization that was very different from their own. The ability to read and write is the mark of any civilization and, according to many early Spanish accounts, the Tagalogs had already been writing with the baybayin for at least a century. This script was just beginning to spread throughout the islands at that time. Furthermore, the discovery in 1987 of an inscription on a sheet of copper in Laguna is evidence that there was an even more advanced script in limited use in the Philippines as far back as the year 900 C.E.  (See The Laguna Copperplate Inscription)

Continue at: http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/bayeng1.htm

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2121 0 Baybayin: The Lost Filipino Script (Part 1) by Indio Historian https://mandirigma.org/?p=2118 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2118#respond Sun, 13 Oct 2013 22:00:43 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2118 baybayin

Baybayin: The Lost Filipino Script (Part 1) by Indio Historian

The Baybayin as we know it today is an ancient Filipino system of writing, a set of 17 characters or letters that had spread throughout the Philippine archipelago in the sixteenth century. The graphic contours of the Baybayin are distinguished by smoothly flowing curvilinear strokes that convey both suppleness and strength.

For some history enthusiasts, never ever ever ever call Baybayin “Alibata”. This name was invented by Paul Versoza who thought that Baybayin came from Arabic and thus named it ‘Alif-bata,’ the first letters of the Arabic script. Recent studies suggest that Baybayin may have come from Sanskrit, the ancient Indian script, brought to the Philippine shores by Indian traders.

Where did the name Baybayin come from? The word ‘baybay’ in ancient Tagalog means ‘to spell’ or in modern Filipino, ‘syllable.’ As early as 900 AD, there are tidbits of evidences that the ancients in our islands had a sophisticated way of writing. As to why it quickly disappeared comes from the fact that we were never a print culture like China and Korea, that used paper and built large libraries of scrolls to preserve their history, their memory. Another factor is the effective colonization of Spain by the forcing of the houses of ‘natives’ to be gathered around a town-square called ‘reducciones’ close to the church and the alcaldes for the close supervision of the Spanish authorities.

Continue at: http://indiohistorian.tumblr.com/post/13097309564/baybayin-the-lost-filipino-script-part-1-the

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2118 0 Massive balangay ‘mother boat’ unearthed in Butuan By TJ DIMACALI,GMA News https://mandirigma.org/?p=1902 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1902#respond Mon, 05 Aug 2013 21:35:19 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1902 Massive balangay ‘mother boat’ unearthed in Butuan By TJ DIMACALI,GMA News
The largest sailing vessel of its kind yet discovered is being unearthed in Butuan City in Mindanao, and it promises to rewrite Philippine maritime history as we know it.
Estimated to be around 800 years old, the plank vessel may be centuries older than the ships used by European explorers in the 16th century when they first came upon the archipelago later named after a Spanish king, Las Islas Felipenas.
mandirigma.org kali arnis escrima eskrima
The find also underscores theories that the Philippines, and Butuan in particular, was a major center for cultural, religious, and commercial relations in Southeast Asia.

‘Nails’ the size of soda cans
National Museum archeologist Dr. Mary Jane Louise A. Bolunia, who leads the research team at the site, says almost everything about the newly-discovered “balangay” is massive.She holds up her hand and curls her fingers into a circle, as if grasping a soda can. “That’s just one of the treenails used in its construction,” Bolunia says.

An aptly descriptive term, a “treenail” is a wooden peg or dowel used in place of iron nails in boatbuilding.
So with “nails” that size, exactly how big is this boat?
Dr. Bolunia produces a piece of onionskin paper with a carefully-inked map of the archeological site. On the upper corner is a roughly pea pod-shaped boat wreck, about 15 meters long, one of nine similarly-sized balangays discovered at the site since the 1970′s.
But right next to it, discovered only in 2012, are what seem to be the remains of another balangay so wide that it could easily fit the smaller craft into itself twice over – and that’s just the part that’s been excavated so far.
Although the boat has yet to be fully excavated, it’s estimated to be at least 25 meters long.
Aside from the treenails, the individual planks alone are each as broad as a man’s chest – roughly twice the width of those used in other balangays on the site. The planks are so large that they can no longer be duplicated, because there are no more trees today big enough to make boards that size, according to Dr. Bolunia.
Proceeding with caution
Historians, and Bolunia herself, caution that much work still needs to be done before the boat can be conclusively dated and identified.”(The newly-discovered boat) will need more technical verification to establish its connection and relationship with the other boats already excavated, so that we can know its date, boat typology, and technology,” said Dr. Maria Bernadette L. Abrera, professor and chairperson of the Department of History at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, in an email interview.

“We have to be careful,” said Ramon Villegas, a scholar who has done extensive research on pre-colonial Philippine history. “There has not been enough time to study (the artifacts). It could be a Spanish boat or Chinese junk.”
Aside from carbon dating to determine the age of the wood, the construction techniques used and even the type of wood itself need to be ascertained before anyone can come to a definitive conclusion.
“Everything depends on the construction, on how the boat was built, before you can properly call it a ‘balangay’,” explains archeologist and anthropologist Dr. Jesus Peralta. He said he has yet to see the newfound boat for himself.
Nevertheless, the boat’s proximity to previous sites of buried balangays promises to send ripples through the academic world.
“It’s a ‘mother boat’,” Dr. Bolunia says with little hesitation, “and it’s changing the way we think about ancient Filipino seafarers.”
Rewriting Philippine history
It has long been established that Filipinos traveled across Southeast Asia as early as the 10th century, reaching as far as Champa – what is now the eastern coast of Vietnam – in groups of balangays.
These groups or flotillas have always been thought to consist of similarly-sized small vessels, an idea perpetuated by the term “barangay” – the smallest administrative division of the present-day Philippine government.
But, according to Dr. Bolunia, this new discovery suggests that these may just have been support vessels for a much larger main boat, where trade goods and other supplies were likely to have been held for safekeeping.
The discovery also suggests that seafaring Filipinos were much more organized and centralized than previously thought.

Butuan as a major center of culture and trade
“This balangay reinforces the findings of the earlier excavations about the role of Butuan as a commercial and population center in precolonial Philippines,” Abrera told GMA News.”Butuan seaport had long-time trade links with Champa and Guandong (China). You can retrace the importance of (the newly-discovered boat) by utilizing it as an archeological key to that period when Butuan was a busy link to the pan-Asian cultural and commercial intercourse,” historian Arnold M. Azurin told GMA News via Facebook chat.

In fact, Filipino seafarers were already exploring Asia over a thousand years ago, well ahead of our Chinese neighbors: as early as 1001, the Song Dynasty recorded the arrival of a diplomatic mission from the “Kingdom of Butuan.”

“In 1003 AD, a Butuan chieftain petitioned the Chinese Imperial Court to allow it to bring its products direct to Guandong—instead of using Champa as the entrepôt (main trading post),” Azurin added.

However, according to Azurin, the petition was declined because the Court insisted on regulating trade via Champa.

He also says that Butuan may also have played a major role in the spread of culture and religion in the Philippines long before Christianity and even Islam came to the islands.

“The boat’s possible deeper significance is that it may be one of the carriers of Hindu-Buddhist cultural influence in the Philippine Archipelago long before Islam and Christianity arrived here. Many scholars also say that the baybayin script arrived here through the same connection with Champa. Hence, you can deepen the cultural legacy of our ancestors,” Azurin said.

Older than Magellan and Jung He
While the newfound boat has yet to be accurately dated, its construction and position directly alongside a balangay from the 1200′s strongly suggest that it is also a balangay from the same time period.
If so, then the boat predates by hundreds of years Magellan’s arrival, and death, in the Philippines in 1521 and even the Chinese explorer Zheng He’s expedition across Asia in 1400.
“For more than a thousand years, the trade and settlement patterns and routes across Asia connected certain islands (of the Philippines), especially those with good harbors and steady supply of local products,” Azurin said.”Highly interesting is the mention of slaves-for-sale in (Magellan’s chronicler) Pigafetta’s account of the first circumnaviation: Raja Humabon boasted to Magellan that some boatloads of slaves had just left Cebu for Cambodia and Champa—likely in need of warm bodies for their wars of succession, or for new stonecutters for their megalithic shrines,” he added.

Could Filipino craftsmen have been deployed from Butuan to build ancient Asian monuments, like Angkor Wat?

“That’s a possible conjecture, considering that archeologists like Robert Fox, H. Otley Beyer and others have pointed out that some islands in southern Philippines had communities linked to (these places),” he said.

Continuing a seaworthy tradition

In any case, the “mother boat” and the  smaller balangays in Butuan were definitely made for exploring the high seas, according to Dr. Bolunia.
She says their overall shape and construction are suited to navigating deep ocean waters more than shallow rivers. The presence of a quarter rudder and sails would also indicate a sea-going vessel, although these have yet to be found, Dr. Bolunia says.
“That’s especially true for a boat this size,” she says of the giant balangay.
Even today, the Sama-Badjao of Sulu still practice boatbuilding techniques that are strikingly similar to those used in constructing the Butuan boats.
In 2010, replica balangays built by Sama-Badjao craftsmen and manned by Filipino adventurers completed a 14,000-km journey across Southeast Asia, proving the seaworthiness of the original balangays and the traditional woodcraft used to construct them.
One of the boats, the 15-meter-long “Diwata ng Lahi,” is now on permanent display outside the National Museum in Manila.

Textual evidence of large boats
Villegas believes it was only a matter of time before a boat of this size was found, pointing out the historical accounts about similarly grand Filipino vessels.
For example, Pigafetta also documented the existence of a boat fit for a king: “We saw come two long boats, which they call Ballanghai, full of men. In the largest of them was their king sitting under an awning of mats,” he wrote.
Native boats “intended for cargo capacity or seagoing raids” could be “as long as 25 meters,” said noted historian Dr. William Henry Scott in his book, “Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society“.
Scott also hinted at the existence of even more impressive vessels: “The most celebrated Visayan vessel was the warship called karakoa, (which) could mount forty (meter-long oars) on a side.”
“The care and technique with which (Filipinos) build them makes their ships sail like birds, while ours are like lead in comparison,” Scott quoted a Spanish priest as having written in 1667.
However, no large Filipino vessels have been discovered and excavated – until now, if the Butuan “mother boat” is indeed of ancient origins.
“Historians have always known there were other (large) boats. We should expect to find big boats because (we know) they existed,” Villegas said.
“It’s just that the National Museum only now has the funds to do the excavations. There’s a lot to be found even just in Butuan,” he added.
Lingering mysteries of Butuan
Dr. Bolunia and her team plan to return to Butuan in September to complete the excavation, and hopefully to date the massive new find.
They also plan to take a core sample from the ground in the hopes of answering one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the Butuan balangays.
Dr. Bolunia explains that the archeological site, although now inland, was once an alcove that opened out to the sea. She says that all the balangays were found ”drydocked” on what was once the Butuan seashore.
That the vessels were so well preserved is largely because they were buried intact, and the submergence of the area over succeeding centuries kept the wood from decaying.
But exactly how did the Butuan balangays get buried there in the first place?
Dr. Bolunia says there are two competing theories: either the boats were intentionally buried, or they were left behind after a sudden cataclysm  – such as a landslide from an earthquake.
If the boats were purposely abandoned, why did the builders take the trouble of burying them? But, on the other hand, where is the evidence of any natural calamity that might have befallen the boats and their builders?
These are among the many remaining questions that face probers of the Philippines’ ancient past. If Dr. Bolunia’s hunches are correct about the latest find in Butuan, the mother boat could be the key to unlocking answers about how our Filipino ancestors lived, explored, and fought.  — with Howie Severino/ELR, GMA News
]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1902 0 Cordillera People’s Flag – Igorot Autonomous Region – Northern Philippines https://mandirigma.org/?p=2029 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2029#respond Sun, 21 Jul 2013 21:09:45 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2029 Cordillera People's Flag (Igorot Autonomous Region)

Cordillera People’s Flag – Igorot Autonomous Region – Northern Philippines

Explanation of the flag
The Cordillera people are 7 interior people native to Cordillera mountains which stretch from North Borneo all the way to Luzon Island. The flag has 8 lances: 7 which represent the 7 interior people and 1 which represents the Tagalog people. The flag is also used with the letters CPDF in black under the emblem when it is used as the flag of the Cordillera People’s Democratic Front.

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2029 0 Documentary: Itinaga sa Bato – Baybayin Documentary written by Howie Severino and directed by Cris Sto. Domingo https://mandirigma.org/?p=2006 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2006#respond Sun, 21 Jul 2013 20:23:12 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2006 Documentary: Itinaga sa Bato – Baybayin Documentary written by Howie Severino and directed by Cris Sto. Domingo

 

Part 1

 

Part 2

 

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/227829/publicaffairs/iwitness/itinaga-sa-bato-documentary-by-howie-severino

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2010078/

Many Filipinos are in the dark about their pre-colonial past, or Philippine history before the Spaniards came.

That past is coming to light with Amaya, the first prime-time teleserye about Philippine society and culture before Europeans knew these existed. But even that history is based on what Spanish chroniclers wrote about the islanders they called indios.

A recently discovered stone may change all that. A doormat for many years outside a Masbate classroom, the stone slab was cleaned by school children, revealing beneath the hardened mud writing in the ancient Filipino script called baybayin.

Is it really a window into our pre-colonial past, or simply the work of a more recent hobbyist?

Howie Severino and his documentary team accompany scientists to Ticao Island in Masbate as they try to authenticate the stone’s origins and unlock its secrets. What does the writing say?

Their investigation leads Howie’s team’s to living baybayin writers in Manila trying to keep the ancient script alive, convinced that it is an essential element in Filipinos’ modern identity and a way for them to stand tall in a globalizing world where many languages, and the cultures they represent, are vanishing.

 

Itinaga sa Bato baybayin

 

 

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2006 0 Book review: “Baybayin Atbp.: Mga Pag-aaral at Pagpapayaman ng Kulturang Pilipino” – Why is baybayin relevant today? Ime Morales https://mandirigma.org/?p=2002 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2002#respond Sun, 21 Jul 2013 19:41:37 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2002

Baybayin Atbp book cover

Book review: Why is baybayin relevant today?

Text and photo by IME MORALES
If you think that baybayin, or the alibata, as it has come to be known in recent times, is simply our Filipino ancestors’ way of writing, then the contents of “Baybayin Atbp.: Mga Pag-aaral at Pagpapayaman ng Kulturang Pilipino” (Teresita B. Obusan, Raymond M. Cosare, and Minifred P. Gavino) will awaken your curiosity and, hopefully, your spirit. It is true, first of all, that baybayin is the indigenous writing form invented by our great grandfathers. But it is also true that it is much more than that.
During a September 28 lecture organized by UP Tomo-Kai in Palma Hall, UP Diliman, social worker and writer Dr. Teresita B. Obusan said that the baybayin is a symbol of our culture and a means to study and understand mysticism. She explained, “We did not copy this. It was created by our ancestors and it becomes us.”
In the booklet, which was printed earlier this year and written in the vernacular, she writes: “Baybayin is a gift from heaven, given to us through our ancestors; it is a legacy for the Filipino people… and it is our responsibility to take care of it and nurture it.”

 

Article continues at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/278915/lifestyle/reviews/book-review-why-is-baybayin-relevant-today

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2002 0 Boxer Codex Manuscript – circa 1595 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1736 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1736#respond Mon, 08 Oct 2012 12:51:30 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1736 Boxer Codex

Boxer Codex is a manuscript written circa 1595 which contains illustrations of Filipinos at the time of their initial contact with the Spanish. Aside from a description of and historical allusions to the Philippines and various other Far Eastern countries, it also contains seventy-five colored drawings of the inhabitants of these regions and their distinctive costumes. Fifteen illustrations deal with Filipinos. [1]

It is believed that the original owner of the manuscript was Luis Pérez das Mariñas, son of Governor General Gómez Pérez das Mariñas, who was killed in 1593 by the Sangleys (Chinese living in the Philippines). Luis succeeded his father in office as Governor General of the Philippines. Since Spanish colonial governors were required to supply written reports on the territotries they governed, it is likely that the manuscript was written under the orders of the governor. [2]

The manuscript’s earliest known owner was Lord Ilchester. The codex was among what remained in his collection when his estate, Holland House in London, suffered a direct hit during an air raid 1942. The manuscript was auctioned in 1947 and came into the possession of Prof. Charles R. Boxer, an authority on the Far East. It is now owned by the Lilly Library at Indiana University. [3]

The Boxer Codex depicts the Tagalogs, Visayans, Zambals, Cagayanons and Negritos of the Philippines in vivid colors. Except for the Chinese, however, its illustrations of inhabitants of neighboring countries are odd looking. This suggests that the artist did not actually visit the places mentioned from the text, but drew from imagination. Boxer notes that the descriptions of these countries are not original. The account of China, for example, was largely based on the narrative of Fray Martin de Rada. The technique of the paintings suggests that artist may have been Chinese, as does the use of Chinese paper, ink and paints. [4]

 

Native Pre-colonial inhabitants of the Philippines

 

Tagalog royalty mandirigma.org

Tagalog royalty and his wife, wearing the distinctive color of his class (red).

 

Tagalog maginoo (noble) mandirigma.org

Tagalog maginoo (noble) and his wife, wearing the distinctive color of his class (blue.

 

Visayan kadatuan (royal) couple mandirigma.org

A timawa or tumao (noble) couple, Visayan Pintados

 

Visayan kadatuan (royal) couple mandirigma.org

Visayan kadatuan (royal) couple

.

References

  1. ^ Alfredo R. Roces, et. al., eds., Boxer Codex in Filipino Heritage: the Making of a Nation, Philippines: Lahing Pilipino Publishing, Inc., 1977, Vol. IV, p. 1003.
  2. ^ Ibid., p. 1004.
  3. ^ Ibid., p. 1003.
  4. ^ Ibid.

 

 

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1736 0 Warrior’s Helmet (Oklop), Ifugao, 19th-early 20th c., National Gallery of Australia. https://mandirigma.org/?p=1594 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1594#respond Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:55:30 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1594 mandirigma kali arnis eskrima luzon visayas mindanao mandirigma kali arnis eskrima luzon visayas mindanao

Warrior’s Helmet (Oklop), Ifugao, 19th-early 20th c., National Gallery of Australia.

 

Courtesy of http://pupuplatter.tumblr.com

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1594 0 Helmet, Masbate, 19th c., Museo Nacional de Antropología, Madrid. https://mandirigma.org/?p=1591 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1591#respond Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:53:15 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1591 7 mandirigma kali arnis eskrima luzon visayas mindanao

Helmet, Masbate, 19th c., Museo Nacional de Antropología, Madrid.

 

Courtesy of http://pupuplatter.tumblr.com

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1591 0 Shield, Bagobo, c 1900-1910, Penn Museum. https://mandirigma.org/?p=1588 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1588#respond Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:45:53 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1588 6 mandirigma kali arnis eskrima luzon visayas mindanao 6 mandirigma kali arnis eskrima luzon visayas mindanao

Shield, Bagobo, c 1900-1910, Penn Museum.

 

Courtesy of http://pupuplatter.tumblr.com

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1588 0 Dagger Hilt, Butuan, 10th-13th c., Tony and Cecile Gutierrez Collection. https://mandirigma.org/?p=1575 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1575#respond Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:39:43 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1575 4 mandirigma kali arnis eskrima luzon visayas mindanao 4 4 mandirigma kali arnis eskrima luzon visayas mindanao 4

Dagger Hilt, Butuan, 10th-13th c., Tony and Cecile Gutierrez Collection.

 

Courtesy of http://pupuplatter.tumblr.com

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1575 0 Body Armor, Lanao del Sur, late 19th-early 20th c., British Museum. https://mandirigma.org/?p=1568 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1568#respond Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:27:43 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1568 mandirigma kali arnis eskrima luzon visayas mindanao 2 mandirigma kali arnis eskrima luzon visayas mindanao 2

Body Armor, Lanao del Sur, late 19th-early 20th c., British Museum.

 

Courtesy of http://pupuplatter.tumblr.com

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1568 0 “Comisión encargada por el Sultán de Joló de visitar al Capitán General de las Islas Filipinas,” La Ilustración Española y Americana,” 1879. https://mandirigma.org/?p=1562 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1562#respond Wed, 07 Mar 2012 08:23:09 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1562 mandirigma kali arnis eskrima luzon visayas mindanao mandirigma kali arnis eskrima luzon visayas mindanao

“Comisión encargada por el Sultán de Joló de visitar al Capitán General de las Islas Filipinas,” La Ilustración Española y Americana,” 1879.

 

Courtesy of http://pupuplatter.tumblr.com

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1562 0 Indigenous peoples of the Philippines https://mandirigma.org/?p=1457 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1457#respond Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:06:00 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1457 kali arnis eskrima escrima lameco sulite mandirigma.org

Indigenous peoples of the Philippines

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The indigenous peoples of the Philippines consist of a large number of indigenous ethnic groups living in the country. They are the descendants of the original inhabitants of the Philippines who have managed to resist centuries of Spanish and United States colonization and in the process have retained their customs and traditions.[1]

In the 1990s, there were more than 100 highland tribal groups constituted approximately 3% of the population. The upland tribal groups were a blend in ethnic origin like other lowland Filipinos, although they did not have contact with the outside world. They displayed a variety of social organization, cultural expression and artistic skills. They showed a high degree of creativity, usually employed to embellish utilitarian objects, such as bowls, baskets, clothing, weapons and spoons. These groups ranged from various Igorot tribes, a group that includes the Bontoc, Ibaloi, Ifugao, Isneg, Kalinga and Kankana-ey, who built the Rice Terraces. They also covered a wide spectrum in terms of their integration and acculturation with lowland Christian and Muslim Filipinos. Native groups such as the Bukidnon in Mindanao, had intermarried with lowlanders for almost a century. Other groups such as the Kalinga in Luzon have remained isolated from lowland influence.

There were several indigenous groups living in the Cordillera Central of Luzon in 1990. At one time it was employed by lowland Filipinos in a pejorative sense, but in recent years it came to be used with pride by native groups in the mountain region as a positive expression of their ethnic identity. The Ifugaos of Ifugao Province, the Bontocs, Kalinga, Tinguian, the Kankana-ey and Ibaloi were all farmers who constructed the rice terraces for many centuries.

Other mountain peoples of Luzon are the Isnegs of northern Kalinga-Apayao Province, the Gaddangs of the border between Kalinga-Apayao, and Isabela provinces and the Ilongots of Nueva Vizcaya Province and Caraballo Mountains all developed hunting and gathering, farming cultivation and headhunting. Other indigenous people such as the Negritos formerly dominated the highlands throughout the islands for thousands of years, but have been reduced to a small population, living in widely scattered locations, primarily along the eastern ranges of the mountains.

In the southern Philippines, upland and lowland tribal groups were concentrated on Mindanao and western Visayas, although there are several indigenous groups such as the Mangyan living in Mindoro. Among the most important groups found on Mindanao are collectively called the Lumad, and includes the Manobo, Bukidnon of Bukidnon Province, Bagobo, Mandaya, and Mansaka, who inhabited the mountains bordering the Davao Gulf; the Subanon of upland areas in the Zamboanga; the Mamanua in the Agusan-Surigao border region; the Bila-an, Tiruray and Tboli in the region of the Cotabato province, and the Samal and Bajau in the Sulu Archipelago. The tribal groups of the Philippines are known for their carved wooden figures, baskets, weaving, pottery and weapons.

Reservation

The Philippine government succeeded in establishing a number of protected reservations for tribal groups. Indigenous people were expected to speak their native language, dress in their traditional tribal clothing, live in houses constructed of natural materials using traditional architectural designs and celebrate their traditional ceremonies of propitiation of spirits believed to be inhabiting their environment. They are also encouraged to re-establish their traditional authority structure in which, as in indigenous society were governed by chieftains known as Rajah and Datu.

Contact between “primitive” and “modern” ethnic groups usually resulted in weakening or destroying tribal culture without assimilating the indigenous groups into modern society. It seemed doubtful that the shift of the Philippine government policy from assimilation to cultural pluralism could reverse the process. Several Filipino tribes tends to lead to the abandonment of traditional culture because land security makes it easier for tribal members to adopt the economic process of the larger society and facilitates marriage with outsiders. In the past, the Philippine government bureaus could not preserve tribes as social museum exhibits, but with the aid of various nationwide organizations, they hoped to help the tribes adapt to modern society without completely losing their ethnic identity.

 

luzon visayas mindanao lameco eskrima mandirigma.org luzon visayas mindanao lameco eskrima mandirigma.org

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1457 0 BOOK: MAGAGANDANG SALAYSAY Andrea Amor Tablan & Ursula E. Calma, 1950 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1228 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1228#respond Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:25:35 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1228


Description: Interesting stories, from Philippine myths and legends. Some of the stories are: The first people on earth; Ang Inahin, Legend of Mayon, The butterfly and the worm, the airplane, Ang Mayaman at Mahirap. Illustrated, large fonts.  All stories are in Tagalog.

Publisher: Philippine Book Co. 1950

Pages: 165

 

KALI ARNIS

 

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1228 0 Book: The Collection of Primitive Weapons and Armor of the Philippine Islands in the United States National Museum by Herbert W. Krieger https://mandirigma.org/?p=1215 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1215#respond Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:45:49 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1215 Plates from:
Herbert W. Krieger’s
The Collection of Primitive Weapons and Armor of the Philippine Islands
in the United States National Museum
Smithsonian Institution; United States National Museum, Bulletin 137 (1926)

 

ilustrisimo lameco ilustrisimo lameco

Plate 1. Philippine weapons of offense and defense. Spears, lances, and halberds. Bows, arrows, and arrow cases. Blowguns, darts, and dart cases. Clubbed weapons and shields. Hand weapons for piercing and stabbing. Bolos. Cutting and slashing blades. Swords for cutting and chopping. Beheading swords. Head axes. Straight and wavy krisses. Circular shields for parrying and targets. Oblong, pronged, clubbed, and tufted shields of hollowed wood. Body. armor of horn, hide, cordage, and fiber construction.
Plate 2. Projectile weapons: Blowguns, bows, arrows and darts, quiver and dart case. No. 1. Palmwood bow; highly polished, grooved, concavo-convex self-bow. Negritos, Zambales Mountains, Island of Luzon. 2. Heavy palmwood self-bow; flat surfaces, slightly concave on inner side. Negritos, Negros, Visayan Island, P.I. 3. Palmwood bow wrapped with rattan. Bagobo, Mindanao. 4. Palmwood bow; cord of bamboo splint. Moro, Mindanao. 5. Bamboo blowgun: Surface decorated with burned spiral bands and rings; lining tube of reed, sight elevation. Batak, Island of Palawan, Philippine Archipelago. 6. Arrow case of bamboo provided with rattan basketry cap. Moro, western Mindanao. 7.Blowgun darts and dart case. Batak, Palawan Island.
Plate 3. Simple and compound arrowheads of palmwood and bamboo. No. 1. Palmwood arrowhead and bamboo shaft. Moro, Mindanao. 2. Reed arrow with palmwood foreshaft. Moro, Mindanao. 3. Bamboo arrow with palmwood foreshaft; poisoned bamboo arrow point inserted in foreshaft. Bikol, Luzon. 4. Large arrow of bamboo with arrowhead of split bamboo, Bagobo, Mindanao. 5. Triagular shape arrowhead of bamboo, harpoon shaft. Negritos, Zambales Mouutains, Luzon. 6. Barbed, triangular bamboo arrowhead, harpoon shaft. Negritos, Zambales Mountains, Luzon Island. 7. Fish arrow with compound head of bamboo. Bagobo, Mindanao. 8. Three-pronged or trident compound arrow. Negritos. Zambales Mountains, Luzon.
Plate 4. Metallic harpoon and arrowheads provided with barbed, hastate, three-pointed, harpoon, and composite points. Shaftments. No. 1. Short, flat, lanceolate arrowhead,designed to make a large wound and to cause profuse bleeding. Negritos Zambales Mountains. 2. Long, triangular, iron arrow point, palmwood foreshaft, unfeathered cane shaft. Moro, western Mindanao. 3. Small, lanceolate shape iron arrowhead, long bamboo shaft; heavy palmwood foreshaft, bulbous at the base. Old Bikol arrow type. 4. Leaf-shape arrow point of sheet copper, bamboo shaft, foreshaft of wood fast set in shaft with resin. Moro. 5. Feathered bamboo shaft, large lanceolate shape arrow point. Negritos, Luzon. 6. Leaf-shape iron arrowhead of excellent workmanship socketed on hardwood shaft, no foreshaft. Moro, Jolo Archipelago. 7. Large feathered bamboo shaft, hastate shape iron arrow point. Negritos, Luzon. 8. Small triangular iron head, palmwood foreshaft, reed shaft. Moro, Mindanao. 9. Ferruled wooden shaft, long hastate shape barbed iron arrow point. Moro. 10. Long quadrangular barbed iron arrowhead. Negritos, Luzon. 11-13. Composite arrow shaftments; feathered shaft provided with lanyard and retrieving cord, barbed toggle harpoon type of arrow point. Designed for hunting pigs. Negritos.
Plate 5. Ceremonial, war, fishing, and hunting spears: Barbed, serpentine, harpoon, and compound types of iron and steel spearheads. No. 1. Hunting spear, harpoon type, bilaterally barbed. Moro, Mindanao. 2. Compound spearhead provided with three barbed prongs for use in fishing. Moro, Sulu Archipelago. 3. Serpentine form of steel spearhead socketed on palmwood shaft, shaft wound with plaited rattan and ferruled with brass. Mindanao. 4. Serpentine shape steel lance blade socketed on wooden shaft. Moro, Mindanao. 5. Iron war spear: Bilaterally recurved barbs, palmwood shaft wrapped with braided rattan, iron ferrule. 6. War spear: Hastate shape spear point provided with recurved guard barbs, metal tang inserted in hardwood shaft. Northern Luzon. 7-12. War spears: Multiple barbed iron spear points, short hardwood shafts, wrapped with braided rattan ferrules, iron cap or spud socketed on base of shafts. Igorot, northern Luzon. 11. Ceremonial spear provided with multiple barbs to frighten spirits or “anitos.” Igorot, northern Luzon.
Plate 6. Spears used ceremonially and in war; shafts ornamented and figured with brass and silver overlay. No. 1. Cane shaft, rough-surfaced iron blade of good form. Moro. 2. Elliptic spearhead of iron with socket. Igorot, Luzon. 3. Bilaterally barbed iron spearhead with socket. Luzon. 4. Brass pike head: Two mythical bird figures supporting blade. Blade and socket engraved with geometric figures. Moro. 5. Fine workmanship in iron shown in deeply grooved and socketed spearhead; shaft ferruled with figured silver. Shaft is tasseled and capped with a spud of carabao horn at base. Moro, Mindanao. 6. Head of fine ironwork, deeply grooved and provided with median ridge. Ferrule of brass, collar cord and tassel, rattan shaft capped with spike at basal end, Moro. 7-8. Steel blades, shafts of palmwood wrapped with brass wire: Figured brass ferrule, Bagobo, southeastern Mindanao. 9. Long Iron blade, iron ferrule at neck; handed rings of rattan on shaft, tassel cord. Moro, Mindanao. 10. Blade of iron, thickened at distal end and tapering toward shaft, hardwood shaft ferruled with rattan and punched with brass rivets. Northern Luzon. 11. Short and broad iron spearhead fastened to rattan shaft by iron tang. Looped cord attached to neck of blade and to foreshaft of hardwood. Moro, Mindanao. 12. Finely wrought-iron spearhead; brass ferrule and iron shaft socket; hardwood shaft wound with spirals of figured brass and sheathed with alternating brass and silver hands. Bagobo, Mindanao.
Plate 7. Slashing and chopping blades: Kampilan and talibong. No. 1. Straight-edged steel kampilan, captured by the expedition under Capt. J. J. Pershing, 1903. Moro, Lake Lanao, Mindanao. 2. Curved and spiked steel talibong. Bagobo, Mindanao. 3. Curved and spiked talibong (grass cutter). Moro, Lake Lanao, northern Mindanao. 4. Kampilan blade with arabesque (floriated) etching on blade surfaces. Moro, Lake Lanao region, northern Mindanao.
Plate 8. Basketry bolo cases and knife sheaths. No. 1. Basketry parang and bolo scabbard. Rattan splints woven in hexagonal openwork at sides; framework of rattan. Basilan Island, Sulu Archipelago. 2. Combined knife sheath and reticule. Made from multiple folds of bast fiber; suspension cord of abaca. Batak, Palawan Island. 3. Bamboo bolo case. Cylindrical joint of bamboo with one end plugged with a split wooden disk; bound with braided rattan. Batak, Palawan Island, 4. Basketry bolo case made of woven rattan with wood base; suspension cord with belt attachment. Basilan Island.
Plate 9. Two-handed chopping and cutting parangs. No. 1. Heavy steel beheading blade “tabas.” Curved and truncated like a scimitar; long curved double-handle grip wrapped with braided rattan and inlaid with lime. Moro, Malabang, Mindanao. 2. Heavy chopping blade “talibong,” double sigmoid curve. Two-handed carved wooden handle hooped with brass bands. Moro, Mindanao. 3. Headsman’s ax “talibong.” Moro, western Mindanao. 4. Beheading sword and chopping blade “talibong.” Heavy double-edged curved blade. Moro, Mindanao. 5. Heavy two-edged blade with sigmoid curve. Hexagonal wooden handle curved and wound with rattan splints. Moro, Mindanao. 6. Broad backed, deeply concave blade “pirah.” Convexly curved cutting edge and long point. Elbow at base of blade near guard piece similar to the parang-latok of the Dyaks of Borneo; figured wood handle provided with symbolic recurved horns and median spike. Southern and Visayan Islands.
Plate 10. Head axes. Primitive Malayan and Indonesian tribes of north central Luzon. No. 1. Head-hunter’s ax. Hardwood handle ferruled and shod with silver and brass bands. Kalinga, north central Luzon. 2. Head ax. Made of iron with bowed back and crescentic cutting edge; metal tang set in hardwood handle provided with long, hourglass-shape iron ferrule; handle equipped with carved hand-fitting grip and spur extension for hand support; plain surfaced. Kalinga, north central Luzon. Plate 11. The barong: Specialized ornamental parang types. No. 1. Lanceolate shape broad-backed steel blade of exceptional excellence; hardwood handle grip sheathed with silver; pommel fashioned of dugong ivory in ornamental pattern of scrolls and fretwork; characteristic flat-surfaced hardwood scabbard. Moro, Mindanao. 2. Lanceolate broad-backed blade; handle shod with ferruled silver bands and silver-braided wire; scrolled hardwood pommel. Presented to President Theodore Roosevelt by the Samal Moro, Basilan Island.
Plate 12. The bolo: Combination piercing and chopping weapons; agricultural knives and jungle tools. No. 1. Curved blade of steel with flattened surface on inner side and median ridge on beveled outer surface; octagonal hardwood handle. Tagalog, central Luzon. 2. Bolo with steel blade point broken off. Handle consists of elaborately carved carabao horn. Luzon. 3. Broad-backed steel blade provided with convex cutting edge; handle completely shod with figured brass. Bagobo, southern Mindanao. 4. Bolo having chased iron blade inlaid with soft metal; beautifully carved carabao-horn handle. Cebu, Visayan Islands. 5. Boy’s barong; small elliptic steel blade; carved hardwood handle ferruled with silver bands and braided silver cord. Taken in 1913 at Mount Talipao, Mindanao. 6. Steel blade, “pirah” acutely pointed and convexly curved; provided with sharp downward curve near handle similar to the Malayan parang-latok; hardwood handle equipped with symbolic recurved horns and spike. Cebu, Visayan Islands. 7. Concavo-convex grooved steel blade; brass-shod handle and guard spike. Bagobo, southern Mindanao. 8. Kampilan-bolo type; chain ornament on hardwood pommel. Bagobo, southeastern Mindanao. 9. Grotesque totemic or wyang carving on wood handle; circular guard of wood; old type of Malay weapon. Panay, Visayan Islands. 10. Pirah. Cutting edge of blade has sweeping convex curve; heavy, concave blade back; truncated slope at point; handle fashioned of carabao horn and provided with long extension arm support. Moro, Basilan Island.
Plate 13. Hand weapons for cutting, piercing, and stabbing: Knives and daggers. No. 1. Dagger; triangular sectioned, curved, and pointed blade; single cutting edge; carved wood handle. Quinapundar, Samar Island. 2. Dagger “bala-rao”; hastate shape double-edged blade; handle provided with a peculiar finger-fitting grip consisting of extended tang and two horns; silver ferrule at center. Chief defense weapon of the Mandayan, southeastern Mindanao. 3. Woman’s knife. Blade curved, designed for striking a slanting blow. Bagobo, southeastern Mindanao. 4. Plain dirk-dagger having curved blade, ferruled wooden handle, and circular guard. Moro, Mindanao. 5. Serpentine Malay dagger; grotesque dugong ivory carving on hilt. Collected by the United States exploring expedition, 1838-1842, under Admiral Wilkes. 6. Malay dagger; curved wooden pistol shape hilt; characteristic serpentine figure carving; straight-edged blade. Wilkes exploring expedition. 7. Serpentine kris-dagger; plain horn handle; engraved circular silver guard and ferrule. Moro, Mindanao. 8. Malay dagger; laminated blade; figured and carved handle of wood. Dyak, Pasir River, southeast Borneo. 9. Punal de kris; blade chased on surface section near handle; wood handle set in socketed brass ferrule. Moro, Mindanao. 10. Dagger; curved, double-edged blade; curved plain wood handle. Moro, Mindanao. 11. Dagger having saberlike blade; metal guard provided with volute tips; carved wood handle; blade chased and inlaid with soft metal at back. Moro, Jolo. 12. Dagger; serpentine blade; metal cross guard; spiral fluted grip of Camagon wood. 13. “Insurrecto” sword-dagger chased blade, pointed and double edged; cross guard; horn handle inlaid with shell mosaic; symbolically figured pommel.
Plate 14. Types of wavy and straight-edged krisses. Moro, Mindanao, and Sulu Archipelago. No. 1. Old type of serpentine grooved blade provided with ornamental guard piece and sword breaker fastened with single stirrup; round wooden grip covered with bands of braided rattan. Moro, Mindanao. 2. Datto’s kris, of recent production; blade inlaid with sinuous, dragonlike pattern in yellow metal; grip of wood. Lake Lanao, Moro, Mindanao. 3. Serpentine blade inlaid with figured patterns in yellow brass; improvised handle of wood. Moro, Mindanao. 4. Long, tapering serpentine blade; curved guard of silver; elaborately carved horn handle. Kris type showing Spanish influence. 5. Slightly sinuous steel blade; handle wrapped with braided waxed cord on grip section; carved pommel of sea cow ivory; plain old-style wood scabbard. Moro. 6. Straight-edged, slightly curved blade; handle covered with braided cord bands which also serve to fasten spiked stirrup extension for fastening guard and handle to blade. Moro. 7. Serpentine blade; hardwood handle overlaid with banded sheet silver and braided silver cord; crutch-shaped pommel of solid silver. Jolo Island. 8. Serpentine blade; grooved and inlaid with gold metal; single stirrup; wood handle banded with silver and wrapped with silver braid; carved cockatoo-shape ivory pommel. Admiral Wilkes exploring expedition, 1838 -1842. 9. Straight-edged blade, etched and inlaid with copper; wrapped plain flat wood handle. 10. Very old type of grooved flame-shaped blade; symbolically carved ivory figurine on pommel; three-sectioned wood scabbard. Collected by the expedition under Capt. J. J. Pershing, 1903. Lake Lanao, Mindanao.
Plate 15. Plumed helmets of brass; coats of chain mail provided with plates of brass and horn. Moro, Mindanao, and Jolo Islands. Nos. 1-2. Plumed, crested, and figured brass helmets; Moro manufacture, but modeled after design of fifteenth century Spanish burganet. Jolo Island. 3. Cuirass of chain armor and brass plates; chain links taken from old Spanish armor; brass plates of Moro Manufacture. Moro, Mindanao. 4. Cuirass of chain armor; plates of carabao horn highly polished and overlaid with ornamental figures in silver. Moro manufacture, Mindanao.
Plate 16. Negrito man drawing bow, showing method of arrow release. (Two cuts.) Pampanga Province, Luzon. Plate 17. Negrito man drawing bow, showing types of simple iron arrow points (above) and of composite harpoon arrow types (below).
Plate 18. Igorot men carrying characteristic weapons, including pronged shields, spears, and head axes. Bontok, north central Luzon. Plate 19. Tinggian hunters, showing type of hardwood bow together with arrows provided with bamboo points and spurred foreshaft. Abra, Benguet Province, north Luzon.
Plate 20. Guingas man garbed in maroon jacket. Young Bagobo warriors provided with their characteristic side arms. Davao Province, southeastern Mindanao.
Plate 21. Bagobo warriors In full dress and completely equipped with weapons of their own manufacture. Davao Province, Mindanao.

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1215 0 Ilustration: Early Sulu Warriors and Weapons & Ilanoan Warrior https://mandirigma.org/?p=1193 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1193#respond Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:08:39 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1193 www.mandirigma.org kali arnis eskrima

 

http://woodside.blogs.com/.a/6a00d8341f9d6353ef0120a5d8f0cc970c-800wi

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1193 0 The Filipino People – Early contacts of the Malays and Hindus, and the rise Islam https://mandirigma.org/?p=3216 https://mandirigma.org/?p=3216#respond Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:33:13 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=3216 Original Source: https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/792/the-filipino-people-early-contacts-of-the-malays-and-hindus-and-the-rise-islam

The Filipino People – Early contacts of the Malays and Hindus, and the rise Islam

 

More than two thousand years ago, India produced a remarkable civilization. There were great cities of stone, magnificient palaces, a life of splendid luxury a highly organized social and political system. Writing known as Sanskrit have been developed. Two great religions, Brahminism and Buddhism, arose, the latter still the dominant religion of Tibet, China, and Japan. The people who produced this civilization are known as the Hindus. Fourteen or fifteen hundred years ago Hinduism spread over Burma, Siam, and Java. Great cities were erected with splendid temples and huge idols, the ruins of which still remain, though their magnificence has gone and they are covered today with the growth of the jungle.

This powerful civilization of the Hindus, established thus in Malaysia, greatly affected the Malayan people on these islands, as well as those who came to the Philippines. Many words in the Tagalog have been shown to have a Sanskrit origin, and the systems of writing which the Spaniards found in use among several of the Filipino peoples had certainly been developed from the alphabet then in use among these Hindu peoples of Java.

A few hundred years later another great change, due to religious faith, came over the Malayan race – a change which has had a great effect upon the history of the Philippines, and is still destined to modify events far into the future. This was the conversion to Islam. Of all the great religions of the world, Mohammedanism was the last to arise, and its career has in some ways been the most remarkable. Mohammed, its founder, was an Arab, born about 572 A.D. At that time Christianity was established entirely around the Mediterranean and throughout most of Europe, but Arabia was idolatrous. Mohammed was one of those great, prophetic souls which arise from time to time in the world’s history. All he could learn from Hebraism and Christianity, together with the result of his own thought and prayers, led him to the belief in one God, the Almighty, the Compassionate, the Merciful, who as he believed would win all men to His knowledge through the teachings of Mohammed himself. Thus inspired, Mohammed became a teacher or prophet, and by the end of his life he had won his people to his faith and inaugurated one of the greatest eras of conquest the world has seen.

The armies of Arabian horsemen, full of fanatical enthusiasm to convert the world to their faith, in a century’s time wrested from Christendom all Judea, Syria, and Asia Minor, the sacred land where Jesus lived and taught, and the countries where Paul and the other apostles had first established Christianity. Thence they swept along the north coast of Africa, bringing to an end all that survived of Roman power and religion, and by 720 they had crossed into Europe and were in possession of Spain. For the nearly eight hundred years that followed, the Christian Spaniards fought to drive Islam from the peninsula, before they were successful.

Not only did Islam move westward over Africa and Europe, it was carried eastward as well. Animated by their faith, the Arabs became the greatest sailors, explorers, merchants, and geographers of the age. They sailed from the Red Sea down the coast of Africa as far as Madagascar, and eastward to India, where they had settlements on both the Malabar and Coromandel coasts. Thence Arab missionaries brought their faith to Malaysia.

At that time the true Malays, the tribe from which the common term “Malayan” has been derived, were a small people of Sumatra. At least as early as 1250 they were converted to Islam, brought to then by these Arabian missionaries, and under the impulse of this mighty faith they broke from their obscurity and commenced that great conquest and expansion that has diffused their power, language, and religion throughout the East Indies.

A powerful Muslim Malay settlement was established on the western coasts of Borneo probably as early as 1400. The more primitive inhabitants, like the Dyaks, who were a tribe of the primitive Malayans, were defeated, and the possession of parts of the coast taken from them. From this coast of Borneo came many of the adventurers who were traversing the seas of the Philippines when the Spaniards arrived.

The Muslim population of Mindanao and Jolo owes something certainly to this same Malay migration which founded the colony of Borneo. But the Magindanao and Illanon Moros seem to be largely descendants of primitive tribes, such as the Manobo and Tiruray, who were converted to Islam by Malay and Arab proselyters. The traditions of the Magindanao Moros ascribe their conversion to Kabunsuan, a native of Johore, the son of an Arab father and Malay mother. He came to Magindanao with a band of followers, and from him the datos of Magindanao trace their lineage. Kabunsuan is supposed to be descended from Mohammed through his Arab father Ali, and so the datus of Magindanao to the present day proudly believe that in their veins flows the blood of the Prophet.

Islam was still increasing in the Philippines when the Spaniards arrived. The Muslims already had a foothold on Manila Bay, and their gradual conquest of the Archipelago was interrupted only by the coming of the Europeans. It is a strange historical occurrence that the Spaniards having fought with the Muslims for nearly eight centuries for the possession of Spain, should have come westward around globe towards the Philippine Islands and there resumed their anchient conflict with them. Thus the Spaniards were the most determined opponents of Islam on both its western and eastern frontiers. Their ancient foes who crossed into Spain from Morocco had been always known as “Moros” or “Moors,” and quite naturally they gave these new Muslim enemies the same title an Moros they are called to the present day.

Such, then, were the elements which form the population of these islands, a few thousands of the little Nigretos; many wild mountain tribes of the primitive Malayans; a later immigration of Malayans of higher cultivation and possibilities than any that preceeded them who had been influenced by the Hinduism of Java and who have had in recent centuries an astonishing growth both in number an in culture, and last; the fierce Muslim sea-rover, the true Malays.

Source:

History of the Philippines, David P. Barrows, page 36-41, Chicago: World book company, 1926,
University of Michigan, Special Collections (digital) Library.

malays

 

The Malays (Photo credit: http://www.sabrizain.org/)

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=3216 0 Rajah Sulaiman III, Last Muslim King of Manila (1558 – 1575) – Written in Tagalog by Jose N. Sevilla and Tolentino in the early 1920′s https://mandirigma.org/?p=923 https://mandirigma.org/?p=923#respond Sat, 16 Jul 2011 18:30:41 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=923 Rajah Suliman, Last Muslim King of Manila

Rajah Sulaiman III (1558 – 1575) was the last native Muslim king of Manila, now the site of the capital of the Philippines, Manila. He was one of three chieftains, along with Rajah Rajah Lakandula and Adults, to have played a significant role in the Spanish conquests of the kingdoms of the Manila Bay-Pasig River area, first by Martín de Goiti, and Juan de Salcedo in 1570; and later by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1571

The following biography of Rajah Soliman was written in Tagalog by Jose N. Sevilla and Tolentino in the early 1920s:

 

 

TALAMBUHAY NI RAHA SOLIMAN

Bago nagíng̃ Rahá si Solimán, ay nagíng̃ katulong̃ muna sa pang̃ang̃asiwà ng̃ mg̃a súliranin dito sa Maynilà, ni Raháng̃ Matandâ.

Si Lakán Dulà na nanánahanan sa Tundó ay siyá niyáng̃ kasama. Itó ay nang̃ kapanáhunan ni Raháng̃ Matandâ nang̃ taóng̃ 1570. Noón ay isáng̃ pulutóng̃ nang̃ mg̃a sasakyáng̃ kastilà na pinamumunuan ni Martin de Goití at Juan de Salcedo ang̃ dumaong̃ sa luók ng̃ Maynilà. Niyaóng̃ unang̃ datíng̃ dito niná Goití ay dî sila nakalunsád pagdaka. Ang̃ Maynilà, ay may matitibay na mg̃a muóg at sila’y pinaputukán at sinagupà.

Nabalitaan niláng isá sa mg̃a makapang̃yarihan doón ay si Solimán, kaya’t nagpadalá sina Goití rito ng̃ sugò na nagsásaysáy na silá’y dî naparito upáng̃ makidigmâ kundî upáng̃ makipagkásundô, at ang̃ ganitó’y tinugón sa pamamagitan ng̃ sugò, na ang̃ Hari sa Maynilà ay nagnanasà ng̃ makipagkaibigan sa mg̃a kastilà.

Pagtang̃gáp ni Goití ng̃ paklí ni Solimán ay nasók siyá at ang̃ kanyáng̃ mg̃a tao sa ilog ng̃ Pasig at silá’y lumunsád sa isáng̃ baybáy na itinakdâ ng̃ Harì. Sinalubong̃ silá ni Raháng Matandâ at nakipagkamáy sa kanilá, pagkaliban ng̃ iláng̃ sandali ay dumatíng si Rahá Solimán at nakipágkamáy din ng̃uni’t nagpasubalì ng̃ gayari: «Kamí ay nagnánasang̃ makipagkaibigan sa mg̃a kastilà samantalang̃ silá’y mabuti sa amin; ng̃uni’t mahíhirapan silá ng̃ gaya ng̃ hirap na tiniís na ng̃ ibá, kailán ma’t nasain niláng̃ kami’y alisán ng̃ puri».

Pagkaraán ng̃ iláng̃ araw si Goití ay nagkulang̃ sa pagkakáibigan sa pagpapaputók ng̃ kaniláng̃ kanyón, at si Rahá Solimán ay napilitang̃ magbago ng̃ kilos. Ipinawasák nitó ang̃ mg̃a sasakyán nina Goití at ipinapuksâ ang̃ kanyáng̃ mg̃a kawal.

Nápakabuti ang̃ pagtatang̃gól sa mg̃a kutà at dî nagawâ nang̃ mg̃a kastilà ang̃ makapasok agád, ng̃uni’t nang̃ mang̃asalantà ang̃ mg̃a tao ni Solimán at maubos na ang̃ mg̃a punlô ay napipilan din. At nang̃ makuha ng̃ mg̃a kastilà ang̃ Maynilà ay sinalakay ang̃ bahay ni Solimán at dito’y nátagpuán nilá ang̃ isáng̃ mainam na gusali, maiinam na kasang̃kapang̃ sigay, mg̃a damit na mariring̃al na nagkakahalagá ng̃ may 23.000 piso.

Hindî nagtaksíl kailán man si Solimán, gaya ng̃ ipinararatang̃ sa kanyá ng̃ mg̃a kastilà. Siyá’y tumupád lamáng̃ sa kanyáng̃ dakilang̃ katung̃kulan na makibaka sa sino mang̃ magnánasang̃ sumirà ng̃ kanyáng̃ kapuriháng̃ pagkaharì, at yáyamang̃ ang̃ mg̃a kastilà ay siyáng̃ nagpasimulâ ng̃ pagbabaka, ay siyá ay nagtang̃gól lamang̃ at natalo, ng̃uni’t hindî kailán man nagtaksíl.

Ang̃ kanyáng̃ pagibig sa sariling̃ Lupà ay nagudyók sa kanyáng̃ makibaka at siyá ay nakibaka dahil doón.

Kung̃ saán mákikitang̃ ang pagguhò ng̃ kaharian ni Solimàn ay utang̃ sa kagahaman ng̃ isáng̃ lahing̃ mang̃aalipin; sa isáng̃ pámahalaáng̃ pinagágaláw ng̃ lakás ng̃ lakás at di ng̃ lakás ng̃ katuwiran.

Kawawang̃ bayang̃ maliliít na linúlupig at ginágahasà ng̃ malalakíng bansâ.

Ang̃ daigdíg ay patung̃o sa pagunlád, at buhat niyaóng̃ 1914 na gahasain ang̃ Belhika, ang malalakíng̃ Bansâ ay nagsasapì at ipinagtang̃gól ang̃ katwiran ng̃ maliliít na bayan. Panibagong̃ kilos sa daigdíg na bung̃a ng̃ mayamang̃ diwà ng̃ dakilang̃ Wilson sa kaamerikahan.

 

kapisanang mandirigma

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=923 0 Ancient sea vessel: The Balangay, 1250 AD https://mandirigma.org/?p=710 https://mandirigma.org/?p=710#respond Tue, 31 May 2011 15:54:52 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=710

balangay_2, balangay, lameco, ilustrisimo, backyard eskrima

 

Thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the Filipino people, the Austronesian speaking people traveled from the Asian mainland by land bridges across the continental shelf to the South East Asian archipelago. They then sailed onward to as far East as Polynesia, and as far West as Madagascar, aboard the ancient vessel: the Balangay.

The Kaya ng Pinoy Inc., launches an exciting, new undertaking that will retrace the migration of our ancestors across the oceans using only the native Balangay, built faithful to the craftsmanship and materials used during the ancient times. Navigation will also remain accurate to the method that was used by the earliest mariners – steering by the sun, the stars, the wind, cloud formations, wave patterns and bird migrations.

 

What is the Balangay?

Early Filipinos were a people of the sea, living in coastal villages or near rivers. Boats were linked to many aspects of Filipino life: fishing, trade, warfare,  piracy (trade-raiding for goods and slaves), travel, communication, and dwelling. 

The Balanghai or Balangay or Butuan Boat is a plank boat adjoined by a carved-out plank edged through pins and dowels. It was first mentioned in the 16th Century in the Chronicles of Pigafetta, and is known as the oldest Pre-Hispanic watercraft found in the Philippines.

The first wooden watercraft excavated in Southeast Asia, the Balangay is only found in the Philippines where a flotilla of such prehistoric wooden boat exists throughout the world. Nine specimens were discovered in 1976 in Butuan City, Agusan Del Norte, Mindanao and 3 of which have been excavated. Examination and extensive investigation reveals that the extant boats found in the excavation site date back to 320, 990 and 1250 AD.

The finely built boat, made without the use of blueprints but was taught from one generation to another, uses a technique still used by boat makers of Sibutu Island. Made 15 meters long and 3 to 4 meters wide, the Balangay is propelled by sail of buri or nipa fiber or padding and is large enough to hold 60 to 90 people. With the Balangay’s size, it was used for cargo and raiding purposes, giving proof that Butuan played a central role in trade.

http://www.balangay-voyage.com/index.php
balangay, lameco, ilustrisimo, backyard eskrima
]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=710 0 Book: Sinaunang Habi – Philippine Ancestral Weave by Marian Pastor-Roces https://mandirigma.org/?p=687 https://mandirigma.org/?p=687#respond Wed, 25 May 2011 07:47:04 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=687 The Nikki Coseteng Filipiniana Series
“Sinaunang Habi: Philippine Ancestral Weave”
by Marian Pastor-Roces
Photographs by Dick Baldovino and Wig Tysman
Published by Anna Dominique “Nikki” Coseteng

 

ABOUT THE BOOK
“Sinaunang Habi’s first edition was published in 1991, and reprinted in 2000. It has become a sought-after book in the international circuit of textile connoisseurs of indigenous traditions. This unique book gives us not only a rich collection of haberdashery imbued with artistry and beauty, but also a rich insight into the different ethnic groups in the Philippines. The extensive and informative essays provide a historical and anthropological background on the indigenous people inhabiting each region. The clothing silently but expressively speaks of a nation’s unique cultures, customs, ceremonial life, rituals, and practical needs, lending beauty to handcrafted objects while continuing age-old traditions.”

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]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=687 0 Tinalakay sa kumperensya ni Dr. Isorena ang ‘Bangka at Kolonisasyon’. Ito ay hango sa kanyang disertasyon. https://mandirigma.org/?p=614 https://mandirigma.org/?p=614#respond Wed, 18 May 2011 22:13:48 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=614 guro dino flores lameco ilustrsimo backyard eskrima mandirigma.org

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]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=614 0 Who Discovered the Philippines? by Perry Diaz https://mandirigma.org/?p=389 https://mandirigma.org/?p=389#respond Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:01:40 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=389 arnis

The Philippines, circa 1765 (Bellin)


Who Discovered the Philippines?

PerryScope
Perry Diaz, Global Balita

Philippine history books have been saying that Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Philippines. But was he really the one who discovered the Philippines?

Long before Magellan landed in the Philippine archipelago, visitors and colonizers from other lands had come to our shores.  The earliest evidence of the existence of modern man — homo sapiens sapiens — in the archipelago was discovered in 1962 when a National Museum team led by Dr. Robert Fox uncovered the remains of a 22,000-year old man in the Tabon Caves of Palawan.  The team determined that the Tabon Caves were about 500,000 years old and had been inhabited for about 50,000 years.

In the late 1990s, Jared Diamond, Professor of Geography at UCLA and winner of the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, and Peter Bellwood, Professor of Archaeology at the Australian National University, postulated that the Austronesians had their roots in Southern China.  Diamond said that they migrated to Taiwan around 3,500 B.C.  However, Bellwood believed that the Austronesian expansion started as early as 6,000 B.C.  Around 3,000 B.C., the Malayo-Polynesians — a subfamily of the Austronesians — began their migration out of Taiwan.  The first stop was northern Luzon.  Over a span of 2,000 years, the Malayo-Polynesian expansion spread southward to the rest of the Philippine archipelago and crossed the ocean to Celebes, Borneo, Timor, Java, Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, and Vietnam; westward in the Indian Ocean to Madagascar; and eastward in the Pacific Ocean to New Guinea, New Zealand, Samoa, Fiji, Marquesas, Cook, Pitcairn, Easter, and Hawaii.  Today, the Malayo-Polynesian speaking people have populated a vast area that covers a distance of about 11,000 miles from Madagascar to Hawaii, almost half the circumference of the world.

In 2002, Bellwood and Dr. Eusebio Dizon of the Archaeology Division of the National Museum of the Philippines led a team that conducted an archaeological excavation in the Batanes Islands, which lie between Taiwan and Northern Luzon.  The three-year archaeological project, financed by National Geographic, was done to prove — or disprove — the “Out of Taiwan” hypothesis for the Austronesian dispersal.  The archaeological evidence that they gathered proved that the migration from Taiwan to Batanes and Luzon started about 4,000 years ago.  For the next 500 years after the arrival of the Malayo-Polynesians in Batanes and Northern Luzon, native settlements flourished throughout the archipelago.

The Philippine islands’ proximity to the Malay Archipelago, which includes the coveted Moluccas islands — known as the “Spice Islands” — had attracted Arab traders who had virtual monopoly of the Spice Trade until 1511.  By the 9th century, Muslim traders from Malacca, Borneo, and Sumatra started coming to Sulu and Mindanao. In 1210 AD, Islam was introduced in Sulu.  An Arab known as Tuan Mashaika founded the first Muslim community in Sulu.   In 1450 AD, Shari’ful Hashem Syed Abu Bakr, a Jahore-born Arab, arrived in Sulu from Malacca.  He married the daughter of the local chieftain and established the Sultanate of Sulu.

In the early 16th century, Sharif Muhammad Kabungsuan, a Muslim preacher from Malacca arrived in Malabang in what is now Lanao del Sur and introduced Islam to the natives.  In 1515 he married a local princess and founded the Sultanate of Maguindanao with Cotabato as its capital.  By the end of the 18th century, more than 30 sultanates were established and flourished in Mindanao.  The Sultanates of Maguindanao and Sulu were the most powerful in the region.  Neither of them capitulated to Spanish dominion.

Chinese traders — who were also involved in the Spice Trade — started coming to the Philippine archipelago in the 11th century.  They went as far as Butuan and Sulu.  However, most of their trade activities were in Luzon.

In 1405, during the reign of the Ming Dynasty in China, Emperor Yung Lo claimed the island of Luzon and placed it under his empire. The Chinese called the island “Lusong” from the Chinese characters Lui Sung.  The biggest settlement of Chinese was in Lingayen in Pangasinan.  Lingayen also became the seat of the Chinese colonial government in Luzon. When Yung Lo died in 1424, the new Emperor Hongxi, Yung Lo’s son, lost interest in the colony and the colonial government was dissolved.  However, the Chinese settlers in Lingayen — known as “sangleys” — remained and prospered.  Our national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal descended from the sangleys.

The lucrative Spice Trade attracted the European powers.  In 1511 a Portuguese armada led by Alfonso d’Albuquerque attacked Malacca and deposed the sultanate. Malacca’s strategic location made it the hub of the Spice Trade; and whoever controlled Malacca controlled the Spice Trade.  At that time, Malacca had a population of 50,000 and 84 languages were spoken.

It is interesting to note that in 1515, Tome Pires — the apothecary of Portuguese Prince Alfonso and author of Suma Oriental (Eastern Account) — during his travel to Malacca, wrote: “The [Luzones] are almost one people, and in Malacca, there is no division between them…They were already building many houses and shops. They are a useful people; they are hardworking… In Minjam, near Malacca, there must be five hundred Luzoes, some of them important men.”  It would seem to me that those 500 Luzoes (Luzones) were the first recorded Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

One of the officers under d’Albuquerque was Ferdinand Magellan.  Magellan stayed in Malacca for a few years and spent some time reconnoitering the surrounding areas.  He had an idea.  He returned to Portugal to convince the Portuguese king to subsidize an expedition to find a westward route to the Spice Islands.  The Portuguese king rejected his proposal and he went to Spain to get support from the Spanish king.  He succeeded in convincing the Spanish king.

In 1519, Magellan sailed westward from Seville in search of the Spice Islands.  On March 16, 1521 — on the Feast of St. Lazarus — he landed in the Philippine archipelago.  He named the archipelago “Islas de San Lazaro” and claimed it for the King of Spain.

What Magellan found in the Philippines were a peaceful people with all the trappings of a civilized society.  When he arrived in Cebu, the Cebuanos welcomed him and his party, and lavished them with hospitality.  The Cebuanos were easily converted to Christianity and they pledged allegiance — without bloodshed — to the king of Spain.  However, Lapu-Lapu, the chief of the neighboring Mactan island refused to pledge allegiance to the Spanish king.

On April 27, 1521, irked by Lapu-Lapu’s rejection, Magellan attacked Mactan.  Lapu-Lapu and his warriors met them on the shores of Mactan.  Magellan was killed in battle; thus, ending his dream of reaching the Spice Islands by way of a westward route. History has been kind by crediting him for the “discovery” of the Philippines… or rather it should it be the re-discovery of the Philippines.

###

NOTE: I originally published this article on April 13, 2007. With the reenactment of the Balanghai expedition, there is growing interest in pre-Hispanic Philippine history. Like someone one said, “Know history, know self.”

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=389 0 The Calatangan Pot inscription https://mandirigma.org/?p=260 https://mandirigma.org/?p=260#respond Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:43:16 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=260 kali arnis eskrima

A new translation of the Calatangan Pot inscription

The Calatangan Pot is a prehispanic (14th-16th century) artifact containing an inscription around the neck. It is said to be one of the earliest expressions of prehispanic writing in the Philippines, and there have been several attempts at translating the inscription. Rolando Borrinaga is the latest person to offer an translation of the script, based on old Bisayan and old Tagalog alphabets. An earlier attempt to decipher the Calatangan Pot incription was made by University of the Philippines’ Ramon Guillerm

***

The mystery of the ancient inscription
The Inquirer, 23 May 2009

AFTER 50 years of enigma, the text inscribed around the shoulder of the Calatagan Pot, the country’s oldest cultural artifact with pre-Hispanic writing, may have been deciphered as written in the old Bisayan language.

Diggers discovered the pot in an archeological site in Calatagan, Batangas, in 1958. They sold it for P6 to a certain Alfredo Evangelista.

Later, the Anthropological Foundation of the Philippines purchased the find and donated it in 1961 to the National Museum, where it is displayed to this day.

The pot, measuring 12 centimeters high and 20.2 cm at its widest and weighing 872 grams, is considered one of the Philippines’ most valuable cultural and anthropological artifacts. It has been dated back to the 14th and 16th centuries.

***

The Calatagan Pot
by Hector Santos
© 1996 by Hector Santos
All rights reserved.

http://www.bibingka.com/dahon/mystery/pot.htm

In the early 1960′s, an artifact was offered by treasure hunters to National Museum staff as they were working on a nearby excavation. It was the Calatagan pot, the first pre-Hispanic artifact with writing to be found. As such, it is the best known and written about among all artifacts with writing. Even at that, it is still undeciphered.

Calatagan Pot The late Dr. Robert Fox brought the pot to the offices of the Manila Times to ask help from its editor, Chino Roces, in deciphering the writing around the mouth of the pot. The newspaper, as a result, commissioned the sculptor Guillermo Tolentino, an expert on Philippine syllabaries, to decipher the writing. Tolentino had a hard time with certain letters so he, as a spiritist, reportedly summoned his special powers to come up with a translation.

The authenticity of the pot has been questioned since it first showed up. For one thing, no other pot has been found decorated with writing. Carbon dating was reportedly done on the pot but the results pointed to such an extremely early date that it had to be rejected. Dr. Fox wanted to do some thermoluminescence testing but didn’t live to see it done.

Nevertheless, the pot may still be authentic. It would have been very easy for a forger to write something decipherable on the pot, especially text which made sense. Anyone attempting to create a phony artifact would probably have done so. As it was, the strangeness of the characters and the direction of writing (or to be more precise, the direction in which the artisan wrote the letters) gives us something to think about.

Juan Francisco, a respected Philippine paleographer, did some analysis of the letters in his 1973 book, Philippine Palaeography. He could not decipher the writing, however. His analysis mainly consisted of classifying the letters as curvilinear, lineo-angular, or a combination of the two. I cannot see the usefulness of such a classification because there is no benefit from its use, whether in trying to find the script’s heritage or in classifying it among the known scripts of the world. His book contains good sketches of all the letters though, which makes the section on the Calatagan pot in his book not entirely useless.

The writing on the pot goes around its mouth. The letters look similar to those of classic Philippine scripts (Tagalog, Tagbanwa, Buhid, and Hanunóo) but some appear to be oriented in strange ways. Some show a similarity to older scripts used in Indonesia, suggesting an earlier development of classic Philippine scripts.

The symbols are divided by stop marks into six groups (which may be phrases), each consisting of five or seven symbols.

Calatagan Writing

What is strange and maybe significant about the writing is the apparent direction in which the artisan wrote it. A look at the pot will show that the artisan engraved the letters into the soft clay in a direction going to the left looking at the pot as it stands right side up.

He apparently misjudged the length of the writing and ran out of space so that its last few letters go under the starting point. This gives us a clue as to the literacy of the artisan.

We know that ALL Southeast Asian scripts share a common ancestor and were meant to be read and written from left to right. (Forget what others have said about having observed Tagbanwans writing on bamboo slats in a direction away from their body. You have seen classmates in grade school writing on paper oriented at an angle with respect to their body so that they appeared to have been writing vertically, have you not?)

There are two possibilities:

1. The artisan could well have been from modern times and may have trying to create a phony artifact but had an authentic sample to copy from. He may not have been aware of the direction of writing and so copied the sample from right to left. The result would have been a phony pot with an authentic inscription.

2. Perhaps the pot was authentic but the artisan, illiterate. He had a favorite curse or prayer written on a strip of bamboo or palm leaf. He wanted to use that phrase to decorate the pot.

Being illiterate, he had a 50% chance of going the wrong way which unfortunately he did, verifying Murphy’s Law yet one more time. He also ended up misjudging the length of the writing and had to go under the starting point to get everything written down.

If he had held the written sample right side up while copying it, the letters would be shown in their correct orientation. However, if he held the sample upside down the letters can be viewed in their proper orientation by looking from above the pot.

There may be other possibilities but the fact remains that the successful decipherment of an unknown script requires enough samples to be available.

If the Calatagan pot turns out to be a fake, its creator may either have been a bumbling fool who did not know much about scripts or a very sophisticated forger who could have introduced mysterious symbols deliberately to send paleographers wondering what they represented. A fool may have been dumb enough to copy a written sample in the wrong direction but would a sophisticated forger do so?

In the end, it would be easier to assume that the pot is authentic because it is hard to understand why a forger would do things the way he did in making the pot. But it would also be terribly uncomfortable to work on something not knowing whether a fool or a sophisticate really put one over you.

The mystery of the pot can somewhat be cleared up by doing new tests today. But maybe the pot is like an old toy that was put away in the closet as one got older. Someday, a new family member will rediscover it and play with it again.

Additional Reading

1. Francisco, Juan R. “Philippine palaeography,” in Philippine Journal of Linguistics special monograph 3 (Quezon City, 1973).
2. Potet, Jean-Paul G. “Morphologie du Philippin.” Doctoral dissertation, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. Paris, 1983.
3. Santos, Hector. “Artifacts with writing revisited” in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:5 (June 1995), 1.
4. —–. “Errors in earlier Calatagan material” in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:5 (June 1995), 1-2.
5. —–. “Other pre-Hispanic writing artifacts” in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:2 (February 1995), 1.
6. —–. “The Calatagan pot” in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:2 (February 1995), 4-5.
7. —–. “The writing on the Calatagan jar” in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:5 (June 1995), 3-5.

arnis kali eskrima

 

Original article by Hector Santos at: http://www.bibingka.com/dahon/mystery/pot.htm

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=260 0 Datu Lapu-Lapu/Kolipulako (1491-1542) https://mandirigma.org/?p=256 https://mandirigma.org/?p=256#respond Fri, 28 Jan 2011 12:39:03 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=256 arnis kali eskrima lameco ilustrisimo

Datu Lapu-Lapu/Kolipulako (1491-1542)

Lapu-Lapu is considered one of the greatest figures of ancient Philippine history. Although the first thing that usually comes to mind when the name of Lapu-Lapu is mentioned is the fact that his battle with Magellan led to Magellan’s death, Lapu-Lapu was not honored because of that. Rather, he is honored because he was among the first to reject submission to a foreign power even though Raja Humabon, ruler of the neighboring island of Cebu, and other chiefs recognized the king of Spain as their ruler and agreed to pay tribute.

Chief Lapu-Lapu’s (1491-1542) other name is Kolipulako. The hero of Mactan and conqueror of Magellan, is described as stern, proud, intelligent, unyielding. He waged continuous war against the powerful ruler of Cebu, then a very much greater kingdom than his little island of Maktang. Of him, President Gullas of the University of the Visayas writes:

Lapu-Lapu is a good example of determination and willingness to work well. He learned how to ride on a horseback and on carabao proficiently at the age of six years; knew how to read and write at seven; boxed well at nine; became a champion swimmer, boxer and wrestler at eighteen; beat the Bornean marauders and pirates twice at twenty’. In the lives of men who have almost become legendary one finds it diffucult to separate fact from fiction. This must be true in the case of the material quoted above.

History has it that Mactan Island although small was a thriving community when the great Magellan was in Cebu. The brave Spanish navigator and soldier, upon learning that some inhabitants on this tiny island across Cebu refused to recognize the King of Spain, burned one of the villages. Lapu-Lapu was one of he native leaders who refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of Spain over the Islands.

When Magellan, with three boatloads of Spaniards and twenty boatloads of Cebuanos, went to Mactan to help a friendly chief, Lapu-Lapu and his men armed with native fighting elements, wooden shields, bows and arrows, lances, met them. The invading Spaniards and Cebuanos were driven back to their boats, but their brace leader, Magellan, met death in the hands of Lapu-Lapu. On what is believed to be the exact spot where Magellan fell and died, now stands an imposing monument in honor of the gallant explorer.

In the well-kept plaza of Opon, one of the two towns on Mactan Island, stands today an inspiring monument in honor of Lapu-Lapu, considered the first Filipino to have repelled European aggression.

The battle between Mactan Island Chieftain Lapu-Lapu and the Foreign aggressor Ferdinand Magellan occurred in April 27, 1521. It depicts the hero holding a bolo in one hand and a pestle on the other. Said weapons were believed to have been used during his combat with Magellan. This monument stands as a reminder of Filipino bravery.

The historic battle for Mactan (Kadaugan sa Mactan) is re-enacted each year on the beach at Magellan Bay by amateur actors, providing a sponsor can be found. The Tourist Office should be able to provide you with up-to-date information.

 

kali arnis eskrima mandirigma.org

Lapu Lapu Comic by Francisco V. Coching

 


]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=256 0 Anting Anting by Reynaldo S. Galang https://mandirigma.org/?p=236 https://mandirigma.org/?p=236#respond Fri, 28 Jan 2011 11:09:07 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=236 kali arnis eskrima lameco ilustrisimo

Anting Anting

The Filipino Warrior's Amulet

Shrouded in secrecy and mystery,
the anting-anting is a subject close to the
Filipino’s heart. It holds promise of
invincibility, of victory and of heroic deeds. Legends
have been born and men have died because of the
lure of the mysterious and powerful anting-anting.

The anting-anting made a resurgence into popularity in the early 70’s when the
film Nardong Putik chronicling the life of the
outlaw Leonardo Manecio made its debut. The
hero of the film, a local Robin Hood, credited his ability to survive and escape numerous
ambushes and gunfights to his anting-anting.

There is much dispute as to what his anting-anting really was. Some claim it was
a smooth pebble of rare and mysterious material that Nardong Putik kept under his tongue.
While others say it is a 66-day old fetus that he kept in a small crystal container. Whatever
his anting-anting was, Nardong Putik’s ability to elude the law and his enemies made him a
legend and a hero to many people.

Jikiri, the noted Muslim pirate,
eluded the Philippine Constabulary and U. S.
soldiers for over three years. Yet Jikiri boldly
operated in broad daylight. The legendary source
of his galing (gift) — an anting-anting,
of course.

These stories and more contribute to the growing number of legends and belief in
the efficacy of the anting-anting. Combined with the equally mysterious
Orascion (a special verse or prayer), warriors can be psyched
to become confident and daring to undertake suicidal missions.

There are many prescribed ways of acquiring an anting-anting. The easiest is to have
an existing, sacred anting-anting bestowed to
you as an inheritance or reward. This happens very rarely, for the
agimat (amulet) is usually buried with its owner and master for
continued protection against spirits from the
nether world.

Stealing an anting-anting makes it lose its power and is therefore a useless
alternative. An anting-anting loses its power when
it leaves its master’s possession without his knowledge or blessing. Various types of
anting-anting can be bought at holy places but
these are patay (dead/blanks) with no power
whatsoever.  These blanks have to undergo sacred
and secret rituals to become empowered and effective.

There are many different methods to make an anting-anting
sagrado (sacred). The most popular day for the anting-anting to
have birtud (power) is on Good Friday. This,
according to legend, is when God abandons His creation and the spirits roam freely and can
be lured, captured, harnessed and enslaved by the brave and mighty. Another popular occasion
is at midnight during a full moon with the ritual taking place at a cross road or a cemetery
with a sacrificial black cat as a bait or offering.

Another kind of anting-anting, known as
Mutya, comes from plants, such as a banana or
a palm tree. This requires a lot of patience and diligence for one has to wait until the
heart of the banana discharges its essence, a
crystal clear solid drop that must not be allowed
to touch the ground and must be swallowed immediately. With this captive prize, legends
say that a successful and prosperous life is guaranteed.

Some types of anting-anting or
orascion are meant as love charms. Most are for
protection — against the forces of darkness,
against one’s enemies, and even against sickness.
Others are for special gifts, such as the mysterious and esoteric art of
Hilot (massage and healing), Hula
(fortune telling) and Kulam (spells and witchcraft).

However, every anting-anting and every orascion carries with it an immutable
commitment. One must be prepared to perform the required rituals, the mandated daily
devotion, the annual pilgrimage, to keep the birtud
of the anting-anting.

Man will always be fascinated with this mysterious harbinger of success, victory
and protection. Many, though not all, of the Philippine Grand Masters and Masters of
martial arts believe in the power and protection of
the anting-anting and orascion.

And everyone of these believers, without exception, recognize the value and worth
of diligence, dedication and discipline in martial arts training. Like the anting-anting,
the easiest way to learn a martial art is to find
a good teacher, a worthy master. Someone who, like the anting-anting’s master,  will pass
on to you, the secret and power of his own knowledge and skills. Again, like the
anting-anting, this knowledge and skill must be nurtured
with diligent practice, with moral righteousness, discipline, devotion and dedication.

Written by Reynaldo S. Galang

 

Copyright © 1994, 1997 Bakbakan International

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=236 0 Majapahit Empire: 1293 – 1500 https://mandirigma.org/?p=177 https://mandirigma.org/?p=177#respond Fri, 28 Jan 2011 04:38:24 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=177 Majapahit

Majapahit Empire

The Majapahit Empire was an Indianized kingdom based in eastern Java from 1293 to around 1500. Its greatest ruler was Hayam Wuruk, whose reign from 1350 to 1389 marked the empire’s peak when it dominated other kingdoms in the southern Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, Bali, and the Philippines.
The Majapahit empire was the last of the major Hindu empires of the Malay archipelago and is considered one of the greatest states in Indonesian history. Its influence extended to states on Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Kalimantan and eastern Indonesia.

Historiography
The detailed history of Majapahit is not very clear. he main sources that are used by historians are: the Pararaton (‘Book of Kings’) written in Kawi language and Nagarakertagama in Old Javanese. Pararaton is mostly about Ken Arok (the founder of Singhasari) but includes a number of shorter narrative fragments about the formation of Majapahit. Nagarakertagama, on the other hand, is an old Javanese epic poem written during the Majapahit golden age under the reign of Hayam Wuruk after which events are not so clear.

In addition, there are some inscriptions in Old Javanese and Chinese records.
The accuracy of all of the Javanese sources is in dispute. There is no doubt that they incorporate some non-historical, mythological elements, and some scholars such as C. C. Berg consider the entire corpus to be not a record of the past, but a supernatural means by which the future can be determined.However, most scholars do not accept this view, as the basic outline corresponds with Chinese records that could not share this intention. The list of rulers and the nature of the state, in particular, seem rather certain.

After defeating Srivijaya in Java in 1290, Singhasari became the most powerful kingdom in the area. Kublai Khan, the ruler of the Chinese Yuan Dynasty, challenged Singhasari by sending emissaries demanding tribute. Kertanegara, the last ruler of Singhasari, refused to pay the tribute. In 1293, Kublai Khan sent a massive expedition of 1,000 ships to Java.

By that time, a rebel from Kediri, Jayakatwang, had usurped and killed Kertanagara. Raden Wijaya, Kertanegara’s son-in-law, allied himself with Yuan’s army to fight against Jayakatwang. Once Jayakatwang was destroyed, Raden Wijaya forced his allies to withdraw from Java by launching a surprise attack. Yuan’s army had to withdraw in confusion as they were in hostile territory. It was also their last chance to catch the monsoon winds home; otherwise, they would have had to wait for another six months on a hostile island.

In AD 1293, Raden Wijaya founded a stronghold. The capital was named Majapahit, from maja (a fruit name) and pahit (or bitter). His formal name was Kerjarajasa Jayawarddhana. The new kingdom faced challenges. Some of Kertarajasa’s most trusted men, including Ranggalawe, Sora, and Nambi rebelled against him, though unsuccessfully. It was suspected that the mahapati (equal with prime minister) Halayudha set the conspiracy to overthrow all of the king’s opponents, to gain the highest position in the government. However, after following the death of the last rebel Kuti, Halayudha was captured and jailed for his tricks, and then sentenced to death. Wijaya himself died in AD 1309.

Wijaya’s son and successor, Jayanegara was notorious for immorality. One of his sinful acts was taking his own step-sisters as wives. He was entitled Kala Gemet, or “weak villain”. In AD 1328, Jayanegara was murdered by his doctor. His stepmother, Rajapatni, was supposed to replace him, but Rajapatni retired from court to become a bhiksuni (a female Buddhist monk) in a monastery. Rajapatni appointed her daughter, Tribhuwana Wijayatunggadewi, as the queen of Majapahit under Rajapatni’s auspices. During Tribhuwana’s rule, the Majapahit kingdom grew much larger and became famous in the area. Tribhuwana ruled Majapahit until the death of her mother in AD 1350. She was succeeded by her son, Hayam Wuruk.

Golden age
Hayam Wuruk, also known as Rajasanagara, ruled Majapahit in AD 1350–1389. During his period, Majapahit attained its peak with the help of his prime minister, Gajah Mada. Under Gajah Mada’s command (AD 1313–1364), Majapahit conquered more territories. In 1377, a few years after Gajah Mada’s death, Majapahit sent a punitive naval attack against Palembang, contributing to the end of the Srivijayan kingdom. Gajah Mada’s other renowned general was Adityawarman, known for his conquest in Minangkabau.
The nature of the Majapahit empire and its extent is subject to debate.[citation needed] It may have had limited or entirely notional influence over some of the tributary states in included Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Kalimantan and eastern Indonesia over which of authority was claimed in the Nagarakertagama. Geographical and economic constraints suggest that rather than a regular centralised authority, the outer states were most likely to have been connected mainly by trade connections, which was probably a royal monopoly. It also claimed relationships with Champa, Cambodia, Siam, southern Burma, and Vietnam, and even sent missions to China.

Although the Majapahit rulers extended their power over other islands and destroyed neighboring kingdoms, their focus seems to have been on controlling and gaining a larger share of the commercial trade that passed through the archipelago. About the time Majapahit was founded, Muslim traders and proselytizers began entering the area.

Decline

Following Hayam Wuruk’s death AD 1389, Majapahit power entered a period of decline with conflict over succession. Hayam Wuruk was succeeded by the crown princess Kusumawardhani, who married a relative, Prince Wikramawardhana. Hayam Wuruk also had a son from his previous marriage, crown prince Wirabhumi, who also claimed the throne. A civil war, called Paregreg, is thought to have occurred from 1405 to 1406, of which Wikramawardhana was victorious and Wirabhumi was caught and decapitated. Wikramawardhana ruled to 1492 AD and was succeeded by his daughter Suhita, who ruled from 1426 to 1447 AD. She was the second child of Wikramawarddhana by a concubine who was the daughter of Wirabhumi.
In 1447, Suhita died and was succeeded by Kertawijaya, her brother. He ruled until 1451 AD. After Kertawijaya died, Bhre Pamotan became a king with formal name Rajasawardhana and ruled at Kahuripan. He died in 1453 AD. A three year kingless period was possibly the result of a succession crisis. Girisawardhana, son of Kertawijaya, came to power 1456. He died in 1466 AD and was succeeded by Singhawikramawardhana. In 1468 AD Prince Kertabhumi rebelled against Singhawikramawardhana promoting himself king of Majapahit.

Singhawikramawardhana moved the Kingdom’s capital to Daha and continued his rule until he was succeeded by his son Ranawijaya in 1474 AD. In 1478 AD he defeated Kertabhumi and reunited Majapahit as one Kingdom. Ranawijaya ruled from 1474 AD to 1519 AD with the formal name Girindrawardhana. Nevertheless, Majapahit’s power had declined through these family conflicts and the growing power of the north-coastal kingdoms in Java.

Majapahit found itself unable to control the rising power of the Sultanate of Malacca. Dates for the end of the Majapahit Empire range from 1478 (that is, 1400 Saka, the ends of centuries being considered a time when changes of dynasty or courts normally ended to 1527. After a series of battles with the Sultanate of Demak, the last remaining courtsmen of Majapahit were forced to withdraw eastward to Kediri; it is unclear whether they were still under the rule of the Majapahit dynasty. This small state was finally extinguished at the hands of the Demak in 1527. A large number of courtiers, artisans, priests, and members of the royalty moved east to the island of Bali; however, the crown and the seat of government moved to Demak under the leadership of Pengeran, later Sultan Fatah. The Muslim emerging forces defeated the local Majapahit kingdom in the early 16th century.

Culture

The capital was grand and known for its great annual festivities. Buddhism, Shaivism, and Vaishnavism were all practiced, and the king was regarded as the incarnation of the three. The Nagarakertagama does not mention Islam, but there were certainly Muslim courtiers by this time.
Although brick had been used in the candi of Indonesia’s classical age, it was Majapahit architects of the 14th and 15th centuries who mastered it. Making use of a vine sap and palm sugar mortar, their temples had a strong geometric quality.

“Of all the buildings, none lack pillars, bearing fine carvings and coloured” [Within the wall compounds] “there were elegant pavilions roofed with aren fibre, like the scene in a painting… The petals of the katangga were sprinkled over the roofs for they had fallen in the wind. The roofs were like maidens with flowers arranged in their hair, delighting those who saw them”.
— Description of the Majapahit capital from the Old Javanese epic poem Nagarakertagama.


Legacy

For Indonesians in later centuries, Majapahit became a symbol of past greatness. The Islamic sultanates of Demak, Pajang, and Mataram sought to establish their legitimacy in relation to the Majapahit.The Demak claimed a line of succession through Kertabumi, as its founder, Raden Patah, in court chronicles was said to be the son of Kertabumi with Putri Cina, a Chinese princess, who had been sent away before her son was born. Sultan Agung’s conquest of Wirasaba in 1615, led by the sultan himself, may have had such importance as it was the location of the Majapahit capital.Central Javanese palaces have traditions and silsilah that attempt to prove links back to the Majapahit royal lines – usually in the form of a grave as a vital link in Java – where legitimacy is enhanced by such a connection. Bali in particular was heavily influenced by Majapahit and they consider themselves to be the true heirs of the kingdom.

Modern Indonesian nationalists, including those of the Indonesian National Revival of the early 20th century, have invoked the Majapahit Empire as an example of greatness in Indonesia’s past and a precedent for the current political boundaries of the republic. In its propaganda from the 1920s, the Communist Party of Indonesia presented its vision of a classless society as a reincarnation of a romanticized Majapahit. It was invoked by Sukarno for nation building and by the New Order as an expression of state expansion and consolidation. Like Majapahit, the modern state of Indonesia covers vast territory and is politically centred on Java.

Majapahit had a momentous and lasting influence on Indonesian architecture. The descriptions of the architecture of the capital’s pavilions (pendopo) in the Nagarakertagama invokes the Javanese Kraton and also the Balinese temples and compounds of today.

Source: http://en.wikipilipinas.org

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=177 0 Srivijaya: A primer https://mandirigma.org/?p=171 https://mandirigma.org/?p=171#respond Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:48:03 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=171 sriwijaya

Srivijaya: A Primer – Part 1

by The Southeast Asian Archaeology newsblog

Victorious is the king of Srivijaya, whose Sri has its seat warmed by the rays emanating from neighbouring kings, and which was diligently created by Brahma, as if this God has in view only the duration of the famous Dharma.

- The Wiang Sa Inscription (Thai Peninsula) dated 775 AD.

With a reach spanning from Sumatra and Java to as far north as the Thai peninsula and a reign of some 600 years, it’s remarkable that what is now known as the Srivijaya empire was only unearthed relatively recently. The first hint of a Sumatran-based polity was first alluded to by the eminent French scholar George Coedes 1918, based on inscriptions found in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. In this primer, we’ll talk about the Srivijayan empire, the extent of its influence and its eventual fall.

The kingdom of Srivijaya, a name which translates to “shining victory”, was a Malay polity centred in Palembang in south Sumatra. At its height, its area of influence included neighbouring Jambi, to the north the kingdoms of the Malay Peninsula: Chitu, Pan-pan, Langkasuka and Kataha, as well as eastwards in Java, where links with the Sailendra dynasty and Srivijaya are implied. The same Sailendra dynasty was responsible for the construction of the massive Buddhist stupa of Borobudur between 780 and 825 AD.

Indeed, Srivijaya was considered to be one of the major centres of learning for the Buddhist world. In the 7th century, Yijing, a Buddhist monk who travelled between China and India to copy sacred texts mentioned the high quality of Sanskrit education in Palembang, and recommended that anyone who wanted to go to the university at Nalanda (north India) should stay in Palembang for a year or two to learn “how to behave properly”. Srivijaya’s prominent role in the Buddhist world can be found in several inscriptions around Asia: an inscription in Nalanda dated 850-860 AD described how a temple was built in Nalanda at the request of a king of Srivijaya. In the 11th century, a temple in Guangzhou in China received a donation from Srivijaya to help with the upkeep. The Wiang Sa inscription quoted above recounts how a Srivijayan king ordered the construction of three stupas in Chaiya, also in the Thai peninsula.

The Srivijayan empire controlled the important Strait of Melaka (Malacca) which facilitated trade between China and India. With its naval power, the empire managed to suppress piracy along the Malacca strait, making Srivjayan entrepots the port of choice for traders. Despite its apparent hegemony, the empire did not destroy the other non-Srivijayan competitors but used them as secondary sources of maritime trade. Srivijaya’s wide influence in the region was a mixture of diplomacy and conquest, but ultimately operated like a federation of port-city kingdoms. Besides the southern centre of power in Palembang, Arab, Chinese and Indian sources also imply that Srivijaya had a northern power centre, most probably Kataha, what is now known as Kedah on the western side of the Malay peninsula.

Kedah is now known for remains of Indian architecture at the Bujang Valley. This was due to the invasion by the Chola kingdom from South India – an invasion which ultimately led to the fall of Srivijaya. How did this happen?

Srivijaya: A Primer -  Part 2

by The Southeast Asian Archaeology newsblog

In the first part of Srivijaya: A Primer, we learnt about the empire’s role in controlling trade between China and India and as a Buddhist centre of learning. In this segment we learn about the fall of this once-great maritime kingdom.

In the 11th century, the south Indian Tamil kingdom of Chola launched an attack on Srivijaya, systematically plundering the Srivijayan ports along the Straits of Malacca, and even captured the Srivijayan king in Palembang. The reasons for this change in relations between Srivijaya and the Cholas are unknown, although it is theorised that plunder made up an essential part of the Chola political economy. While it seemed that the Cholas only intended to plunder Srivijaya, they left a lasting presence on Kataha, the remains of which are still visible at the Bujang Valley archaeological museum.

The successful sack and plunder of Srivijaya had left it in a severely weakened state that marked the beginning of the end of Srivijaya. Having lost its wealth and prestige from the Chola attack, the port cities of the region started to initiate direct trade with China, shrugging off the exclusive influence Srivijaya once held over them. Towards the end of Srivijaya’s influence, the power centre of Srivijaya began to oscillate between Palembang and neighbouring Jambi, further fragmenting the once-great empire. Other factors included Javanese invasion westwards toward Sumatra in 1275, invading the Malayu kingdoms. Later towards the end of the 13th century, the Thai polities from the north came down the peninsula and conquered the last of the Srivijayan vassals.

Despite its influence and reach, Srivijaya flew very quickly into obscurity, and it was not until the last 90 years that the kingdom’s history was rediscovered, mainly through epigraphical sources. Palembang, determined as the centre of power for Srivijaya poses a special problem for archaeologists, for if the modern settlement followed the ancient settlement pattern, ancient Palembang would have been built over shallow water and any archaeological remains would be buried deep in the mud. As the 19th-century naturalist Alfred Wallace described it, Palembang is a populous city several miles long but only one house wide!

By way of a quick epilogue, the story of Srivijaya ends where the story of the Malacca Sultanate begins. The Sejarah Melayu, or Malay Annals, begins with a story about Raja Chulan – perhaps an allusion to the king (Raja) of the Cholas, whose sack of Srivijaya led to its ultimate downfall. The annals go on to relate the appearance of three princes at Bukit Seguntang in Palembang, one of whom eventually founds a city of Singapura in Temasek before establishing Malacca further north…

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=171 0 Cordillera Administrative Region – Northern Philippines https://mandirigma.org/?p=2013 https://mandirigma.org/?p=2013#respond Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:40:21 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=2013 Cordillera Administrative Region

The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) of the Philippines is a land-locked region consists of the provinces of Abra, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Mountain Province and Apayao. Baguio City is the regional center. The Cordillera region encompasses most of the areas within the Cordillera Central mountain range of Luzon, the largest range in the country. This region is home to numerous indigenous tribes collectively called the Igorot.

The Cordillera Administrative Region is the only landlocked region in the country.

Source: wikipilipinas.org

PH_Cordillera_Administrative_Region_flag

Cordillera Administrative Region Flag

 

Ph_locator_car

Cordillera Administrative Region Map

 

Cordillera Administrative Provinces/Seals

 

Ph_seal_benguet Ph_seal_kalinga Ph_seal_mountain_province Ph_seal_baguio Ph_seal_apayao Ph_seal_abra Ph_seal_ifugao

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=2013 0 The Butuan Silver Strip by Hector Santos https://mandirigma.org/?p=269 https://mandirigma.org/?p=269#respond Fri, 28 Jan 2005 19:58:57 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=269 kali arnis eskrima escrima

The Butuan Silver Strip
by Hector Santos
© 1996 by Hector Santos
All rights reserved.

http://www.bibingka.com/dahon/mystery/silver.htm

The Butuan area has been a rich source of material from ancient Philippines for both treasure hunters and trained archaeologists. So it was in the mid-seventies when a team from the National Museum of the Philippines excavating a site was told that a strip of metal with some kind of writing had been found by a treasure hunter.

Fortunately, the artifact was already in the hands of Proceso Gonzales, the city engineer of Butuan. He understood the importance of the find and took possession of it.

Butuan Silver Strip

The metal strip was found inside a wooden coffin by treasure hunters who were looking for ceramic and gold objects that could be sold for high prices to private collectors. According to Dr. Jesus Peralta, similar burials in wooden coffins in the vicinity of Butuan had previously been found to contain human remains with skulls that have been artificially deformed. This practice was apparently limited to Southern Philippines, the beauty standard for such head shapes never finding its way to Luzon.

Ceramics and ornaments were usually placed in the coffins, the ceramic pieces dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. If the metal strip was found within a typical coffin, it would have logically come from the same era.

While the metal piece could have come from foreign shores, the safest and most conservative position one can take is that an artifact belongs in the place where it was found unless it can be proven otherwise.

The letters were cut into the piece of metal with a knife. The difficulty of making curved lines on metal with a knife is apparent in the clumsy shapes of the letters. The strip measures 17.8 x 1.3 cm.

Peralta reports that the late Dr. Boechari of Indonesia identified the script as “similar to a Javanese script that had been in use from the 12th to the 15th century” (late Kavi?).

At this time, the writing has not been convincingly deciphered nor have the letters in the strip been identified. A successful transliteration would not guarantee a decipherment because of the brevity of the sample, though.

A companion piece with similar writing was also reportedly found in the same coffin. However, the owner refused to part with it because he believed it held the key to the location of a treasure hoard. How he hoped to use that piece to locate the treasure without translating the message is not known. Neither do we know why it is that piece and not the one he gave up that holds the secret.

That second piece will play an important role in solving the mystery of the Butuan silver strip.

Additional Reading

1. Peralta, Jesus T. “The Butuan palaeograph: ethnographic implications of an ancient script,” in Archipelago 6:A-55 (1979): 31-33.
2. Santos, Hector. “Artifacts with writing revisited” in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:5 (June 1995), 1.
3. —–. “Other pre-Hispanic writing artifacts” in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:2 (February 1995), 1.
4. —–. “The Butuan Silver Strip” in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:2 (February 1995), 3.

Butuan Silver Strip Deciphered?
by Hector Santos
© 1996 by Hector Santos
All rights reserved.

“Butuan paleograph deciphered using Eskaya script” by Jes Tirol (in UB Update) attempts to show that a “translation” of the Butuan silver strip had been done by using the Eskaya script. A clipping of this article was provided by Antoon Postma of Mindoro, who in turn obtained it from the late William Henry Scott of Mountain Province. This proves that “real” scholars do share information.

Eskaya is a secret organization based on the island of Bohol. Its members claim that their ancestors arrived on the island in 677 A.D. from Sumatra. Tirol writes:

One of the books of the Eskaya of Bohol is entitled Unang Katawhan Sa Bohol (First People of Bohol). According to the book, Dangko and his 12 children of 11 boys and one girl and his men arrived in Bohol in 677 A.D. They started from Sumatra-Manselis which is the western side of Sumatra, Indonesia on board a “Lutsa.” (See: “Lorcha,” Webster Int’l Dictionary, Unabridged.)

The only daughter of Dangko got married to a chieftain of Butuan. From that time on until the present, the inner psyche of an Eskaya is geared towards Butuan. Since the center of Eskaya culture is now at Biyabas, Guindulman, Bohol, the migrant Eskaya in Butuan maintain close contact with the Eskaya of Bohol.

Further on, Tirol continues:

The Butuan Kingdom is no more. Its literature and writings are gone, except for the Butuan paleograph. But the Eskaya of Bohol is still existing with their system of writing. It is logographic system not alphabetic, and therefore older than the Malayan-Bisayan recorded by the Spanish writers. The Eskaya scrupulously transmitted their system of writing and literature by conducting classes. At present, classes are conducted every Saturday and Sunday.

The Eskaya were once part of the Butuan thalossocracy. There is therefore no reason to doubt that the system of writing of the present Eskaya is the same as that of Butuan of olden times. But due to passage of time and cultural intrusions there will be variations, but basically it should be the same.

A chart showing values for the symbols of the Eskaya script provided by Jesus T. Peralta of the National Museum is shown on the Eskaya page. There are many interesting things in the chart. One is that Eskaya writing system includes symbols for numerals, even one for “zero.” It also includes symbols for consonant clusters, a characteristic that was not a feature of old Philippine languages. However, the most interesting thing for me was that some of the symbols can be seen on the Calatagan jar.

A cursory look at the script chart shows that similarities between symbols whose values are closely related are not there. I get the impression that this was an artificially created script, perhaps devised by one individual. It does not seem to be a writing system that had evolved over several generations.

Be that as it may, let us now examine the translation provided by Tirol. The figure below relates the symbols on the silver strip to those of Eskaya and their corresponding phonetic values and meanings.

Translation Chart

The translation reads as follows:

This 821 year when Liyuxie (Les Ece) traveled, I accompanied the trip and returned the next year. I was in good condition.

I will repeat the Eskaya sound and Meaning columns from the above chart below for those who find them hard to read.

1    Ce        “His , Her, This”
2    Ual       “eight (8)”
3    Tre       “2″
4    Oy        “1″
5    Pong      “Apong” means “year”
6    De        “De Ra” means
7    Ra        “When he left”
8    Les       “Les Ece” same as
9    Ece       “Liyuxie” the ambassador of Butuan Kingdom to China in 1011 A.D.
10   Ciuo      “Ciou Cod Col Ning”
11   Cod        means
12   Col       “I accompanied the trip”
13   Ning
14   Gue       “Gue Apong” means
15   Pong      “Return the next year”
16             The period punctuation mark
17   Co        “I or me”
18   Gre       “Co Greyalo” means “I was in good condition or I am well

Quoting W.H. Scott (Filipinos in China Before 1500; Manila, 1989, p. 4.), Tirol explains:

In the year 1003 A.D., King Kiling of Butuan sent his ambassadors, Liyihan and Jiaminan to the Sung Court of China. In 1011 A.D., another king of Butuan, Sri Bata Shaja (Xi-li-ba-da-sha-zhi) sent Liyu-xie to china with a memorial engraved on a gold tablet. Liyu-xie obtained a recognition from China that Butuan had equal status with Vietnam (Champa) as China’s tributary.

Regarding the date, Tirol does not explain 821 but says:

The experts of the National Museum estimated the date of the paleograph between the 12th to 15th century. The date of the trip of Liyuxie which is being referred to, occurred in the 11th century. This difference of one century is acceptable in archeology. The paleograph was found in Butuan and the inscriptions refer to an important person of Butuan.

The silver strip was found with material dated 14/15th century not as early as the 12th century as Tirol wrote. While it is true that 821 in the Islamic calendar would be the equivalent of our 15th century, the characters of the proposed translation would have lived four centuries before the artifact came into existence. That certainly is too much water under the bridge to establish a connection.

More studies on the Eskaya can verify whether there is truth to their claimed connection to an ancient group of people from Sumatra or whether they came up in recent times and developed an artificial script for secret messages.

Additional Reading

1. Peralta, Jesus T. “The Butuan palaeograph: ethnographic implications of an ancient script,” in Archipelago 6:A-55 (1979): 31-33.
2. Santos, Hector. “Artifacts with writing revisited” in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:5 (June 1995), 1.
3. —–. “Butuan silver strip deciphered?” in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:5 (June 1995), 6-7.
4. —–. “Other pre-Hispanic writing artifacts” in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:2 (February 1995), 1.
5. —–. “The Butuan Silver Strip” in Sulat sa Tansô, 2:2 (February 1995), 3.
6. Tirol, Jes B. “Butuan paleograph deciphered using Eskaya script,” in UB Update 1:4 (1990): 6 ff. (Note: A University of Bohol publication.)
7. —–. “ESKAYA OF BOHOL: Origin of Its System of Writing” in The Bohol Chronicle XL: 10 (July 11, 1993), 3 ff.

escrima eskrima arnis kali

 

Original Article at: http://www.bibingka.com/dahon/mystery/silver.htm

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=269 0 The IGOROT People – Bontoc, Ibaloi, Isneg (or Apayao), Kalinga, and Kankanaey https://mandirigma.org/?p=1312 https://mandirigma.org/?p=1312#respond Sun, 26 Jan 2003 07:29:16 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=1312
IGOROT Bontoc, Ibaloi, Isneg Apayao Kalinga Kankanaey IGOROT Bontoc, Ibaloi, Isneg Apayao Kalinga Kankanaey


Inhabiting the rugged terrain of the Cordillera Region of Northern Philippines are six ethno-linguistic tribes known as the Ibaloy, Kankana-ey, Ifugao, Kalinga, Apayao/Isneg, and the Bontoc. They are referred to by a generic term, Igorot, a word coined from the root word, “golot” meaning mountain. Unlike most of the Philippines, which were ruled by Spaniards for about four hundred years, the Cordillera region was generally unfazed by Spanish colonization. The Igorot tribes are held together by their common socio-cultural traits as well as their geographic proximity to each other. During pre-Christian Cordillera (and to some extent, the present), the six different tribes shared similar religious beliefs, generally nature-related, and they make proprietary offerings to “anitos” (spirits) as well as to household gods.

 

Cordillera ethnic groups

The Igorots are grouped into six ethno-linguistic groups, the Bontoc, Ibaloi, Isneg (or Apayao), Kalinga, and the Kankanaey. Below are brief descriptions of the Igorot ethnic groups

The Bontoc

A Bontoc warrior (c. 1908)

The Bontocs (alternatively spelled Bontok) live on the banks of the Chico River in the Central Mountain Province. They speak the Bontoc language. They formerly practiced head-hunting and had distinctive body tatoos. The Bontoc describe three types of tattoos: The chak-lag′, the tattooed chest of the head taker; pong′-o, the tattooed arms of men and women; and fa′-tĕk, for all other tattoos of both sexes. Women were tattooed on the arms only. In the past, the Bontoc engaged in none of the usual pastimes or games of chance practiced in other areas of the country, but did perform a circular rhythmic dance acting out certain aspects of the hunt, always accompanied by the gang′-sa or bronze gong. There was no singing or talking during the dance drama, but the women took part, usually outside the circumference. It was a serious but pleasurable event for all concerned, including the children.[4] Present-day Bontocs are a peaceful agricultural people who have, by choice, retained most of their traditional culture despite frequent contacts with other groups.

The pre-Christian Bontoc belief system centers on a hierarchy of spirits, the highest being a supreme deity called Lumawig. Lumawig personifies the forces of nature and is the legendary creator, friend, and teacher of the Bontoc. A hereditary class of priests hold various monthly ceremonies for this deity for their crops, the weather, and for healing. The Bontoc also believe in the “anito”—spirits of the dead who must be consulted before anything important is done. Ancestral anitos are invited to family feasts when a death occurs to ensure the well-being of the deceased’s soul.This is by offering some small amount of food to show that they are invited and not forgotten.

The Bontoc social structure used to be centered around village wards (“ato”) containing about 14 to 50 homes. Traditionally, young men and women lived in dormitories and ate meals with their families. This gradually changed with the advent of Christianity. In general, however, it can be said that all Bontocs are very aware of their own way of life and are not overly eager to change.

The Ibaloi

The Ibaloi (also Ibaloy and Nabaloi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Philippines who live mostly in the southern part of Benguet, located in the Cordillera of northern Luzon. The Ibaloi people were traditionally an agrarian society. Many of the Ibaloi people continue with their agriculture and rice cultivation.

The Ibaloi language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages family. The Ibaloi language is closely related to the Pangasinan language, primarily spoken in the province of Pangasinan, located southwest of Benguet.

Baguio City, the major city of the Cordillera, dubbed the “Summer Capital of the Philippines,” is located in southern Benguet.

The Ibaloi’ major feast is the Pesshet, a public feast mainly sponsored by people of prestige and wealth. The Pesshet feast can last for weeks and involves the butchering and sacrifice of dozens of animals. One of the more popular dances of the Ibaloi is the Bendiyan Dance, participated in by hundreds of male and female dancers.

The Itneg

The Isneg (or Apayao) inhabit the banks of the Apayao River and its tributaries in Northern Luzon. Like most erstwhile headhunters, they are slash-and-burn farmers who have recently, under the influence of their neighbors, begun to practice wet-rice agriculture.

As a dry rice farmer, the male head of a household annually clears a fresh section of tropical forest where his wife will plant and harvest their rice. Itneg women also cook the meals, gather wild vegetables and weave bamboo mats and baskets, while the men cut timber, build houses and take extended hunting and fishing trips. Often when a wild pig or deer is killed, its meat is skewered on bamboo and distributed to neighbors and relatives. Nearly all Itneg households also harvest a small grove of coffee trees since the main cash crop of the area is coffee.

The Isneg speak the Isnag language.

The Kalinga

Inhabiting the drainage areas of the middle Chico River in the Kalinga Province, the Kalingas are noted for their strong sense of tribal awareness and the peace pacts they have made among themselves. The speak the Kalinga and Limos languages. They practice both wet and dry rice farming and have developed an institution of peace pacts which has minimized traditional warfare and headhunting and serves as a mechanism for the initiation, maintenance, renewal and reinforcement of kinship and social ties. The Kalinga are divided into Southern and Northern groups; the latter is considered the most heavily-ornamented people of the northern Philippines.

Kalinga society is very kinship-oriented and relatives are held responsible for avenging any injury done to a member. Disputes are usually settled by the regional leaders, who listen to all sides and then impose fines on the guilty party. These are not formal council meetings, but carry a good deal of authority. A system of peace pacts called Bodong.

Kalingas are also known as Limos or Limos-Liwan Kalinga.

The Kankanaey

The Kankanaey’s domain includes Western Mountain Province, Northern Benguet, Southeastern Ilocos Sur. Like most Igorot ethnic groups, the Kankanaey built sloping terraces to maximize farm space in the rugged terrain of the Cordilleras. Kankaney’s of Western Mountain Province from the municipalities of Sagada and Besao identify themselves as part of a tribe called Applai or Aplai. Two famous institutions of the Kankanaey of Mountain Province are the dap-ay, the men’s dormitory and civic center, and the ebgan, the girls’ dormitory where courtship between young men and women took place.

The Kankanaey differ in the way they dress. The women soft-speaking Kankanaey’s dress has a color combination of black, white and red. The design of the upper attire is a criss-crossed style of black, white and red colors. The skirt or tapis is a combination of stripes of black, white and red. The women hard-speaking Kankanaey’s dress is composed of mainly red and black with a little white styles, as for the skirt or tapis which is mostly called bakget and gateng. The men wore a g-string as it is called but it is mainly known as wanes for the Kanakaney’s of Besao and Sagada. The design of the wanes as they[who?] call it may vary according to social status or municipality.

Kankanaey’s major dances include tayaw, pattong, takik, a wedding dance, and balangbang.The tayaw is a community dance that is usually done in weddings it maybe also danced by the Ibaloi but has a different style.. Pattong, also a community dance from Mountain Province which every municipality has its own style. Balangbang is the modernized word for the word Pattong. There are also some other dance that the Kankanaey’s dance like the sakkuting, pinanyuan(wedding dance)and bogi-bogi(courtship dance). Kankanaey houses are built like the other Igorot houses, which reflect their social status.

The name Kankanaey came from the language which they speak. The only difference among the Kankanaey are the way they speak like intonation and the usage of some words. In intonation, there is a hard Kankanaey or Applai and soft Kankanaey. Speakers of hard Kankanaey are from Sagada, Besao and the surrounding parts or barrios of the said two municipalities. They speak Kankanaey hard in intonation where they differ in some words from the soft-speaking Kankanaey. While the soft speaking Kankanaey comes from Northern Benguet, some parts of Benguet, and from the municipalities of Sabangan, Tadian and Bauko from Mountain Province. In words for example an Applai might say otik or beteg (pig) and the soft-speaking Kankanaey may say busaang or beteg as well. The Kankanaey may also differ in some words like egay or aga, maid or maga. They also differ in their ways of life and sometimes in culture.

The Kankanaey are identified by the language they speak and the province form where they come. Kankanaey people from Mountain Province may call the Kankanaey from Benguet as Ibenget because they come from Benguet. Likewise, the Kankanaey of Benguet may call their fellow Kankanaey from Mountain Province Ibontok.

 

Political map of the Cordillera Administrative Region
]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=1312 0 The Moro Kris https://mandirigma.org/?p=284 https://mandirigma.org/?p=284#respond Tue, 29 Jan 2002 08:01:13 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=284 largo medio corto

The Moro Kris

The kris is the most famous Moro weapon. Variations are found in every Moro tribe and it was a key symbol of a man’s status and rank in society as well as being a powerful talisman. Kris blades are wide at the base, double-edged, and can be waved, half-waved half-straight, or straight (straight blades were more practical in combat). Older kris had fewer waves and the waves were deeper and wider. Over time the waves became shallower, tighter, and more numerous and therefore required greater skill to prevent the blade bouncing off or being stuck in an enemy’s body. The higher number of waves meant the more potent the kris was in talismanic power. Sometimes engravings (often filled in with brass or silver inlay) are found on the blade in plant motifs (vines, foliage, etc.) or Arabic script. Many kris blades are forged with fullers. Moro kris are cutting and slashing swords versus the stabbing keris of the Malay and Indonesians. Kris range from 45 to 65 centimeters (18 to 26 inches) in length. Older kris before the 19th century tended to be smaller in size. Laminated steel patterns are sometimes evident. Opposite the hook like fretwork on the guard of the blade is a cavity in the form of an elephant, eagle, or mouth of a naga (a mythical snake).

Hilts of krises are either straight or slightly curved. Commonly the pommel is in the form of a horse hoof, or a stylized cockatoo head with beak and crest. Usually the pommel is made of hardwood burl with the handle being wrapped in lacquered fiber. Upper-class kris pommels are often made of ivory, silver, brass, or other exotic materials with handles wrapped in chased bands of silver or swassa (copper-gold alloy) or braided wire. Large extravagant cockatoo pommels appeared toward the end of the 19th century and are called junggayan. Pommels before the 19th century were very small.

Moro kris scabbards were made of wide grain native hardwoods like mahogany, teak, and narra, lashed together with rattan or metal strips. Sometimes the crosspiece is separate from the bottom, but more often they are carved together. Around the mid-20th century mother-of-pearl was introduced to scabbard work and kris pommels. Scabbards of the nobility are bound with bands of plain or chased silver, brass, or swassa instead of rattan bindings. Some nobility scabbards even have crosspieces made of ivory or horn.

—–

There are two types of kris used by the Moros of the Philippines. Kalis is the name used by the Tausugs, Samals and Yakans. In the Mindanao it is called Sundang and is used by the Maranaos, Maguindanos and others. The Moro kris belongs to larger family of kris found in South East Asia: Indonesia, Borneo, Malaysia and part of Thailand. Its origin is mostly likely East Java near Yogya and Solo. The Moro kris has the most varied design and style amongst the bladed weapons found in the Philippines.

The Moro Kris evolved from use in combat. The double edge blade is an advantage where there are numerous opponents, the blade can be used to cut in an upward stroke. A single edge blade in contrast , needs to be turned in the opposite direction to do the same cut.

The Moro kris is highly regarded by the people of Mindanao and Sulu. It is used as a symbol of authority and prestige.

Kris
From Wikipedia

The kris or keris is an asymmetrical dagger indigenous to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei. It is known as kalis in the southern Philippines. The kris is famous for its distinctive wavy blade, but many have straight blades as well. Both a weapon and spiritual object, kris are often considered to have an essence or presence, with some blades possessing good luck and others possessing bad.

In 2005, UNESCO gave the title Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity to the kris of Indonesia. In return, UNESCO urged Indonesia to preserve their heritage

Etymology

The origin of the word kris derived from the old Javanese term ngiris which means to stab, wedge or sliver. “Kris” is the more frequently-used spelling in the West, but “keris” is more popular in the dagger’s native lands,[2] as exemplified by the late Bambang Harsrinuksmo’s popular book entitled Ensiklopedi Keris (Keris Encyclopedia). Two notable exceptions are the Philippines, where it is usually called kalis or kris, and Thailand where it is always spelled and pronounced as kris. Other spellings used by European colonists include “cryse”, “crise”, “criss”, “kriss” and “creese”.

Origins
Kris depicted on Borobudur bas-relief.
Kris display

Kris history is generally traced through the study of carvings and bas-relief panels found in Southeast Asia. It is widely believed by archaeologists that the earliest kris prototype can be traced to Dong Son in Vietnam circa 300 BC. From there, the design would have been brought into present-day Malaysia by Cham migrants who made their way into the Malay Peninsula twenty centuries ago. Another theory is that the kris was based on daggers from India.[3] Frey (2003) concludes from Raffles’ (1817) study of the Candi Sukuh that the kris recognized today came into existence around 1361 AD in the kingdom of Majapahit. There exist claims of earlier forms predating the Majapahit kris but none are verifiable. In the past, the majority of kris had straight blades but this became less frequent over time. Some of the most famous renderings of a kris appear on the Borobudur temple (825 CE) and Prambanan temple (850CE). Tome Pires, in early 16th century, describe the importance of Kris to the Javanese [4]:

Kris were worn on a daily basis, especially when travelling because it might be needed for self-defense. Heirloom blades were handed down through successive generations and worn during special events such as weddings. Men usually wore only one kris but the famous admiral Hang Tuah is said in the Hikayat Hang Tuah to have armed himself with one short and one long kris. As women were also permitted to learn silat, they sometimes also wore kris, though of a smaller size than a man’s.

Kris were often broken in battle and required repairs. Yearly cleanings, required as part of the spirituality and mythology surrounding the weapon, often left ancient blades worn and thin. The repair materials depended on location and it is quite usual to find a weapon with fittings from several areas. For example, a kris may have a blade from Java, a hilt from Bali and a sheath from Madura.

In many parts of Indonesia, the kris was the choice weapon for execution. The executioner’s kris had a long, straight, slender blade. The condemned knelt before the executioner, who placed a wad of cotton or similar material on the subject’s shoulder or clavicle area. The blade was thrust through the padding, piercing the subclavian artery and the heart. Upon withdrawal, the cotton wiped the blade clean. Death came within seconds.

***
… every man in Java, whether he is rich or poor, must have a kris in his house .. and no man between the ages of 12 and 80 may go out of doors without a kris in his belt. They carry them at the back, as daggers used to be in Portugal…

— Tome Pires, Suma Oriental

largo medio corto

Tausug Man with Kris


]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=284 0 “PHILIPPINE LANGUAGE TREE” Diagram, by William Henry Scott (1984) https://mandirigma.org/?p=935 https://mandirigma.org/?p=935#respond Mon, 17 Jul 2000 17:56:09 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=935 “PHILIPPINE LANGUAGE TREE”, William Henry Scott (1984)

eskrima eskrima eskrima eskrima eskrima

]]> https://mandirigma.org/?feed=rss2&p=935 0 Baybayin: Pre-Spanish Philippine writing system https://mandirigma.org/?p=423 https://mandirigma.org/?p=423#respond Mon, 22 Feb 1999 02:25:30 +0000 MO1 http://mandirigma.org/?p=423 kali arnis escrima

Baybayin

Baybayin is a pre-Spanish Philippine writing system. It is a member of the Brahmic family and is recorded as being in use in the 16th century. It continued to be used during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines up until the late 19th Century.

The term Baybay literally means “to spell” in Tagalog. Baybayin was extensively documented by the Spanish. Some have attributed it the name Alibata, but this name is incorrect. (The term “Alibata” was coined by Paul Rodriguez Verzosa after the arrangement of letters of the Arabic alphabet  alif, ba, ta (alibata), “f” having been eliminated for euphony’s sake.” ) Versoza’s reasoning for creating this word was unfounded because no evidence of the baybayin was ever found in that part of the Philippines and it has absolutely no relationship to the Arabic language. Furthermore, no ancient script native to Southeast Asia followed the Arabic arrangement of letters, and regardless of Versoza’s connection to the word alibata, its absence from all historical records indicates that it is a totally modern creation. The present author does not use this word in reference to any ancient Philippine script.

Modern scripts in the Philippines, descended from Baybayin, are Hanunó’o, Buhid, Tagbanwa, the Kapampangan script and the Bisaya script.
Baybayin is one of a dozen or so individual writing systems used in Southeast Asia, nearly all of which are abugidas where any consonant is pronounced with the inherent vowel a following it— diacritical marks being used to express other vowels (this vowel occurs with greatest frequency in Sanskrit, and also probably in all Philippine languages).

The term Baybay literally means “to spell” in Tagalog. Baybayin was extensively documented by the Spanish. Some have attributed it the name Alibata, but this name is incorrect. (The term “Alibata” was coined by Paul Rodriguez Verzosa after the arrangement of letters of the Arabic alphabet  alif, ba, ta (alibata), “f” having been eliminated for euphony’s sake.” ) Versoza’s reasoning for creating this word was unfounded because no evidence of the baybayin was ever found in that part of the Philippines and it has absolutely no relationship to the Arabic language. Furthermore, no ancient script native to Southeast Asia followed the Arabic arrangement of letters, and regardless of Versoza’s connection to the word alibata, its absence from all historical records indicates that it is a totally modern creation. The present author does not use this word in reference to any ancient Philippine script.

Modern scripts in the Philippines, descended from Baybayin, are Hanunó’o, Buhid, Tagbanwa, the Kapampangan script and the Bisaya script.
Baybayin is one of a dozen or so individual writing systems used in Southeast Asia, nearly all of which are abugidas where any consonant is pronounced with the inherent vowel a following it— diacritical marks being used to express other vowels (this vowel occurs with greatest frequency in Sanskrit, and also probably in all Philippine languages).

Origins

Baybayin was noted by the Spanish priest Pedro Chirino in 1604 and Antonio de Morga in 1609 to be known by most, and was generally used for personal writings, poetry, etc. According to William Henry Scott, there were some datus from the 1590s who could not sign affidavits or oaths, and witnesses who could not sign land deeds in the 1620s. There is no data on when this level of literacy was first achieved, and no history of the writing system itself. There are at least six theories about the origins of Baybayin.

Kawi

Kawi originated in Java, and was used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia.
Laguna Copperplate Inscription.

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription is the earliest known written document found in the Philippines.
Butuan Ivory Seal

It is a legal document, and has inscribed on it a date of Saka era 822, corresponding to April 21, 900 AD Laguna Copperplate Inscription#cite note-bibingka-1. It was written in the Kawi script in a variety of Old Malay containing numerous loanwords from Sanskrit and a few non-Malay vocabulary elements whose origin is ambiguous between Old Javanese and Old Tagalog. One hypothesis therefore reasons that, since Kawi is the earliest attestation of writing on the Philippines, then Baybayin may be descended from Kawi.

A second example of Kawi script can be seen on the Butuan Ivory Seal, though it has not been dated.

An earthenware burial jar, called the “Calatagan Pot,” found in Batangas is inscribed with characters strikingly similar to Baybayin, and is claimed to have been inscribed ca. 1300 AD. However, its authenticity has not yet been proven.


Old Sumatran “Malay” scripts

Another hypothesis states that a script or script used to write one of the Malay languages was adopted and became Baybayin. In particular, the Pallava script from Sumatra is attested to the 7th century.

Sulawesi

The Liboginese and/or Makassarese scripts of Sulawesi could have been introduced or borrowed and adapted into Baybayin.


Old Assamese

Assamese is a variant of Eastern Nagari script, a precursor to Devanagari. This hypothesis states that a version of this script was introduced to the Philippines via Bengal, which evolved into Baybayin.

Cham

Finally, an early Cham script from Champa—in what is now southern Vietnam and southeastern Cambodia—could have been introduced or borrowed and adapted into Baybayin.

Characteristics

The writing system is an abugida system using consonant-vowel combinations. Each character, written in its basic form, is a consonant ending with the vowel “A”. To produce consonants ending with the other vowel sounds, a mark is placed either above the consonant (to produce an “E” or “I” sound) or below the consonant (to produce an “O” or “U” sound). The mark is called a kudlit. The kudlit does not apply to stand-alone vowels. Vowels themselves have their own glyphs. There is only one symbol for D or R as they were allophones in most languages of the Philippines, where D occurred in initial, final, pre-consonantal or post-consonantal positions and R in intervocalic positions. The grammatical rule has survived in modern Filipino, so that when a d is between two vowels, it becomes an r, as in the words dangál (honour) and marangál (honourable), or dunong (knowledge) and marunong (knowledgeable), and even raw for daw (he said, she said, they said, it was said, allegedly, reportedly, supposedly) and rin for din (also, too) after vowels. This variant of the script is not used for Ilokano, Pangasinan, Bikolano, and other Philippine languages to name a few, as these languages have separate symbols for D and R.


Two styles of writing

Pre-Spanish “style”
In the original form of the Baybayin script, a stand-alone consonant (consonants not ending with any vowel sound) cannot be indicated unambiguously; therefore, such consonants were simply not written, and the reader would fill in the missing consonants through context. For example, the letters n and k in a word like bundók (mountain) were omitted, so that it was spelled bu-do.
Virama Kudlit “style”

The original writing method was particularly difficult for the Spanish priests who were translating books into the native language. Because of this, Francisco López introduced his own kudlit in 1620 that cancelled the implicit a vowel sound. The kudlit was in the form of a “+” sign, in reference to Christianity. This cross-shaped kudlit functions exactly the same as the virama in the Devanagari script of India. In fact, Unicode calls this kudlit the Tagalog Sign Virama. See sample above in Characteristics Section.

“Nga” character

A single character represented “nga”. The current version of the Filipino alphabet still retains “ng” as a digraph, viz, a single letter composed of two characters.

Punctuation

Words written in baybayin were written in a continuous flow, and the only form of punctuation was a single vertical line, or more often, a pair of vertical lines (||). These vertical lines fulfill the function of a comma, period, or unpredictably separate sets of words.

 

Usage

Baybayin historically was used in Tagalog and to a lesser extent Kapampangan speaking areas. Its use spread to Ilokanos when the Spanish promoted its use with the printing of Bibles. Related scripts, such as Hanunóo, Buhid, and Tagbanwa are still used today, along with Kapampangan script. Currently, Baybayin itself is experiencing an artistic revival of sorts, used to convey a Pre-Hispanic feeling as well as a symbol of Filipino identity. Most activist groups used Baybayin as part of their logo using the script for the acronyms (such as the Baybayin K for Anakbayan) alongside the use of a baybayin-inspired latin script. Baybayin tattoos and brush calligraphy are growing in popularity. It is also used in the Latest Philippine Banknotes Issued Last Quarter of 2010. The word used in the bills was “Pilipino” and is used not only as artistic design but a security feature.

From Wikipedia

eskrima escrima

baybayin eskrima escrima

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