#saliksik

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Kung meron man sa inyo ang mapunta sa totoong panganib, kailangan niyo lang huminahon saglit, huminga nang malalim, at tandaan na mura lang ang buhay natin. Sikapin niyong mabuhay, ipaglaban niyo, ngunit sa harap ng kamatayan huwag kayong matakot ialay ang inyong sarili. Hindi na ito tungkol sa mga sarili nating laban. Tungkol ito sa kung anong maaari nating iambag para sa lahat.

Manuel Bernal’s parting words in Angelito

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We are confronted with great battles as a result of the American offensive. I cannot renege with my duty. Against such strong and numerous enemies, I shall fight to the very end. You can, thus, tell our family to consider me dead. I do not expect to survive much any longer.

Gen. Gregorio del Pilar to his older brother Pablo

[haliging-dilag]

Saliksik

by SERRANO

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An Introduction to PH Ethnic Astronomy

Thought I might share a brief guide about pre-colonial astronomy from what I’ve read on Balatik, Etnoastronomiya: Kalangitan sa Kabihasnang Pilipino by Dante L. Ambrosio. The author discussed how important was the universe to the civilization of the Filipino natives as it helped them with their crops, lifestyle, religion, and mythological beliefs. I haven’t finished the book yet, so this post will just be about the basics of their religious system and how they saw the celestial bodies. Some stories and names of deities vary from ethnic group to ethnic group but mostly, they just pertain to the same element as indicated in this intro.

The sun is the source of light and therefore, of life.

The moon defines the season or year,

While the stars serve as a guide to travelers.

Long ago, the people could reach heaven until an unfortunate circumstance permitted it to drift away from land. The engkanto (enchanted beings) as well, before, could freely mingle with the folk until they had to secretly live in a realm of their own due to the harshness of mortal life.

Sandaigdigan refers to the physical and spiritual realm together in harmony where the people interacted with the gods through worship. It encompasses heaven (kalangitan), earth (kalupaan), and the underworld (kailaliman) rather than only the separate terms of sanlibutan, santinakpan, or sansinukob (the space between heaven and earth) and kalawakan (outer space).

Langit (heaven) is perceived as a giant blue bowl (mangkok) turned upside down to cover the earth. The covered region is the land of the mortals, while the region beyond that “dome” is the land of the enchanted or the diwata. It has regions (sapin) where the gods live. Langit provides the people with blessings or curses. Some passages to heaven include: following a rainbow (balangaw), through a portal (in a tree or under the earth), a river, forest vines (baging), caves, or riding on winged creatures, a diwata, or in a celestial chariot.

Lupa (earth) is where the mortals and spirits are. It also has its regions (like the earth has different levels of soil; but back then, these regions are considered as pathways to the underworld when a man would undergo a dangerous task for the gods). This is where the people live in harmony with the gods until the latter had to seclude themselves from the physical world.

The underworld is divided into two: Ilalim and Hantungan. Ilalim is the source of earthquakes and where the bayani (warrior) ventures into a mission. This is where animals and plants thrive, and where the pillars holding the earth are located. Hantungan, meanwhile, is where the souls rest. Life in hantungan is like life on earth, except there is eternity and a more abundant life. To reach hantungan, the soul must cross through a river or a bridge accompanied by the god or goddess of the underworld, bathe in the river to cleanse the self, and his/her family in the mortal realm must do offerings and prayers.

Usually when a datu (chieftain) dies, his most loyal servant rests with him in the tomb. The same goes for a rich fisherman who is accompanied in death by his tagasagwan (rower). The afterlife is a place where possessions and important people are needed too.

On celestial bodies, the Milky Way is seen as a snake or dragon (Naha, in the language of the Sama or the Tausug) and some of the most prominent constellations (in Tagalog, constellations are referred to as talampad ng mga bituin and each has a specific name or purpose depending on the ethnic group) that can be seen in the Philippine night sky are the following:

Ursa Minor

Ursa Major

Lyra

Aquila

Delphinus

Taurus

Hyades

Pleiades *

Gemini

Canis Minor

Canis Major

Scorpius

Beta Centauri

Alpha Centauri

Orion *

Crux

* Pleiades and Orion are two important constellations in the season of kaingin (clearing of forest trees). Specifically, Orion’s Belt (or Tres Marias, as it is popularly known today and in the colonial period) is called Balatik: a tool in kaingin, hence the book’s title.

“May namagitan mang panahon ng kolonyalismo sa panahong sinauna at kasalukuyan, may naidulot mang pagbabago ang namagitang panahon, hindi ito naging sapat para buong-buo maiba ang mga pananaw, paniniwala, kaalaman, at kaugalian ng mga Pilipino.” -Ambrosio

When I get to borrow the book again I may provide more information and scans. Another interesting part of the pre-colonial belief of the afterlife is that the person who dies is judged not by his/her deeds on earth but by his/her way of death as s/he is designated in a special region of the afterlife. Will look back into these stories soon, but hopefully this post helps for now!

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Bataan has fallen. But the spirit that made its stand, a beacon to all the liberty-loving people of the world, cannot fall.

excerpt from the radio announcement delivered April 9, 1942 from the Malinta Tunnel in Corregidor (listen to the remake of the full recording here)

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On the road, our soldiers told me that Andres was taken in a hammock to a meeting presided by revolutionary chiefs. I waited, but my heart was beating, I was scared, I was restless— a presentiment of something horrible.

Gregoria de Jesus’ interview in La Vanguardia

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History, he tells us again and again, is not a mere collection of dates and names. Rather, it speaks and listens and so forms the very language by which the living and the dead attend to one another.

Vicente Rafael on Ambeth Ocampo

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Teodoro Agoncillo often warned me of the uselessness of asking 'what if.' Agoncillo was right; however, I believe that a historian cannot alter the past but he has the power to change the way we view it.

Ambeth Ocampo