Mangyan arts and crafts

source: http://mangyan.org/

For the Mangyans, craft has always been a product of their way of life and an extension of their customs and traditions. Today, this distinct expression of artistry and skill not only keeps the Mangyan culture and heritage alive, but also helps raise supplementary income for their education and health care.

The handicrafts sourced by the MHC are handmade by Mangyan people in the mountainous regions of Mindoro:

• the woven textiles by Hanunuo-Mangyan mothers of Mansalay and Bulalacao
• the rattan baskets by the Alangan Mangyans of Naujan
• the nito baskets by the Iraya Mangyans of Puerto Galera and San Teodoro
• the beaded items by the Alangan and Hanunuo Mangyans.

Items that meet the MHC's quality standards are sold at a price set by the Mangyan producers, ensuring they are fairly paid for their work. Any profits go towards theMHC's cultural program, including scholarships for Mangyan students.

Hanunuo-Mangyan women hand-stitch and hand-embroider their traditional square-necked blouse (lambong). It takes over a week to embroider the intricate pakudos design. Embroidery was traditionally the shortest part of the process as the Hanunuo Mangyans used to plant, harvest, separate, dry, spin, and then weave the cotton fibers. Today, however, the fabric is purchased in the market and then embroidered.

The embroidered pakudos is always of two colors. On a white blouse, it is predominantly red and is highlighted by a fine black or dark blue outline. On a blue blouse, it is also predominantly red but the outline stitchery is white. The design is started from the center with only hand measurements and the warp and weft threads as guide.

Hanunuo-Mangyan women hand-stitch and hand-embroider the traditional men's open-fronted shirt (balukas). It takes over a week to embroider the intricate pakudos design. Embroidery was traditionally the shortest part of the process as the Hanunuo Mangyans used to plant, harvest, separate, dry, spin, and then weave the cotton fibers. Today, however, the fabric is purchased in the market and then embroidered.

The embroidered pakudos is always of two colors. On a white blouse, it is predominantly red and is highlighted by a fine black or dark blue outline. On a blue blouse, it is also predominantly red but the outline stitchery is white. The design is started from the center with only hand measurements and the warp and weft threads as guide.

The ramit is a textile made by the Buhid and Hanunuo Mangyans. It is woven on a backstrap loom called harablon and features intricate geometric patterns. In the past, it was made from homespun cotton which was then indigo-dyed. Today, the thread used for making the ramit is purchased from local stores. It takes one week to weave a 23-inch x 108-inch ramit.

Traditionally worn as a skirt or used as a blanket for carrying children, it now finds other uses as a table runner, wall hanging, bag or placemat.

The Mangyans weave intricate baskets of various sizes and designs.
Due to the Mangyans' conscious management of their natural resources, production of handicrafts made from forest materials like nito and rattan is of modest volume

• the beaded items by the Alangan and Hanunuo Mangyans.

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MIndoro Mangyan Hanunuo writing script

The island of Mindoro in the Philipine archipelago is home to the Mangyans, an umbrella term of a number of indigenous tribes loosely related by language, culture, and religion. Unlike other native people in the Philipines that have abandoned their native scripts for the Roman alphabet after Spanish colonization, the Mangyan tribes such as the Buhid and Hanunóo have maintained their ancient script.

The Mangyan script is a distant descendent of the Brahmi script through the Kawi of Indonesia. As such, every letter is in fact a syllabic sign carrying the default vowel of /a/. To represent another vowel other than /a/, diacritical marks called kulit are used. The kulit to denote the vowel /i/ is usually a horizontal line above the letter, and the kulit for /u/ is often a line under or to the lower right of the letter, although sometimes the mark joins the letter itself and changes the overall look of the combination.

One interesting trait of Mangyan is the difference between writing and reading. While it is written from left to right, during reading the text is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise so that it is read from bottom to top.

The following table is the Mangyan syllabic alphabet, as used for writing (as opposed to reading). There is no documented order of letters for Mangyan (like the order of the English alphabet), so I have arranged the letters in the traditional Indian order.

While it is possible to have consonants at the end of a syllable in Mangyan languages, the Mangyan script does not represent them at all. These syllable-ending consonants are simply left unwritten. Similarly, the semivowels forming part of a diphthong are also omitted from writing. There is also no separation or marker between words, making the text appears like one continuous block of letters. These factors cause occasional ambiguity in the reading of words, and the reader must rely on context to clarify what is written.

The Mangyan script is primarily used for recreation and personal correspondences, especially in the form of poetry and love songs. Literacy is actually quite high even among the youth, thus there is no danger of the Mangyan script dying out in the immediate future.

http://www.ancientscripts.com/mangyan.html

http://www.ancientscripts.com/mangyan.html

MIndoro Mangyan Hanunuo writing script

The island of Mindoro in the Philipine archipelago is home to the Mangyans, an umbrella term of a number of indigenous tribes loosely related by language, culture, and religion. Unlike other native people in the Philipines that have abandoned their native scripts for the Roman alphabet after Spanish colonization, the Mangyan tribes such as the Buhid and Hanunóo have maintained their ancient script.

The Mangyan script is a distant descendent of the Brahmi script through the Kawi of Indonesia. As such, every letter is in fact a syllabic sign carrying the default vowel of /a/. To represent another vowel other than /a/, diacritical marks called kulit are used. The kulit to denote the vowel /i/ is usually a horizontal line above the letter, and the kulit for /u/ is often a line under or to the lower right of the letter, although sometimes the mark joins the letter itself and changes the overall look of the combination.

One interesting trait of Mangyan is the difference between writing and reading. While it is written from left to right, during reading the text is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise so that it is read from bottom to top.

The following table is the Mangyan syllabic alphabet, as used for writing (as opposed to reading). There is no documented order of letters for Mangyan (like the order of the English alphabet), so I have arranged the letters in the traditional Indian order.

While it is possible to have consonants at the end of a syllable in Mangyan languages, the Mangyan script does not represent them at all. These syllable-ending consonants are simply left unwritten. Similarly, the semivowels forming part of a diphthong are also omitted from writing. There is also no separation or marker between words, making the text appears like one continuous block of letters. These factors cause occasional ambiguity in the reading of words, and the reader must rely on context to clarify what is written.

The Mangyan script is primarily used for recreation and personal correspondences, especially in the form of poetry and love songs. Literacy is actually quite high even among the youth, thus there is no danger of the Mangyan script dying out in the immediate future.

http://www.ancientscripts.com/mangyan.html

Mindoro - arts and crafts

The island of Mindoro in the Philipine archipelago is home to the Mangyans, an umbrella term of a number of indigenous tribes loosely related by language, culture, and religion. Unlike other native people in the Philipines that have abandoned their native scripts for the Roman alphabet after Spanish colonization, the Mangyan tribes such as the Buhid and Hanunóo have maintained their ancient script.

The Mangyan script is a distant descendent of the Brahmi script through the Kawi of Indonesia. As such, every letter is in fact a syllabic sign carrying the default vowel of /a/. To represent another vowel other than /a/, diacritical marks called kulit are used. The kulit to denote the vowel /i/ is usually a horizontal line above the letter, and the kulit for /u/ is often a line under or to the lower right of the letter, although sometimes the mark joins the letter itself and changes the overall look of the combination.

One interesting trait of Mangyan is the difference between writing and reading. While it is written from left to right, during reading the text is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise so that it is read from bottom to top.

The following table is the Mangyan syllabic alphabet, as used for writing (as opposed to reading). There is no documented order of letters for Mangyan (like the order of the English alphabet), so I have arranged the letters in the traditional Indian order.

"THE MANUNGGUL JAR AS A VESSEL OF HISTORY"

Manunggul Jar

This elaborate burial jar is topped with two figures. The front figure is the deceased man. The rear figure is holding a steering paddle directing the boat and soul of the man to the afterlife.
Year	890-710 B.C.
Type	Burial jar
Dimensions	66.5 cm (26.2 in); 51 cm diameter (20 in)[1]
Location	Museum of the Filipino People,The National Museum, Manila

The Manunggul Jar is a secondary burial jar excavated from a Neolithic burial site in Manunggul cave of Tabon Caves at Lipuun Point at Palawan dating from 890–710 B.C. The two prominent figures at the top handle of its cover represent the journey of the soul to the after life.

The Manunggul Jar is widely acknowledged to be one of the finest Philippine pre-colonial artworks ever produced and is a considered a masterpiece. It is denoted a national treasure and it is designated as item 64-MO-74 by the National Museum of the Philippines. It is now housed at the Museum of the Filipino People and is one of the most popular exhibits there. It is made from clay with some sand soil.

Discovery of the jar

It was found by Dr. Robert B. Foxel and Miguel Antonio in 1962. It was found alongside the discovery of the remains of Tabon Man. The faces of the figures and on the prow of the boat have eyes and mouth rendered in the same style as other artifacts of Southeast Asia of that period. Note the depiction of sea-waves on the lid. This style of decoration places this jar in the Sa-huýnh-Kalanay pottery tradition of Southern Vietnam. The steersman's oar is missing its paddle, as is the mast in the center of the boat, against which the steersman would have braced his feet. This symbolizes that they are traveling to the next life. In secondary burial, only bones were placed in the jar, and the jar itself is not buried.

The Manunggul jar was one of the numerous jars found in a cave believed to be a burial site (Manunggul, was part of the archaeologically significant Tabon Cave Complex in Lipuun Point, Quezon, Palawan) that was discovered on March 1964 by Victor Decalan, Hans Kasten and other volunteer workers from the United States Peace Corps. The Manunggul burial jar was unique in all respects. Dating back to the late Neolithic Period (around 710 B.C.),  Robert Fox described the jar in his landmark work on the Tabon Caves:

The burial jar with a cover featuring a ship-of-the-dead is perhaps unrivalled in Southeast Asia; the work of an artist and master potter. This vessel provides a clear example of a cultural link between the archaeological past and the ethnographic present. The boatman is steering rather than padding the "ship." The mast of the boat was not recovered. Both figures appear to be wearing a band tied over the crown of the head and under the jaw; a pattern still encountered in burial practices among the indigenous peoples in Southern Philippines. The manner in which the hands of the front figure are folded across the chest is also a widespread practice in the Islands when arranging the corpse.

The carved prow and eye motif of the spirit boat is still found on the traditional watercraft of the Sulu Archipelago, Borneo and Malaysia. Similarities in the execution of the ears, eyes, nose, and mouth of the figures may be seen today in the woodcarving of Taiwan, the Philippines, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.



My familiarity with the Manunggul jar was spurred by the image in the PHP1,000 bill, circulated in 1995. Viewing the artifact up close fascinated me tremendously. I saw the artistry of the early Filipinos reflected in those fine lines and intricate designs. We were definitely not as dumb as the Spaniards told us we were!

After a few years, when I took a cultural history subject during my undergraduate course in UP Diliman under Dr. Bernadette Lorenzo-Abrera, the Manunggul jar was given a whole new meaning. When an archaeological find was explained anthropologically, it was imbibed with far-reaching implications in re-writing its history.

The Manunggul jar served as a proof of our common heritage with our Austronesian-speaking ancestors despite the diversity of cultures of the Philippine peoples. Traces of their culture and beliefs were seen in different parts of the country and from different Philippine ethno-linguistic groups.

It was also a testament of the importance of the waters to our ancestors. The seas and the rivers were their conduit of trade, information and communication. According to Peter Bellwood, the Southeast Asians first developed a sophisticated maritime culture which made possible the spread of the Austronesian-speaking peoples to the Pacific Islands as far Madagascar in Africa and Easter Island near South America. Our ships—the balanghay, the paraw, the caracoa, and the like—were considered marvelous technological advances by our neighbors that they respected us and made us partners in trade.  These neighbors later then, grew to include the imperial Chinese.



Many epics around the Philippines would tell us of how souls go to the next life aboard boats, passing through the rivers and seas. The belief was very much connected with the Austronesia belief in the anito. Our ancestors believed that man is composed of the body, the life force called the ginhawa, and the kaluluwa (soul). The kaluluwa, after death, can return to earth to exist in nature and guide their descendants. This explained why the cover of the Manunggul jar featured three faces: the soul, the boat driver, and of the boat itself. For them, even things from nature have souls and lives of their own. That’s why our ancestors respected nature more than those who thought that it can be used for the ends of man.

Seeing the Manunggul jar once more, I was also reminded of the inventiveness of the early Filipinos as well as the concepts and values they hold most-- their concept of the soul, for example, are believed to exist only on  good-natured and merciful people. The belief was that the soul gave life, mind, and will to a person and if this was what our ancestors valued and exemplified, then our nation was not only great, but lived by compassionate people.

However, the colonial masters in the past labeled our ancestors no good and even tried to erase our legacies and values, and despite the media today showing how shameful, miserable and poor our country is, from time to time there would be people who echo the same values that our ancestors lived by.

In the 1890s, the Katipunan movement of Andres Bonifacio, which spearheaded the Philippine Revolution, tried to revive the values of magandang kalooban. During the People Power Uprising in1986, we showed the world the values of pananampalataya, pakikipagkapwa, pakikiramay, pagiging masiyahin, bayanihan, pagiging mapayapa, and pagiging malikhain --values that were deeply rooted in the Filipino culture. It was the  country's national hero, José Rizal, who once wrote, in his essay, Filipinas Dentro de Cien Años, (The Philippines Within a Century) that:

With the new men that will spring from her bosom and the remembrance of the past, she will perhaps enter openly the wide road of progress and all will work jointly to strengthen the mother country at home as well as abroad with the same enthusiasm with which a young man returns to cultivate his father’s farmland so long devastated and abandons due to the negligence of those who had alienated it. And free once more, like the bird that leaves his cage, like the flower that returns to the open air, they will discover their good old qualities which they are losing little by little and again become lovers of peace, gay, lively, smiling, hospitable, and fearless.



The Manunggul jar was a symbol of the National Museum’s important role in spearheading the preservation the cultural heritage—pamana—using multi-disciplinary techniques. It was a testament of how art can be a vessel of history and culture with the help of scholars. In this light, a simple jar became the embodiment of the history, experiences, and aspirations of the people and how the values of maka-Diyos, makatao at makabansa became part the value system of the Filipinos.

I have visited the manunggul jar numerous times since that April of 1995 at the Kaban ng Lahi room of the National Museum II—The Museum of the Filipino People (former Department of Finance Building). Everytime, I look at it I am reminded of how great and compassionate the Filipinos are and how I could never be ashamed of being a Filipino. Everytime I look at the Manunggul jar, I see a vision that a new generation of Filipinos will once more take the ancient balanghay as a people and be horizon seekers once more.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://www.artesdelasfilipinas.com/archives/50/the-manunggul-jar-as-a-vessel-of-history

Moriones Festival - Marinduque

The Moriones is an annual festival held on Holy Week on the island of Marinduque, Philippines. The "Moriones" are men and women in costumes and masks replicating the garb of biblical Roman soldiers as interpreted by local folks. The Moriones or Moryonan tradition has inspired the creation of other festivals in the Philippines where cultural practices or folk history is turned into street festivals.

Colorful festivals celebrated on the island of Marinduque and the Philippines. Morion means "mask" or "visor," a part of the medieval Roman armor which covers the face. Moriones, on the other hand, refers to the masked and costumed penitents who march around the town for seven days searching for Longinus. Morions roam the streets in town from Holy Monday to Easter Sunday scaring the kids, or engaging in antics or surprises to draw attention.

 This is a folk-religious festival that re-enacts the story of Saint Longinus, a Roman centurion who was blind in one eye. The festival is characterized by colorful Roman costumes, painted masks and helmets, and brightly colored tunics. The towns of Boac, Gasan, Santa Cruz, Buenavista and Mogpog in the island of Marinduque become one gigantic stage. The observances form part of the Lenten celebrations of Marinduque.

 The various towns also hold the unique tradition of the pabasa or the recitation of Christ's passion in verse.Then at three o'clock on Good Friday afternoon, 

the Santo Sepulcro is observed, whereby old women exchange verses based on the Bible as they stand in wake of the dead Christ. 

One of the highlights of this festival is the Via Crucis. A re-enactment of the suffering of Christ on his way to the calvary. Men inflict suffering upon themselves by whipping their backs, carrying a wooden cross and sometimes even crucifixion. They see this act as their form of atonement for their sins. This weeklong celebration starts on Holy Monday and ends on Easter Sunday.



http://philtimes.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/moriones-34.jpg

in the Philippines, Holy Week is observed with a fervor that mixes serious reverence leaning toward traditional Catholic practices on one hand and folk-beliefs bordering on the mystical, on the other hand. It is also a time for somber, self-imposed retreats; for leisurely out-of-town drives; planned family vacations; or cherished visits to the individual's home province (Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are national holidays; a four-day weekend).

And it is on this season that Marinduque becomes the focus of attention that spans the whole week.

For it is the time of the moriones.Once again, in a tradition that have been annually practiced for more than a hundred years now, men called morions (some are women, if you can discern the difference) appear on the six towns of Marinduque. These colorful characters, a parody of Roman soldiers during the time of Christ, are costumed in articles fashioned from clothes to shells, weaves of nito-vines and other indigenous materials limited only by the creativity of its maker. Fierce-looking, often bearded masks of handcarved wood or paper-mache topped by a helmet adorned with multi-hued paper flowers complete the typical morion garb. Painted wooden swords, spears, and shields are considered basic paraphernalia. For a whole week, these pesky figures populate the town's streets: engaging in mock swordfights, playing pranks on children, marching or dancing in groups, doing antics or springing surprises for everyone while safely hiding their identity behind their mask.

Beneath the exterior glee, the man behind the seemingly vexing morion is actually fulfilling a vow of penance or thanksgiving or is performing a numinous act of self-cleansing. Those unending walks under the sweltering heat of the summer sun, burdened by the leaden headgear, stifling behind the thick, suffocating mask, with a restricted vision limited to only tiny two holes, sweating inside their hot and cumbersome costumes, the hunger and thirst, and after a long, humid day - joining the early evening religious procession during Holy Wednesday and Good Friday still in their burdensome gears; these are all silently endured as a form of spiritual sacrifice.

Traditionally, the morion's real identity is kept secret, even to his immediate family. The mask and his costume is prepared painstakingly and discreetly months or even years before he actually wears it.

The practice, as research points out, originated in the town of Mogpog circa 1880s. Father Dionisio Santiago, the local parish priest during that time, is credited to have started it as a means of focusing the attention of his parishioners to Lenten religious activities.

The reverend took a byline from the Bible and developed this into a side-story that artfully interweaves itself into the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. The storyline centers on Longino, the Roman centurion who speared the side of the Crucified Christ. "...and at once blood and water poured out" (John, Chapter 19, Verse 34) of the Wound, a drop of which fell on the blind eye of the centurion, miraculously restoring his partial vision and partially, his faith. Longino, on orders of the Roman High Council, was ordered to command the soldiers assigned to guard the tomb of Christ. And he became fully converted when he witnessed the Resurrection of Christ. On that first Easter dawn, he ran around the town narrating what he saw, proclaiming that Christ is indeed the Son of God!

This is where the real fun starts, perfectly timed in Marinduque for its brand of Easter Sunday celebration.

On orders of "Pontious Pilate," all of the town's morions look for Longino to capture and behead him, putting to a stop his spreading the news of the Resurrection. The Roman centurion learns about the plot against him and begins eluding his fellow morions playing captors not to escape punishment but to gain a little more time in spreading the truth and his newly-found faith.

The Habulan or mad chase for Longino begins. Playing antics while running in chaotic circles around the town to elude his captors; in the market, hiding inside houses, fording rivers, climbing trees, losing himself in the crowds or even using the watching crowds as a shield between himself and his perplexed morion pursuers delight the spectators no end. Oftentimes, the onlooker unwittingly becomes a participant of this comedy-drama as he tries to help hide the hapless Longino that by now has become the 'darling of the crowd.

Longino is captured twice but is able to escape with the crowd's resounding roar of approval. On third time, realizing that he has made the world know that "Christ, the son of God, has risen," he bravely accepts his fate in the final act called Pugutan or mock beheading usually timed right before high noon. After asking his newly found Savior's forgiveness, he voluntarily lowers his head into the chopping block and his head is decapitated by another morion called the berdugo (executioner). His "lifeless" body is paraded around the town for his "funeral" that leads to the church where all morions rededicated this year's Lenten vow to God.

http://www.marinduque.gov.ph/moriones.html