IT'S XIAOTIME!

Photo from Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino.

We recently commemorated our beloved who passed to the next life last Todos los Santos (All Saints Day and All Souls Day) which we call “Undas.”  When I asked Dr. Lars Ubaldo, who studied death practices in Ilocos, he said that it came from the Spanish “honras funebres” (funeral honors).  In some Tagalog provinces, undas is called “honras” and “undras,” and in Ilocos, the “atang” is also called “umras.”

Talking about death, the ancient Filipinos believe that when we die, whatever power, prestige and prowess we have can be transferred to another person or thing.  Dr. Ubaldo told me of a ritual in Cordillera, wherein a man who just died is being sat on a sangadi/sangachil (death chair), and as he is being smoked, the last body fluids that are coming out of his body are collected in a plate below so people can put it in their skin.

With this perspective, one now understands why on each Good Friday, when the dead Christ is being lowered from the cross in old churches to become the “santo sepulcro” or “santo entierro,” people will clean it.  The cloth used to wipe the dead Christ will be distributed as they believed it already have power, “anting-anting.”  Now we can understand that what many Catholic Bishops call as “fanaticism” every 9 January, of hundreds of thousands of people trying to get near the Black Nazarene and wipe it with hankies on its procession around the streets of Quiapo, is actually the continuation of an ancient practice of transferring the power of the Lord to the people, despite Western Christian influence.

Apu Mamakalulu, Santo Sepulcro, The Dead Christ at the Parish of the Holy Rosary, Angeles, Pampanga, Photo from the Xiao Chua Archives

Dr. Vicente Villan, one of my mentors, studied the “pintados,” tattooed “bagani” warriors from Panay.  I learned from him that the ancient warriors from this archipelago, especially the Ilanun “mangangayaw” warriors, behead their enemies in order for the power of these people to transfer to them.  The warrior goes home, adds the hair of the dead to the handle of his kampilan sword and will return with honor, prestige and well-being (ginhawa) to his bayan.

Ilanun, head-hunters

In the Visayan language, power is called “gahum.”  In a monograph, Dr. Myfel Joseph Paluga collected the different meanings of the concept:  it can refer to the nature of God, “Labaw nga Makagagahum” (Almighty God, He who had a high power); it can also mean government (”kagamhanan,” or “the powers-that-be”) and “gamhanan nga tawo” means a man who have power or authority.  The amulet known in many parts of the Philippines as anting-anting/agimat is also called “gahum.”  Although generally gahum is a positive concept, Dr. Villan said that in Visayan epics like the “Labaw Donggon,” if a power can destroy order, culture, relationships and communities, it is a bad gahum.  That’s why the struggle against state hegemony is now referred by many in the Philippine Left as “kontra-gahum.”

Anting-anting/Agimat/Gahum from the Zeus Salazar Collection. Photo from the Xiao Chua Archives.

Early Filipinos also believe that the “kaluluwa” (loosely translated as soul) has an alignment to heaven.  If the alignment is straightly vertical, it is a good soul—“matuwid na kaluluwa.”  If its horizontal, it is a bad soul—“halang ang kaluluwa.”  That alignment can be affected by someone with a strong inner gahum and that will make one feel bad.  And this is the folk explanation for a kid who suddenly felt sick because his soul’s alignment was disoriented—“nausog.”

We always borrow theoretical concepts from Western scholars when we can also see how colorful and comprehensive our own concepts are.

Manunggul Jar design, courtesy of Dr. Jose Victor Torres.

“Langit, lupa, impiyerno, im-im-impiyerno…” was a popular game that we played as kids.  Years ago, I suddenly wondered why we teach this to kids when it describes violence, “saksak puso, tulo ang dugo!”  Imagine.

But it describes our Christian Worldview and our belief in the afterlife.  Note that although we have indigenous terms for heaven (langit) and earth (lupa), we borrowed the European term “inferno.”  This means that before Catholicism, our ancient Filipinos had no concept of a place of eternal suffering.  As it was explained to me by Dr. Zeus Salazar, “langit” for them is the place of the “bayani,” the rest goes to the underworld which is not really a bad place.

Tagbanua, Palawan worldview, Courtesy of Dr. Dante Ambrosio.

How to get to the afterlife?  Expert interpretations of archaeological artifacts based on oral traditions can help explain this.

Many of our Austronesian ancestors bury their dead in burial jars such as those found in the Tabon Cave Complex, Palawan in 1964.  Archaeologists classify these jars as primary burial jars, where they place the whole corpse, to secondary burial jars, smaller ones where they place bones.

One of the secondary burial jars found there was the Manunggul Jar, dated as far back to the Neolithic Period, about 710 B.C.  Described by Dr. Robert Fox as “the work of an artist and master potter,” its design became part of the reverse side of our soon to be demonetized 1,000.00 bill.  The two figures riding a boat reflect the effect of the Ancient Filipinos’ already sophisticated maritime culture to their worldview as studied by Dr. Bernadette Abrera:  the “kaluluwa,” accompanied by an “abay” (companion) goes to the afterlife passing by the sea.

In many oral traditions, the “kaluluwa” goes back to the world to guide the living people and return in nature:  in trees, mountains, rivers, rock and soil formations (the aetas call Mt. Pinatubo Apo Namalyari or the Lord who can make things possible, and the “nuno sa punso”).  That’s why design of the Manunggul Jar shows us not two “kaluluwas” but three:  The dead person, the “abay” and the boat, all of which had faces.  This is the reason why our ancestors had so much respect for the environment not as dead things but creatures with life and soul, the home of their ancestors.

Three faces

Some believe that these jars are so important people bring them every time they migrate.  When they started settling down, they eventually buried their dead in soil, but as found in a Batanes gravesite, the marker stones formed a boat shape.  In Cordillera, coffins were boat-shaped.  All these make one wonder if the word “bangkay” has something to do with “bangka.”

Boat-shaped coffins in the National Museum, photo by Xiao Chua Archives

Boat-shaped grave in Batanes, photo from Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People.

This All Saints Day, let us remember how we Filipinos treat death with style then and now.  Then, we stay awake all night, “lamay,” because the aswang might come and eat our loved one, and replace the corpse with a puno ng saging.  So although we grieve, we also sing the virtues of the dead (Ilocano dung-aw as studied by Dr. Lars Ubaldo), and we gamble (saklaan fund-raising for those left behind).  Wakes become family reunion as we help each other cope with loss and remember happy memories our loved one left us, then we laugh.  What a happy colorful people we are.