Author: National Museum of the Philippines

Beads and Threads

LET’S LEARN FROM THE CULTURE BEARERS. The #NationalMuseumPH – Eastern Northern Mindanao invites you to a demonstration on “Tuhog” or Manobo beadwork on 28 and 29 May 2022, Saturday and Sunday, from 9 am to 4 pm.

The two-day demonstration will be conducted on-site following the minimum health protocols required by the quarantine status of the Butuan City.

As we celebrate National Heritage Month 2022, with the theme, “PAMANANG LOKAL: Binhi ng Kulturang Pilipino”, your NM-Eastern Northern Mindanao aims to highlight one of the living traditions of the Manobo in Agusan, the making of ornaments such as headdresses, necklaces, and bracelets through “tuhog” or beadwork.
This activity will engage the public, especially elementary and high school students on the tangible and intangible heritage of the Agusan Manobo. This is also to acknowledge and support the role of culture bearers in the transmission and preservation of our heritage.

Aside from the sharing and demonstrations, they will also bring for sale items to be displayed in a designated area at the museum lobby.

This activity is in collaboration with the NMP-Gender and Development Focal Point System (GAD-FPS), NMP Ethnology Division, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)-Caraga, and Butuan City Council for Culture, Heritage and the Arts.

For further queries on the activity, email us at nationalmuseumbutuan@gmail.com or call and text us at 09190779854.

See you and let us learn together how the Manobo make their colorful beaded ornaments!

Special Artillery Projectiles | San Diego Shipwreck

Special Artillery Projectiles | San Diego Shipwreck

  • Main Poster, Special artillery projectiles including bar shots (bs), and chain shots (cs) from the San Diego shipwreck.

  • Speculative 3D assembly of bar shots from the San Diego shipwreck. Image Source: © 2022 NMP-MUCHD

  • Speculative 3D assembly of chain shots from the San Diego shipwreck. Image Source: © 2022 NMP-MUCHD

  • Double-barreled cannon in Athens, Georgia, USA, invented by John Gilleland in 1862. Image Source: Kaushik Patorwary 2017 from https://bit.ly/3JOMRol, © J. Stephen Conn/Flickr.

This week’s #MaritimeMonday presents the special artillery projectiles including “chain shots” and “bar shots” from the San Diego shipwreck. A previous #MaritimeMonday post highlighted chain shots from the San Diego shipwreck: https://bit.ly/nmp_cshot01

Chain shots and bar shots are special artillery projectiles specifically designed to destroy ship riggings and masts to demobilize enemy ships. These projectiles are comprised mainly of two or more lead round shots, half-sphere, and/or hollowed half-sphere cannonballs attached by a short length of either metal chain or metal bar. The San Diego yielded various naval ordnances, artillery pieces, and ammunition including special artillery projectiles such as chain shots and bar shots. The chain shots from the previous #MaritimeMonday post were solid half-sphere cannonballs, while today’s chain shots are hollowed half-sphere shells. The shots were cast from lead with diameters ranging from 8.29 cm to 9.29 cm. The bar shots, on the other hand, were also cast from lead materials with diameters ranging from 6.29 cm to 9.29 cm. There were no actual metal chains or metal bars found at the site. However, the iron concretions on the cannonballs were indicative of the corroded materials that were used to connect the shots. 

There are no explicit comparisons in terms of effective range and impact between the round, half-sphere, and or hollowed half-sphere chain shots. Interestingly, chain shots were thought to be originally designed for two cannons to be fired simultaneously. In 1862, a bizarre cannon was invented by John Gilleland of Athens, Georgia, in the USA. The cannon was forged with two barrels, each with its own touch hole, that was later deemed ineffective. Firing a solid ball chain shot from a common single-barreled cannon would be similar to firing a “double shot” which is comprised of two round shots loaded and fired in one gun. This, also, has been proven ineffective, as double-shooting would lower the gun’s effective range and accuracy. The half-sphere chain shots, on the other hand, can be loaded similar to a single solid round shot, thereby resolving the gun’s accuracy and effectiveness. Lastly, the hollowed chain shots might have been the most refined version, as they can be fired as a single shot, as well as an incendiary grenade. The space created between the two hollowed spheres could be added with explosives or keep the chain from being a drag.  

 Your #NationalMuseumPH is now open to the public with minimum health protocols. Please visit our newly upgraded “300 Years of Maritime Trade in the Philippines” exhibition on the second floor of the National Museum of Anthropology Building. You may also opt to watch the virtual tour of the said gallery here: https://tinyurl.com/300YearsOfMaritimeTradePH. Please monitor our website and social media pages such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for further information and booking arrangements.

#ArtilleryProjectiles
#Barshots
#Chainshots
#SanDiego
#MuseumFromHome
#StaySafeStayHome
#BeatCOVID19

Poster and text by the NMP Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Division

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

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Kabilin: Writing the Filipino Heritage using Gender-Fair Language

Kabilin: Writing the Filipino Heritage using Gender-Fair Language

  • NHM 2022

  • NHM 2022

LET’S LEARN FROM THE CULTURE BEARERS. The #NationalMuseumPH – Eastern Northern Mindanao invites you to a demonstration on “Tuhog” or Manobo beadwork on 28 and 29 May 2022, Saturday and Sunday, from 9 am to 4 pm.

The two-day demonstration will be conducted on-site following the minimum health protocols required by the quarantine status of the Butuan City.

As we celebrate National Heritage Month 2022, with the theme, “PAMANANG LOKAL: Binhi ng Kulturang Pilipino”, your NM-Eastern Northern Mindanao aims to highlight one of the living traditions of the Manobo in Agusan, the making of ornaments such as headdresses, necklaces, and bracelets through “tuhog” or beadwork.

This activity will engage the public, especially elementary and high school students on the tangible and intangible heritage of the Agusan Manobo. This is also to acknowledge and support the role of culture bearers in the transmission and preservation of our heritage.

Aside from the sharing and demonstrations, they will also bring for sale items to be displayed in a designated area at the museum lobby.

This activity is in collaboration with the NMP-Gender and Development Focal Point System (GAD-FPS), NMP Ethnology Division, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)-Caraga, and Butuan City Council for Culture, Heritage and the Arts.

For further queries on the activity, email NM Butuan at nationalmuseumbutuan@gmail.com or call and text at 09190779854.

See you and let us learn together how the Manobo make their colorful beaded ornaments!

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Celebrating the life of Manlilikha ng Bayan Masino Intaray

Today, the #NationalMuseumPH celebrates the life of Manlilikha ng Bayan Masino Intaray, an outstanding storyteller and musical genius well-acquainted with the traditional instruments of the Pala’wan people. 

The Pala’wan, along with the Batak and Tagbanwa, is one of the indigenous communities living in southern Palawan. They are known to be an egalitarian society, firmly believing that no one owns the land, sea, sky, and other natural elements. They value harmony with their natural environment and among themselves that sharing is an inherent part of their community. One of their most important rituals, the tambilaw – a collective cooking and sharing of rice and ritual offering to Ampo’t Paray (god of rice) – is a testament to this. 

Born in Brooke’s Point, Palawan, MB Masino Intaray embodies the characteristics of a Pala’wan whose life is deeply entwined with nature and his community. Aside from mastering the basal (gong ensemble) and kulilal (lyrical poem with lute and zither accompaniment) and bagit (instrumental music depicting the rhythms, movements and sounds of nature), he also plays the aroding (mouth harp) and the babarak (ring flute). 

MB Masino Intaray was also a prolific poet, well-versed in oral traditions such as tultul (epics), sudsungit (narratives), and tuturan (myths of origin and teachings of ancestors). His being attuned to nature, sense of spiritual purpose, and creative memory allowed him to chant for longer hours on successive nights. 

Along with the basal and kulilal ensemble, MB Masino Intaray was conferred the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan in 1993 for his significant contribution to literature and performing arts. He passed away in his hometown at the age of 70 after succumbing to a series of strokes compounded by his diabetes. He left behind his wife and 4 children. His legacy, however, remains in his community, along with his enduring contributions to the rich cultural heritage of the Filipino nation.

#MBMasinoIntaray
#ManlilikhaNgBayan
#GAMABA
#Palawan

Text and poster by the NMP Ethnology Division

Photo courtesy of the NCCA GAMABA Executive Council

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

80th Birth Anniversary of BenCab

Today, as we celebrate the 80th birth anniversary of National Artist for Visual Arts Benedicto Reyes Cabrera, born #OnThisDay in 1942, we feature the artist himself in his painting, “Self” from the National Fine Arts Collection (NFAC).

Completed in 1965, this acrylic painting is a self-portrait and an early work of the artist. It represents himself as a young man painted in an impasto of earth tone colors in brown and greenish-gray. This portrait is far from the usual thematic works and familiar images he had later launched. BenCab is a painter and printmaker.  

Benedicto Cabrera was born in Malabon, Manila to Democrito Cabrera and Isabel Reyes, on April 10, 1942.  At six months old, his family moved to Santa Cruz, and later to the district of Tondo, Manila.  At a young age, BenCab’s older brother Salvador, an established artist, has influenced and exposed him to the arts. He won his first award when he joined a poster-making contest with a theme of human rights when he was in sixth grade at Balagtas Elementary School in Bambang. He enrolled at UP College of Fine Arts in 1959 but had to leave school and worked as an illustrator for magazines Liwayway and The Sunday Times before going full-time in painting.  His early works depict scavengers, barung-barong, and Sabel, the woman scavenger in his area.  Later his works reflect social commentaries on the American and Spanish influences.  He held his first solo exhibition at the Indigo Gallery in Ermita, Manila in 1966.  From the 1970s to the 80s, he held solo exhibitions and joined group shows here in the Philippines and abroad. Among these are the Six Artistes Contemporains Philippins en Europe in Paris; Philippine Printmakers at the Royal Festival Hall in London; Philippine Graphic Art exhibit in Munich; and the 8th Biennale Internationale de Arts in Valparaiso, Chile.  

He has exhibited widely and has won awards. He received the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining in 1992.  He was conferred with the Order of National Artist for Visual Arts in 2006.

This painting is on exhibition at Gallery XIX, Third Floor, National Museum of Fine Arts.

Follow this page for more features from the National Fine Arts Collection.  The #NationalMuseumPH is now open to the public.  View the link for the 360 degrees virtual tour of the nine select galleries at the National Museum of Fine Arts:  http://pamana.ph/ncr/manila/NMFA360.html

#OnThisDay
#BenCab
#BenedictoCabrera
#MuseumFromHome

Text by NMP-FAD

Photo by Bengy Toda

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

Palaspas

Palm Sunday (Linggo ng Palaspas or Domingo de Ramos) marks the beginning of Holy Week (Mahal na Araw or Semana Santa), which narrates Jesus’ final days in Jerusalem. On this day, devotees bring plain or ornate palm fronds (locally referred to as palaspas, palapa, langkay, lukay, or ramos) to church to re-enact the arrival of Jesus in Gethsemane where people welcomed Him while waving palm leaves. 

Palms are blessed during the Mass and brought home to be placed on home altars, doors and windows with the belief that these ward off evil spirits. According to Mr. Elmer Nocheseda, author of “Palaspas: An Appreciation of Palm Leaf Art in the Philippines” published in 2009, early Christians considered the palm as a symbol of victory of the faithful over the enemies of the soul and thus used symbolically for those who died as martyrs of the faith like San Lorenzo Ruiz and San Pedro Calungsod. 

The palaspas is primarily made from coconut palms (Cocos nucifera L.), but other plant species such as the century plant (Agave americana L.; A. cantala Roxb.), buri (Corypha utan Lam.), and oliva (Cycas revoluta Thunb.) can also be used. Traditionally, the head of the family or the male members of each household would gather and make the palm a day or two before Palm Sunday. Nowadays, palaspas can be bought outside the church. Some palaspas are plain, while there are also those that are decorated with colorful plastic ribbons, paper flowers, and images of saints, Mary, and Jesus, among others. 

After a year, these are gathered and burned by the church wherein the collected ashes are used during Ash Wednesday, the start of the 40-day Lenten Season. Among agricultural communities in the provinces of Bohol and Batangas, ashes gathered from burnt palaspas are mixed with commercial or organic fertilizer with the belief that when scattered in the cultivated areas, these will increase their harvest. 

To further commemorate the Lenten season, the #NationalMuseumPH presents a lecture and demonstration on palaspas by Mr. Nocheseda accessible through these links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeSFTtr6DGc and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlRuExzglLk

#MahalNaAraw2022
#HolyWeek2022
#Palaspas
#PalmSunday

Text and video by the NMP Ethnology Division and Exhibition, Editorial and Media Production Services Division

The lecture and demonstration were shown during the Laga, Tunos ken Pammati Story-Sharing and Demonstration of the NMP Ilocos on 22 March 2021

© (2022) National Museum of the Philippines