In the continuing celebration of the #NationalArtsMonth and love month, the #NationalMuseumPH sheds light on the pagkawin practice among the Sama-Tabawan in the island of Tabawan in Tawi-Tawi province, a traditional wedding ceremony of the Muslims in southern Mindanao. As a community affair, the pagkawin is made festive by the colorful garbs of the wedding attendees, the dancing of the igal (traditional dance), and the pag-usung—a wedding procession practiced only by one lineage, and thus only seen in Tabawan Island.  

The Sama-Tabawan, known to be in commune with the elements and nature, have their rituals, including the pagkawin, guided by the phases of the moon. They usually hold the pagkawin during the full moon, creating a festive atmosphere as the wedding celebration carries on into the night. 

A day before the pagkawin, the bride of the family receives in their home the song (dowry) which may consist of the wedding ring, Qur’an, wedding gowns, bridal shoes, cash, tepo (mats), as well as sugar, packs of cigarettes, panyam (rice cake), and ja (crunchy noodle rice roll). After which, the imams, community elders, and the parents of the couple conduct the pagduwa ‘a pasalamat (thanksgiving prayer).

The bridal carriage tradition called pag-usung however is unique to the Pua family, who descended from the ancestral lineage of previous datus (noble chiefs) and dayang-dayang (princesses). In the pag-usung, the bride is carried and paraded on a kantil (wooden bed) decorated with luhul (canopy) and intricate ukil carvings. Elders performing the igal and playing the agung (bossed gong) join the bride’s entourage from her ancestral house to her maternal house where the groom waits for the wedding ceremony. If the groom is the eldest son of the Pua family, a kantil in the shape of a sea vessel decorated with colorful flags is used. According to their tradition, the pag-usung is carried out to prevent misfortune, sickness, and miscarriage. 

As night descends, igal performances—such as igal pangasik, a traditional courtship dance where the man imitating a rooster attracts and pursues the woman—are performed by the relatives of the bride and groom. Underneath the full moon, they dance with rapid footsteps, shrugging of shoulders, and swaying of arms along with the rhythmic beats of the tagunggu’an ensemble. This part of the celebration becomes intimate since the igal performances can only be viewed by relatives and invited friends of the bride and groom. 

To learn more about the Sama-Tabawan culture, you may watch this virtual tour of the “Tabawan: The Island of Pre-Islamic Rituals and Traditional Practices in Tawi-Tawi” Photo Exhibition, which includes a section on the pagkawin, featured at the National Museum of Anthropology in Manila on May 15, 2021, until January 3, 2022.

#Pagkawin
#SamaTabawan
#TawiTawi
#TraditionalWeddingCeremony
Text by the NMP Ethnology Division and Paul Quiambao

Photo courtesy of Mr. Paul Quiambao (2019)

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

Your #NationalMuseumPH features the seguyun and the sebalang—musical genres performed by the Tboli of South Cotabato during courtship and marriage as part of our #MuseumFromHome program as we celebrate the love month and also the #NationalArtsMonth.

Music plays an inherent role in marking the courtship between a Tboli man and woman as the seguyun is performed to publicly announce the sewol (courting) to the community. It is performed by men and women playing the hegelung/agelang (two-stringed lute) and s’ludoy (polychordal bamboo zither), respectively. The two players utilize unique variations that aim to produce a coordinated tempo and complementary rhythm instead of playing in unison. 

Sebalang is performed during the moninum (marriage negotiation ceremony). In contrast to the seguyun, the sebalang is performed by two pairs, each consisting of a man and woman. One pair plays the slagi setang (gong ensemble) while the other plays the t’nonggong ne kasal (drum and percussion sticks). Dancers also accompany the performance of the pairs as they play two different tempos at the same time. 

The other aspects of the moninum is also characterized by competitions which play out the tensions between the family of the bride and the groom. Men from each family participate in setolu (singing debates) to negotiate on wealth exchange. They also hold seket kuda (ritual horse fights) to symbolize the polar opposites between the family of the bride and the groom. Ultimately, however, the moninum is an instrumental ceremony through which they recognize and affirm the bond between their communities. 

The #NationalMuseumPH is now open to vaccinated individuals and their children. You can check some of these instruments located at the 3F, Lumad Gallery of the National Museum of Anthropology.

#Seguyun
#Sebalang
#Tboli

Text and poster by the Ethnology Division

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

Today, the #NationalMuseumPH celebrates the 77th birthday of Manlilikha ng Bayan Uwang Ahadas.

Manlilikha ng Bayan Uwang Ahadas is gifted with a talent for music which he learned by simply observing the performances of the older members of the Yakan community. He is known for his mastery in playing traditional Yakan instruments such as the agung, gabbang, and kwintangan kayu. Agung (bossed gong) is meant to be played by men while the gabbang is a bamboo xylophone with a beater called lisag. The kwintangan kayu, on the other hand, is a set of logs of different sizes that are usually suspended under a tree near the rice fields, with the belief that its music is beneficial for the growth of rice. Despite the kwintangan being traditionally meant to be played by women, Manlilikha ng Bayan Uwang Ahadas mastered it at the age of 20.

He was conferred with the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) in 2000 in recognition of his excellent contribution to the preservation of Yakan traditional music. Manlilikha ng Bayan Uwang Ahadas has been teaching his children along with other younger members of the community about Yakan music to ensure its transmission and continuity. A GAMABA Cultural Center dedicated to him is currently being built as part of the GAMABA program aim of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) to conserve Yakan culture and tradition.

#UwangAhadas
#ManlilikhaNgBayan
#GAMABA
#MuseumFromHome

Text and poster by NMP Ethnology Division

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

This Valentine’s Day, the #NationalMuseumPH brings you to the world of magkaibog (courtship) among the Hanunoo Mangyan living in Oriental Mindoro, with their expressions of love through writing and serenading.

Pamtang or exchanging gifts during the courting stage is an important practice among the Hanunoo. Traditionally, the women weave buri baskets while men prepare apugan (bamboo lime containers) and luka (tobacco tube containers) as gifts. What makes these containers special is that men, aside from incising them with geometric designs, would also inscribe a song or personal message before giving it to the women they adore. In response, a woman may answer her suitor/s by writing on the same tube to be given in the next betel exchange. 

A young man may also serenade (maglayes) his beloved by playing a traditional ceremonial guitar or violin along with the recitation of the ambahan, the 7-syllable line poetry that is often inscribed on bamboo and other wooden objects. Hanunoo children learn the scripts from their parents and during social gatherings through observation, imitation, and constant practice of inscription of chants and verses in bamboo, wood and even leaves, such as the backbone of a banana leaf. 

In the old days, a suitor would cross mountain ranges to visit the woman he adores and verses of the ambahan would also refer to such journeys. Being torn between two lovers is also a dilemma among Hanunoo teenagers, as reflected in these verses: 

Kang di magsawilihan I love both of them, they say,

Sa uway sa inwagan the vines inwag and uway.

Ga di ud sa masungnan But you should not say I’m bad,

Ga di ud sa malut-an and no reason to be mad!

Ya pangurog tunya wan You should call it: real, true love.

Ya panadya kumon wan Or this: over and above!

(Postma, 2005: 43)

The Hanunoo script, along with those of the Buhid, Tagbanua and Pala’wan was declared by the National Museum of the Philippines as National Cultural Treasures and inscribed in the Memory of the World Registry of UNESCO in 1999. Projects and programs geared towards the preservation and propagation of these traditional scripts have been launched by the National Museum of the Philippines, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Mangyan Heritage Center, and other government agencies and private institutions. 

Ginaw Bilog, a Hanunoo Mangyan from Oriental Mindoro, was the first recipient of the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) award conferred by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) for his preservation of the surat Mangyan, or the Mangyan script, and the ambahan. His works are displayed at the Manlilikha ng Bayan Hall in the National Museum of Anthropology in Manila. 

The book, Baybayin: Ancient and Traditional Scripts in the Philippines, was also published by the National Museum in 2014 should you wish to know more about the ancient script of the Philippines. 

#HanunooMangyan
#Courtship
#Ambahan
#PhilippineTraditionalScript

Text and photos by the NMP Ethnology Division

Special thanks to the Mangyan Heritage Center for their assistance in some local terminologies.

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines