Eid al-Fitr is a Muslim holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan. During the Eid al-Fitr, Muslims hold communal prayers in mosques or open spaces, which are often adorned with special lamps, drapes, and mats. They also wear their finest clothes as they visit other households and create and renew bonds by sharing local delicacies specially prepared for Eid al-Fitr.

Joining today’s celebration, the #NationalMuseumPH features the mosque, a place of worship for our Muslim brothers and sisters. There are 2 types of mosques in the Philippines, the ranggar or langgal, and the masjid. The ranggar is a small structure accommodating a few individuals for daily prayers in rural areas. The masjid is a permanent structure facing the holy city of Mecca. Its architecture is inspired by Western influences such as the presence of minarets (tall towers attached to or adjacent to the mosque), mihrab (a niche indicating the direction of Mecca), minbar (a pulpit on which the imam or prayer leader stands when delivering a sermon), and a place of ablution. During prayer, the floor is covered with a tepo (prayer mat) or carpet. In most mosques, men and women have different entrances and also separate prayer rooms. There are, however, mosques wherein both men and women can enter together but women would pray behind men.

The Sheik Karimol Makhdum Mosque located in Tubig Indangan, Simunul, Tawi-Tawi is the oldest mosque in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia. It is believed to have been constructed in 1380 by Sheikh Makhdum Karim, an Arab trader who introduced Islam to the country. The 4 pillars found inside the mosque are the oldest Islamic artifacts in the country and date back to the 17th century.

The Sheik Karimol Makhdum Mosque was declared a National Historical Landmark by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines in May 2013.

#EidAlFitr
#HappyEid
#EidMubarak
#MuseumFromHome

Text by the NMP Ethnology Division

Photo courtesy of Mr. Paul Quiambao

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

The #NationalMuseumPH salutes all the Filipino working men and women in the country and around the world this Labor Day, May 1, 2022, featuring a painting by National Artist Ang Kiukok entitled “Men at Work” (1979).

“Men at Work” is a large-scale triptych oil on canvas painting created in 1979 by Ang Kiukok (1931-2005). This semiabstract painting depicting solid, heavy, and muscular human limbs and torso in tones of black and white and engaged in physical work represents the strength of the labor force. It was created in 1979 as a commissioned painting for the National Manpower and Youth Commission (NMYC) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). This was before the NMYC merged with the Bureau of Technical and Vocational Education (BTVE) of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS). The Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) of DOLE formed the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority or TESDA in 1994. The painting used to be displayed at the auditorium entrance of the TESDA-NCR Office in Taguig.

The painting is currently loaned to the National Museum of the Philippines by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and can be viewed at the Spoliarium Hall. In 2021, Ang Kiukok’s “Men at Work” (1979) was declared a National Cultural Treasure (NCT) and Important Cultural Property (ICT) by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). 

Ang Kiukok (1931-2005) was born on March 1, 1931 in Davao City. His parents were Chinese immigrants. He attended a Chinese high school where he learned Chinese calligraphy. A commercial artist also taught him how to make charcoal portraits. In 1952, he flew to Manila and took art classes at the University of Santo Tomas (UST). While studying at UST, his work “Calesa” was awarded third place at the Shell National Students Art Competition in 1953. In 1954, he was forced to stop his studies due to financial constraints. He then ventured to produce watercolor works and held his first one-man exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Gallery in 1954, where he featured more than twenty watercolor pieces. Ang Kiukok’s proficiency in this medium was noticed by one of his mentors at UST, National Artist Vicente Manansala (1910-1981), who even showed Ang Kiukok’s watercolors to his students. In the succeeding years, he earned awards at the Art Association of the Philippines Annual Competition, such as the first prize for “The Bird” (1959), third prize for “Still Life in Red” (1963), second prize for “Fish” (1963), and second prize for “Geometric Still-Life Fish” (1963). His works in the 1960s gained popularity with a distinct style that combines influences from cubism and expressionism. 

His contribution to Philippine art was recognized with the conferment of the National Artist for Visual Arts in 2001. Four years later, Ang Kiukok passed away due to cancer on May 9, 2005. 

The National Museum of Fine Arts is now open for walk-in visitors! For visitor guidelines, please visit www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph. You may also view the 360 degrees virtual tour of selected NMFA galleries on the link https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nmfa360/HTML5/NMFA360.html. See you at your National Museum!

#AngKiukok
#LaborDay
#BeatCOVID19

Text and photo by NMP FAD

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

In celebration of the Filipino Food Month 2022, the #NationalMuseumPH explores Filipino gastronomy by featuring wrapped rice cakes, ground corn, mashed bananas and root crops using leaves from plants from different regions.

Filipino food ranges from sweet to savory, and from soupy to dry. Whether savory or sweet, food is usually served on platters, wrapped or unwrapped. For the former, the wrapper can be edible, folded, wound, or woven.

Common traditional food wrappers are leaves of banana, taro, coconut or buri, and corn sheaths. These are favored for their overall structure, pliable properties and aroma. Their inherent properties secure the food and prevent it from spilling—the broadness of banana leaves makes food wrapping easier as there is room for multiple folding while strips of coconut or buri leaves are woven into small containers.

Food such as suman Taal, suman sa lihiya, suman Bulacan/Tagalog, tamales, binot-ong, and sinaing na isda are cooked while wrapped in banana leaves. The pastil/pastel or cooked rice topped with sautéed shredded meat of Maguindanao and Maranao is also wrapped in a banana leaf and can be consumed on-the-go as well as the Palabok Tanza of Cavite and Pancit Habhab of Quezon.

The pusô in Visayas and Mindanao is rice cooked in woven pouch made from palm strips (Cocos nucifera) and usually paired with grilled meat. Palm strips are also used in wrapping and cooking suman sa ibos in Rizal, Aurora, Quezon, and Bicol. Dizon’s bakery of Cavite City, on the other hand, uses pandan (Pandanus sp.) as wrapped-around leaf to naturally infuse its aroma to pan de coco.

Edible food wrappers such as the lumpia wrapper made of cooked starch are used in making the fresh lumpia, fried spring rolls or lumpiang shanghai, and turon or fried plantain wrapped in lumpia wrapper covered with caramelized sugar. Taro or gabi leaf (Colocasia esculenta) is widely used in the Bicol region in coconut-based cooking—the spices and other ingredients of pinangat are wrapped in multiple layers of the leaf before stewing in coconut milk. The softened leaves due to long hours of cooking are edible and just perfect when mixed with the spices and other ingredients in it. Gabi leaves are also used in cooking another local dish called inun-on.

Food in traditional food wrappers is more sustainable and economical especially outside the metropolis. Traditionally wrapped food is an example of tangible cultural heritage, as it reflects the uniqueness of the cuisine in different regions.

#FilipinoFoodMonth2022
#FoodWraps

Text and poster by the NMP Ethnology Division

Photographs used courtesy of Jane Maren M. Dasal, Jessica T. Marquinez, Marites P. Tauro, Odie Dela Cruz/ The Dela Cruz Ancestral House, and Angel Weena Santos

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

On the occasion of his 111th birth anniversary, the #NationalMuseumPh honors National Artist HR Ocampo, born #OnThisDay in 1911, through his works at the National Museum of Fine Arts’ Pillars of Philippine Modernism Exhibition. 

Better known as HR Ocampo, Hernando Ruiz Ocampo was born to parents Emilio Ocampo and Delfina Ruiz in Sta Cruz, Manila on April 28, 1911. He took up several courses in college, including pre-law at the Letran College (1928-29), commerce at the Far Eastern University (1929-1930), and creative writing at the Valenzuela School of Journalism (1930-1931). 

Ocampo is a self-taught artist who learned to draw and paint from magazines. He is considered one of the three significant figures of neo-realism in the country, together with Vicente Manansala and Cesar Legaspi. He was listed among Victorio Edades’ Thirteen Artists who rebelled against the conservative style of painting and introduced modern art in the Philippines in the early 20^th century. Throughout the five decades of his artistic career, he stayed true to his principles of searching for unity, coherence, and emphasis in his works. 

Throughout the 1960s, his art shifted from being a neorealist to an abstract non-configurative painter. His works were then characterized by biomorphic shapes vividly colored in hues of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown, and black which he humorously depicted as paint by number. His usual painting process is to outline and put a number on each section or shape on the canvas. He would then fill each shape with a specific color corresponding to his assigned numbers. His meticulous and diligent artistic process is demonstrated in his five-part work entitled “Creating Cierna” (1968, mixed media on paper). This series of drawings is currently at the Pillars of Philippine Modernism Exhibition at the National Museum of Fine Arts. 

Ocampo passed away in Caloocan City in 1978. He was posthumously conferred with the National National Artist for Visual Arts Award in 1991. 

#MuseumFromHome
#HernandoOcampo
#HROcampocampo
#PhilippineArt
#AbstractArt
#ModernArt
#PhilippineModernArt

Text and photo by NMP FAD

The #NationalMuseumPH celebrates World Art Day and joins Roman Catholics in the observance of Good Friday #OnThisDay, with an exhibition of the two sets of Via Crucis studies by National Artist (NA) for Visual Arts Jeremias Elizalde-Navarro (1924–1999) in the Museum Foundation of the Philippines Hall (Gallery X) of the National Museum of Fine Arts. 

These two sets of studies—one on pen and ink, and the other, graphite and ink wash on illustration board, were completed in 1973, the same year that Navarro was appointed Director of Graphics of the Design Center of  the Philippines. These significant additions to the National Fine Arts Collection were made by the National Museum of the Philippines through acquisition in 2020 from the late Emma Villanueva Navarro. The Via Crucis or the Stations of the Cross depict the events of the Passion of Christ, from his condemnation to his entombment. 

In 2019, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), during its 40^th session, proclaimed April 15 of every year as World Art Day. This is to “promote the development, diffusion, and enjoyment of art.” Art continues to unite us and connects to us even in the most difficult circumstances—most especially in this time of the pandemic.  

Born in San Jose de Buenavista, Antique, Jeremias “Jerry” Elizalde Navarro graduated from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) with a degree in fine arts in 1951. He pursued his graduate studies in New York City, returned to teach at the University of Santo Tomas, and later on taught at the Randwick University in Australia. Navarro experimented with various media and techniques. He also represented the Philippines in numerous art competitions abroad. Navarro was proclaimed National Artist for Visual Arts in 1999. 

In observance of Holy Week, the National Museum complex in Rizal Park will be closed from Maundy Thursday to Black Saturday. You may view National Artist Navarro’s Via Crucis starting Easter Sunday, as we resume our regular museum hours. Admission is free and walk-in visitors are accepted. 

#WorldArtDay
#GoodFriday
#MuseumFromHome

Text and photos by NMP-FAD

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

The #NationalMuseumPH is one with the Filipino Catholic community in remembering Christ’s sacrifice through his crucifixion this Good Friday. For our #MuseumFromHome feature this Holy Week, we highlight one of the Lenten traditions that have evolved throughout the centuries since it has been first performed—the Senakulo. 

The Senakulo (or cenaculo) is the staged re-enactment of Christ’s passion and death. It is also known as pasyon y muerte, passion play (Rizal, Bulacan, Bataan, and Pampanga); centurion or hudyuhan (Laguna); tanggal (Bicol region); and pamalandong (Leyte). The performance of the Senakulo is traced to the late 17^th and early 18^th centuries when the first Pasyon text was written. Unlike the Pasyon which is chanted in a mournful tone called tagulaylay, the Senakulo aims to dramatize scenes while also deriving from the contents of the Pasyon.

Drawing from the text of the newer Pasyong Henesis or Pasyong Pilapil, which became popular among the folk community in the early 19^th century, has caused the Senakulo to be lengthier. In some provinces, the traditional performance of a Senakulo may last from 7 to 8 days. Shortened versions however have been staged during Good Friday, beginning only from the agony of Christ, particularly in the urban areas.  

The town or church plaza, as well as the streets, serve as the venue of most Senakulo performances. In some instances, during the early 20^th century, it has also been performed in sabungan (cockpits) in areas near Manila. As with other Holy Week traditions marked by community participation, the staging of the Senakulo is no different. Senakulo actors would prepare the props and sew their own costumes in anticipation of the Holy Week while the stage is built in the plaza using scaffolding and wooden boards, which are painted to serve as the backdrop. While the stage is central to the performance of main scenes such as the crucifixion, many episodes of the Senakulo are performed while going around the town streets. After which, they circle back to the plaza where the stage is located. As the plaza is usually located in front of the church, the end of the Senakulo will serve as a transition for the viewers to attend the succeeding activities such as the Seven Last Words or the procession of the Santo Entierro (image of the dead Jesus Christ) around the town. 

#MahalNaAraw2022
#BiyernesSanto
#Senakulo

Text and poster by the NMP Ethnology Division
Photo courtesy of Michael Dalogdog (2018). 

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines