For this week’s #TrowelTuesday, we are featuring the Neolithic artifacts of the Batanes Islands.

The Neolithic Period in Southeast Asia is described as a transition from hunter-gatherer population to village farmers. Discovered artifacts supporting such transition included polished stone adzes and axes for boat-building, distinctive red slipped pottery with circle stamped decorations, stone bark cloth beaters, spindle whorls, and fishing implements, among others. The pottery, seldom found intact, are either plain or with decorative patterns that include circle stamps, cord marks, dentate impression, and incision. The presence of Neolithic artifacts is recognized as part of the spread of the languages and culture of Austronesian – a language family previously known as the Malayo-Polynesian group of languages that spread across Mainland and Island Southeast Asia.

In the Philippines, the Neolithic Period is estimated to be about 4500 to 2500 years ago. Archaeological evidence for Neolithic culture found in the Batanes Islands included artifact remains of polished adze technology and the red slipped wares (earthenware pottery) with circle stamps and cord-impressed marks, providing information on the earliest settlement established at about 4000 years ago. Batanes was inhabited by Austronesian-speaking people who probably reached the islands by boat or raft about 4500 years ago. 

Research done through archaeology, comparative linguistics, and human genetics proved these early settlers’ connection to Austronesian speakers that originated from Taiwan. Studies made by archaeologists Hidefumi Ogawa, Peter Bellwood, Eusebio Dizon, and Hsiao-chun Hung shed light on the Austronesian occupation of Batanes Islands. For instance, Hung and coauthors’ 2007 publication discussed Fengtian nephrite, which was exploited in Taiwan around 4500 years ago, and brought to the Philippines about 3800–3500 years ago and manufactured as lingling-o or split earrings, and other ornaments.  

Pottery assemblage from Torongan Cave and Reranum Rockshelter in Itbayat Island in Batanes consisted of plain red slipped pottery, circle-stamped sherds with lime or clay infilling, and cord-marked design that established a baseline for the Batanes Neolithic period as early as about 3500 years ago.  Stone artifacts found in the Batanes Islands, particularly in the sites of Sunget and Anaro, consisted of adzes with asymmetrical bevels, flaked and hammer dressed hoes, bark cloth beaters, sawn and ground Taiwan slate points and knives, grinding stones, pendants, and side-notched pebble sinkers. These provided data on the late phase of the Neolithic Period from about 3000 to 2200 years ago. 

The #NationalMuseumPH is open to the public at a limited capacity. Explore more of our collections by booking through this website. 

#PhilippineNeolithicPeriod
#ArchaeologyOfBatanesIslands
#MuseumFromHome

Text by Ame Garong and poster by Timothy James Vitales

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

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