Showing posts with label traditions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label traditions. Show all posts

Friday, November 2, 2018

99. 25 OLD KAPAMPANGAN SUPERSTITIONS ABOUT DEATH AND DYING

by Robby P. Tantingco

People weave superstitions around events that they cannot explain, and nothing makes them more superstitious than when confronted with death. 

Because death was fairly common in ancient times, our ancestors had to pay close attention to the warning signs. Here are some Kapampangan superstitions which are at least 100 years old, culled from H. Otley Beyer's 1916 collection of folk beliefs.

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SOURCE:
"Superstitions in Pampanga" (1917) in H. Otley Beyer's Philippine Folklore, Social Customs and Beliefs Vol. IX (Unpublished)

Thursday, March 29, 2018

77. 10 RARE AND EARLY PHOTOS OF FLAGELLANTS IN PAMPANGA


The ways of  flagellants have always inspired awe and curiosity amongst the faithful during the days of Lent. Pampanga flagellants, however, have a different intent. Bloodied, scourged and caked with dust, magdarames live and act out the passion of the Lord—and the term “dámé”, to sympathize and share one’s grief, to take part in someone else’s suffering-- captures this spirit of oneness, in pain and sorrow. Here are, early images of the “magdarame” in Pampanga,  preserved by the camera from the turn of the 20th century to the 1950s.
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1. MAMALASPAS
Barefooted flagellants from the early 20th century have their backs incised with wounds, drawing blood by whipping their backs with burilyos--bamboo strips tied to a cloth. These magdarame types are called mamalaspas, A distinctive sound is heard when the bamboo strips strike the flesh.

2. MAGDARAMES IN A VISITA
Makeshift chapels of wood, nipa and light materials serve as pitstops for  retinue of magdarames. Here, at these gaily decorated visitas, they pause to say their prayers, before moving on.

 3. MAGDARAME ANONYMOUS.
A magdarame remains anonymous by covering his face with a black hood or a white cloth, called "capariza", held in place by a crown of vines or twisted branches. These days, the face cover is an option as some modern-day flagellants expose their faces to the world. Instead, a piece of cloth is used to covers their heads, Arab-style.

4. BLOOD AND GORE
The back of a magdarame  is incised with a panabad, a paddle with shards of broken glass or directly with a razor or the sharp tip of a knife, such as the one shown in the photo.

5. EYES ON THE MAGDARAME
A group of American ladies from nearby Fort Stotsenburg gawk at a cross-bearing magdarame, followed by his aide, who intones prayers. Then, as now, magdarames were strange sights to see for foreigners. Today, the display of unusual practices such as flagellation and crucifixion are part of a 'religious tourism program' propagated by such places led by the City of San Fernando.

 6. THE CROSS-BEARERS
A popular type of magdarame is the cross-bearer or mamusan kurus. He either carries a cross or is tied to one. This flagellant carries a cross of bamboo, and he carries its full weight as the cross does not touch the ground. Today's crosses are fashioned from commercial lumber from hardware stores, or fashioned from old electric posts. They are also unusually long, so that the end of the cross touches the ground, thus providing support,

 7. THE WAY OF THE CROSS
Flagellants often walked country trails and roads, in small packs of 8 to 12. Others go on solitary walks, the better to reflect on his personal mission to be united in suffering with Christ. An American in a white suit follows this group in their walk of faith.

8. WHIP IT GOOD!
Another kind of magdarame is the sasalibatbat, who fling their bodies to the ground, rolling over sharp rocks and stones in the process. They are followed by a flogger, who whips them when they are on the ground. Their torsos, legs and arms are tied with abaca rope to impair circulation, hence making the experience more torturous.

9. EVERYTHING'S ALRIGHT?
An ayudante checks on the condition of a magdarame, sprawled on the field under the hot, mid-day sun.  The walk around town begins in the morning, ends by early afternoon and is followed by a dash to the nearest river for a quick, recuperative bath.



10. CRUCIFY HIM!
A magdarame is symbolically crucified, by having his arms tied on the crossbar.  The first re-enactment of Christ's crucifixion happened in the 1955 "Via Crucis" in San Fernando, but it was only in 1962 that an actual crucifixion was done, with the nailing of Artemio Anoza to the cross in barrio San Pedro Cutud. Anoza believed he could realize his dream to be a faith healer with his crucifixion.

PHOTO SOURCES:
Photos, courtesy of "Old Pampanga" FB Group.
Others: Alex R.castro, ebay.com 

Monday, August 21, 2017

58. 9 TYPES OF TRIBAL ARROWS USED BY PRIMITIVE KAPAMPANGANS

Traditional weapons of primitive Kapampangans, most notably, the Aetas of Pampanga and Tarlac have been produced  through the centuries to meet their survival and personal needs. Weapons and implements like the sulbatana (blowgun),  pandacdac (dagger) , bay at paslo (bow and arrow) are but a few  familiar creations that are slowly coming into disuse with the advent of new technology.  Tribal arrows are often tipped with metal points styled differently for the Negritos’ intended use. Here are few examples of these vanishing primitive gadgetry.
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SOURCE:
SINGSING MAGAZINE, Folk Arts Issue. vol. 5, no. 1
Dr. Rodrigo Sicat, Disappearing Gadgetry, pp. 77-78

Monday, April 10, 2017

42. 7 BEST HOLY WEEK DESTINATIONS IN PAMPANGA (aside from Cutud)

This week, all roads will surely lead to Cutud, and so for a change, why not avoid the madding crowd, take the road less travelled, and discover these little-known Holy Week events in Pampanga:

Photo courtesy of Ivan Anthony Henares
The PASYON SERENATA of Brgy. San Basilio in Sta. Rita (Holy Wednesday evening). You’ve heard the pasyon, you’ve heard the serenata, but I’m sure you haven’t heard the pasyon serenata, which is the Holy Week version of this unique Kapampangan fiesta spectacle. It’s a showdown between two brass bands and their respective choirs who try to outperform each other by chanting the pasyon to the tune of classical operas. They play all night long, one page at a time, until they finish the whole book. The sight and sound of betel-chewing barrio folks singing the entire history of salvation in Kapampangan and to the tune of Verdi and Puccini will blow you away. Despite their guegue it’s a performance worthy of a concert hall instead of some dusty road in a remote farming village.

Photo: Maleldo king Pampanga FB Group
The GRAND ASSEMBLY OF PENITENTS in Mabalacat City (Good Friday early morning).
It’s a scene straight out of a Cecil B. DeMille movie: hundreds, maybe thousands, of half-naked flagellants and cross-bearers in flowing red robes, brought together by sin and tradition, converge in the church patio for an orgy of suffering, self-mutilation and penance. The number of penitents makes you wonder if flagellation, like circumcision, is a rite of passage among boys in Pampanga. (It also makes you wonder why Kapampangans, usually vain, would want to lacerate their skin and flesh and disfigure their pampered bodies.)

Photo by Reuters
The CENACULO of Brgy. Lourdes in Angeles City (Good Friday late morning).
The passion play is performed by actors who I suspect are thugs, stevedores and butchers from the nearby Pampang market, because they chase the actor playing Jesus and beat him up with such realism and violence the poor guy often ends up in the local clinic. It even has a live crucifixion which tourists from Clark and Koreatown must pay an entrance fee of P200 to see.

Photo courtesy of Ivan Anthony Henares
The EXTREME PENITENTS (Maundy Thursday and Good Friday).
They’re all over Pampanga, but it takes luck to catch them—the cross-bearers who carry electric posts and huge banana trunks (seen in Brgy. San Agustin in Magalang), the women cross-bearers, the transvestite cross-bearers, the cross-bearers who tie a samurai around their waist with the tip pressed against their chin to keep their heads up, and the cross-bearers who are tied together to the same cross so that they can take turns carrying it (seen in Dau). In Brgy. Pampang, Angeles City I saw a cancer-stricken mother carrying a cross while her entire family prayed the rosary and followed her around. And then there are the dreadful magsalibatbat, who crawl on the road for miles, rubbing their skin continuously against the concrete until they’re all bruised and covered with dirt. Those who look for actual crucifixions can also try Brgy. Telapayung in Arayat, where they are more private and more heartfelt.

Picture courtesy of Jerry Punzalan Sagmit
The TANGGAL of Guagua (Good Friday).
This is the ritual where a life-size statue of Jesus with moveable neck and joints is taken down from the cross and laid down and dressed up to become the Santo Entierro (The Interred Christ). The town’s Velez-Zaragoza clan performs the elaborate ritual with the same care and solemnity as I imagine a family would prepare a departed member for burial. In the past, parish workers closed all church doors and windows and banged metal to simulate the eclipse and the thunderclaps that supposedly accompanied the Crucifixion, and to arouse the same fear and awe experienced by the Jews. Today, we just rely on the rhetoric and theatrics of the Sieta Palabras speakers.

Picture courtesy of Ivan Anthony Henares
The PASO of Bacolor (Good Friday).
The entire province quiets down as night falls on Good Friday, when parishes hold hushed processions of their heirloom santos, led by the Santo Entierro and the Mater Dolorosa. They’re all happening simultaneously: the candlelit carrozas of Arayat which transport you back in time, the sweet sound of violins playing Stabat Mater in San Fernando (added attraction: rose petals thrown from the balcony of the Rodriguez Mansion), the pomp, pageantry and piety of Sta. Rita reminiscent of Lino Brocka’s Tinimbang ka Ngunit Kulang, the breathtaking beauty of the Mater Dolorosa of Guagua, and the grandeur of the Santo Entierro of Sasmuan. But if you have to attend only one, make it Bacolor, the colonial capital of the province, whose old families, driven away by the lahars of the 1990s, make a sentimental journey back home to accompany their respective paso (float). Tradition dictates that they wear black, cover their heads with pointed hoods, hold icons of the crucifixion and walk barefoot (probably a legacy from ancestors in Seville, Spain). The antiquity and craftsmanship alone of the santos and their silver-plated carrozas will make your jaw drop.

Picture courtesy of Dr. Raymund Feliciano
The UNUSUAL BIYERNIS SANTO PROCESSION of Sasmuan (Good Friday)
Unusual because the grim procession of the dead Jesus and His grieving Mother is followed by a grimmer procession of magdarame (flagellants and cross-bearers). Sasmuan is the only place I know where this strange mix of the folk and the orthodox is allowed. Parish priests often make an effort to eliminate cultural practices to purify the theology of church rituals. For example, the pasyon mustn’t replace the Bible, the puni mustn’t compete with the visita iglesia, and the penitensya musn’t keep people away from the sacrament of confession. But Kapampangans have stubbornly stuck to their folk traditions, and the archdiocese is now finding ways to compromise.

This is Pampanga, where church piety collides with folk defiance, where the holiest days of the year are celebrated in the unholiest manner, where the charming and solemn rites of the Church coexist with the raw, bloody, but ultimately more exuberant rituals of the common folk.

First posted by Robby Tantingco on his facebook page, 21 March 2016.
ROBBY TANTINGCO is the Director of the Center for Kapampangan Studies and Vice President for External Affairs of Holy Angel University. He is the author of "Destiny and Destination" and "Pinatubo: The Volcano in our Backyard" which won a National Book Award. He also wrote the story of the film, “ARI: My Life with a King”, a language advocacy film that won Best Story and Best Screenplay awards from the 2016 Metro Manila Filmfest, Gawad Urian and FAMAS for Best Story.

Friday, December 30, 2016

31. FRANCIS MUSNI’S TOP 10 POPULAR FOODS THAT KAPAMPANGANS OFTEN SERVE FOR CHRISTMAS

LORD FRANCIS MUSNI  is not only a connoisseur of good Kapampangan food, but is also a self-trained culinary wiz . When not busy with his work at the Municipal Trial Court in Cities at San Fernando, Francis spends time in his newly customized, old-world style kitchen in his Bacolor home, whipping up classic Kapampangan dishes for family and friends. He hopes to open his “kusina” to visitors soon.  Francis also does consultancy work for the Center for Kapampangan Studies, and is an instructor and museum curator of Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University. He has appeared many times on local and national media as a resource person on various aspects of Kapampangan culture, especially our culinary arts. Currently, he is one of the hosts of “Umpukang Kapampangan” over RW 95.1 FM, a program dedicated to spreading Pampanga’s cultural heritage and its arts. Meanwhile, he shares with us his list of some of the most popular foods that are a part of every Kapampangan’s holiday table every year.


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1. LIGANG PASCU. A soup that is a complete meal in itself. An otherwise regular daily fare becomes a traditional Christmas special when prepared with long, simmered ham bone, beef, pork and chicken with potatoes, cabbage, saguin saba, labanus, pechay, Baguio beans, white onions, and whole pepper corns with generous slices  of sang  (onion leeks). It is a staple on noche buena and media noche that cuts across social classes; it is a great social equalizer. Every Kapampangan home, palatial or humble, has it.


2. ALE. Jam prepared at Christmas time could be gandus (white yam), copis (red monggo bean), bule (kidney beans) and the ubiquitous and color-of-the-season ubi (purple yam). The tedious process begins with harvesting, boiling, mashing and cooking the jam into a rich well-done (malaniad, manangnang).consistency with aid of a trusty heirloom kawa in makeshift earth stove dug from the ground. The best ale should keep for at least 3 days.

3. SUMAN TILI/SUMAN PASCU. This is a delicacy of steamed sticky (lacatan ) rice wrapped in young banana leaves. It used to be available only at Christmas time in the pre-commercial kakanin era. You had to make it, hire someone to do it, or specially order it from someone (by asking to share in her expenses in doing her own and a little extra). It used to be given out as an aguinaldo to family and friends who went "manyiklod" on  Christmas and New Year's Day. Outside of Christmas,  they call them suman tili becuase one had to roll them (tili) like fat cigars. Be careful in buying your lacatan lest it be samutan and you end up with a half  or unevenly cooked (magadtu) suman.

4. CALAME. This is a generic Kapampangan term for rice delicacies shaped in the form of a cake. Calame making in this busy days is a tradition on the verge of extinction. The long and arduous process of making it has discouraged many and has given birth to an industry. Calame can have several names depending on the main ingredient and the place where it comes from. It could be simply calame nasi (literally, rice cake) or it could be calame duman, ubi, culubasa (which is also called bico), patulbad and pituclup (in Sasmuan). Warning: calame, beer and firecrackers are a bad combination.

5. HAMUN. Traditionally, Kapampangans got.their hamun from the.local Chinese store. It was either Hoc Siu, King Sue.or Marca Pato. The best ham was hamon de funda (whole leg ham bone-in and neatly tied in net stocking). The burgeoning sugar industry of the rich sugar planters and landlords preferred imported Virginia ham. Now local ham is produced and is supplied by several popular homegrown meat processing industries. The Kapampangan is likely to expect ham as a Christmas gift from his boss or trading suki. Employees proudly display their hams on the way home from their last day of work or after their Christmas party. As one popular ham brand puts it, the ham is the "star of the noche buena"

6. SUCLATING BATIRUL. Kapampangans will only go for the Chocolate "e". Richly prepared from a ground paste of well roasted cacao and mani ground with a gilingan batu, boiled in a pohia or batidor with gatas damulag added in and frothed rich and creamy with a molinillo, the suclating batirul is to die for. Albeit, the southerners (Ilonggo and Cebuanos) think it is adulterated, the Kapampangan wants his chocolate with peanuts still. The chocolate goes well with duman, suman or a magapuc (brittle) cookie like sanicolas, mamon tostado (sopas) or masa podrida.

7. BARBEQUE. An American vestige that refuses to leave the Kapampangan, each household prides itself with its own homemade pibabaran (marinade). The barbeque is served as one of the viands, a pulutan and a "pipali-pali" the day after.

8. FRUIT SALAD. Another American influence that celebrates the PX tradition of the Kapanpangans. One preferred Ligo as the best brand by far unlike other cheaper commercial Philippine syndicated.brands, which consists mainly of pineapples, papaya and pineapples. Kapampangans stock up on cans.of fruit.cocktail, whipped cream and condense milk as early as October, as grocery shelves go empty by early December.

9. BIBINGCA and PUTU BUMBUNG. Very popular post-Simbang Bengi treats,

10. A BASKET OF IMPORTED  FRUITS.  Not normally purchased on ordinary days,

PHOTO SOURCES:
LIGANG PASCU: Adda Morena Canlas Musni FB page
ALE: Betty Ann Besa-Quirino, http://www.asianinamericamag.com/
SUMAN TILI: Ruston Banal FB page
CALAME: Reyjay Manago FB page
HAMUN: Robby Tantingco FB page
SUCLATING BATIRUL: Insights Magazine, http://chocolatedebatirol.com/
BARBEQUE: Ralf Laurence Bonifacio FB page
FRUIT SALAD: Guagua Pampanga Kabalenan FB page, 
FRUIT BASKET: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wrapped_fruit_basket.jpg
BIBINGCA/ PUTU BUMBUNG: Ivan Henares twitter photo