6/11/2015

TheCultureandArtoftheMangyan:PhilippineArt,CultureandAntiquities

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June11,2015

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RecentArticles
REVELATIONS A Jaime de
GuzmanRetrospective
May 2015Jaime de Guzman
began his fine art studies at the
University of Sto Tomas where he
majoredinPainting.Twoyears...

Remembering Severino "LAC"

Lacambra,Sr.(19181985)

TheCultureandArtofthe
Mangyan

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Nothing much have been recorded
lengthilyaboutSeverinoLacambras
life and works except that he was often written in the
shadowofhismorepopular...

by:JerichoPaulSantos
September2012TheMangyantribehasbeenincludedin
thehistoryofMindoro.Spaniardshavelongdocumentedthe
lifeoftheMangyanpeople.However,muchisstilltobe
learnedfromthecultureofoneofthePhilippinesrichest
ethnicgroup.

MangyanreferstothePhilippineethnicgrouplivinginMindoro
IslandbutsomecanbefoundintheislandofTablasand
SibuyanintheprovinceofRomblonaswellasinAlbay,
NegrosandPalawan.ThewordMangyangenerallymeans
man,womanorpersonwithoutanyreferencetoany
nationality.SocialscientistshavedocumentedMangyantribes
intoseveralmajortribes.Oneofthewaystocategorizethem
isthroughtheirgeographicallocation.TheNortherntribes
http://www.artesdelasfilipinas.com/archives/139/thecultureandartofthemangyan

A Stolen Picasso Painting

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March 2015A stolen Picasso
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HERNANDOR.OCAMPO
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6/11/2015

TheCultureandArtoftheMangyan:PhilippineArt,CultureandAntiquities

includetheIraya,AlanganandTadyawantribeswhilethe
Buhid,BangonBatangonandHanunuoMangyancomprise
thetribesintheSouth.

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Jerson Samson's Doon Po Sa

Amin
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TheCulture
Despitebeinggroupedasonetribe,Mangyansdifferinmany
ways.Incomparisontothetechnologicaladvancebetween
thetwogeographicaldivisions,theSoutherntribesaremore
advancedasseenintheiruseofweaving,potteryandsystem
ofwriting.TheNortherntribes,ontheotherhand,aresimpler
intheirwayofliving.Theirlanguagejustlikethewhole
PhilippinescamefromtheAustronesianlanguagefamily.
However,eveniftheyaredefinedasoneethnicgroupthe
tribesuseddifferentlanguages.Ontheaverage,theyonly
share40%oftheirvocabularywordsontheirmutual
languages.Thetribeshavealsovariedphysicaland
ethnogeneticappearances:IrayahasVeddoidfeatures
TadyawanaremainlyMongoloidandtheHanunuolookslike
aProtoMalayan.

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Roberto Chabet at West

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Rody Herrera's Nationalistic

Legacy
July2014InfluencedbyFernando
Amorsolos use of impressionistic
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AMangyanbracelet

Anotherdifferencebetweentribesisthedateoftheirarrivalin
thePhilippines.TheorysuggeststhattheSoutherntribesare
alreadypresentby900ADwhiletheNortherntribesare
believedtohavearrivedhundredsofyearsaheadoftheir
Southernpeers.TheSpanishauthoritieshavedocumented
theirexistencesincetheirarrivalinthe16thcentury.However,
http://www.artesdelasfilipinas.com/archives/139/thecultureandartofthemangyan

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6/11/2015

TheCultureandArtoftheMangyan:PhilippineArt,CultureandAntiquities

historianssuggestthattheMangyansmayhavebeenthefirst
FilipinostotradewiththeChinese.Examplesoftheseare
seenintheburialcavesasporcelainsandotherpotteries
abound.However,notmuchethnographicresearchhasbeen
madeexceptforthetribalandlinguisticdifferencesthatmay
leadtotheindicationthatthetribescanbetreatedseparately.

SomeMangyancrafts

Mangyanslivedinpeacefulsocietiesascomparedtothehead
huntingtribesofNorthLuzonandthebravedefiantwarrior
tribesoftheSouth.Socialscientiststheorizedthatsome
societiesbecomepeacefulbecausetheirsystemofnormsand
valuesrewardpeacefulbehaviorbutdisapproveaggressive
andimpulsivebehaviors.Peacefulsocietiesarecharacterized
byegalitariansocialorganizationwithoutstatuscompetition
betweenmenandwithoutasymmetricrelationshipbetween
menandwomen.Anothertheorypositedthatpopulations
adapt,therefore,offeringamorelogicalexplanationwhy
Mangyanspreferredtoretreatinthehinterlands.Theyaccept
peacefulsubmissivenesswhentheyencounterlowland
settlers,missionaries,tradersandgovernmentofficials.
TheArts
Mangyansoffersarichartisticheritagetothehistoryofpre
colonialPhilippines.Likeanyotherindigenoustribesinthe
countrytheirartisanexpressionofsocialrelationsintheir
communityhencetheadage,Artforartssakedoesnot
applytothem.OneoftheirartsistheAmbahan,arhythmic
poeticexpressionwithameterofsevensyllablespresented
throughrecitationandchanting.Avariationofthisisthe
Urukay,whereinituseseightsyllablesinstead.Thereareno
authorsofthepoetryandifonewillaskaMangyanwherehe
learnedthelinesofthepoem,hedsayitcamefromhis
parentsorreadandcopieditfromthebambooshootswhere
theyoriginallywritetheirscripts.Thefollowingaresampleof
thepoems:
Arakawbalakasapo

younoticebefore
Gabuyongbuyongangbarko
turnsleftandright
Nagapangitarikudo

Lookingforalandingplace
Yadtongpunduhonmaayo
cananchorsafely?

Didnt

Thataboat

Whereit

http://www.artesdelasfilipinas.com/archives/139/thecultureandartofthemangyan

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TheCultureandArtoftheMangyan:PhilippineArt,CultureandAntiquities

(Findingtherightandwellthoughtdecision)

Nosanoddianodwan

Itsa
factthatweallknow
Nosanodtituowan

A
truthwhereverwego
Kayawtoywaslanbungan

The
sunisintheafternoon
Kayawambabayiman

willbe
settingverysoon.
(Acceptingtheageinganddyingissomethingweallshare)

PakudosmeanwhileisaMangyandesignthatischaracterized
bysimplesymmetricalorganizationwithequalstresson
verticalandhorizontalcompositionandanorderlyuseoflines
andspacesthatarepleasingtotheeyes.

Thesimplestformandsamplepatterndesignofpakudos

Finally,theMangyanscript.WhentheSpaniardsarrivedinthe
Philippines,themorefamousFilipinosystemofwriting,the
Baybayinwasdiscarded.However,inMindoro,theBuhidand
HanunooMangyanscontinuedtopracticetheirwritingsystem.
TheMangyanscriptliketheBaybayinisbasedonthe
syllablesofthePhilippinephonetics.TheNationalMuseum
declaredthissurvivingsystemasNationalCulturalTreasures
onDecember9,1997.TheUNESCOonOctober6,1999,
meanwhile,inscribedthescriptsintheMemoryoftheWorld
registry.

Mangyanscript

Likemostindigenouspeoplearoundtheglobe,thetribesmen
areusuallytreatedassecondclasspeopleintheirown
countryandarecommonlysubjectedtoabuse.Therefore,
protectionoftheirwayoflivingandpreservationoftheir
heritageisessentialinprovidingthemalifewiththesame
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TheCultureandArtoftheMangyan:PhilippineArt,CultureandAntiquities

equalrightsandaddressingtheirproblemsandneedsinthis
fastchangingglobalenvironmentthattheycurrentlylivein.
REFERENCES
Howell,S./R.Willis(eds.).SocietiesatPeace.London:
Routledge.1989
Postma,Antoon.MangyanHistory.November1999
Postma,Antoon.TheAmbahan:MangyanVerbalArt.Manyan
Mission
Reyes,LyndaAngelica.ThePakudosasMotifofMangyan
Art.PandiwaJournal,1992.
Service,E.PrimitiveSocialOrganization.NewYork:Random
House.1971
*ImagesfromtheMangyanHeritageCenterwereusedto
accompanythisarticle.

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