A rich boat-making tradition

Tracing the Philippines’ maritime roots

BY ELIZA ROMUALDEZ-VALTOS

Oct 4, 2024 11:32 PM

  

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AT A GLANCE

• Another sea vessel indicative of the existence of a strong and developed maritime tradition in the Philippines even before the point of contact with our colonizers is the balanghai.

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ANCIENT TRAVELERS Scholars believe the existence of a maritime tradition practiced by early Filipinos to get around the archipelago (Source: Tadhana Vol. 1 Abridged Edition 1982)

In my previous article, I talked about the Austronesian Migration Expansion and how maritime technology increased our ability to sail longer and farther. The Austronesian-speaking people settled in and around China about 6,000 years ago, then about 3,500 years ago, groups started to migrate to the Philippines (as a jump off point), then to other islands in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. This maritime culture came with a rich boat-making tradition, even observed by colonizers upon the point of contact, as documented in Maximilianus Transylvanus’s book De Moluccis Insulis, a compilation of accounts by survivors of the Magellan-Elcano expedition (1519-1522), Italian scholar and member of the expedition Antonio Pigafetta’s journals, now known as A Report on the First Voyage Around the World, among others. 

 

Not long ago, I was introduced to the many modes of watercrafts found in the Philippines by Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Division senior museum researcher and officer-in-charge Bobby Cuaton Orinllaneda. You see, I was reading old correspondence of my great-grandfather Daniel Arcilla Romualdez to his relatives regarding booking safe passage back to Leyte for his three sons Norberto, Miguel, and Vicente Orestes, who were stranded in Manila during the siege of Andres Bonifacio on Intramuros in 1896. 

 

Norberto, Miguel, and Vicente Orestes were studying at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila and, as the school shut down because of the siege, found themselves stuck in Manila. It took a few months before the boys were able to book a passage to Negros and then, finally, to Leyte. Bobby pointed me to the article “Types of Watercrafts in the Philippines” by Ricardo E. Galang, where he enumerated and described the different types of watercrafts that had been used in the archipelago since the point of contact with Spain. 

 

Based on the article, my lolo (Vicente Orestes) and his brothers would have taken a schooner to get back home.  

 

On one of my proxy duty trips for my cousin Senator Imee Romualdez Marcos, I was sent to Negros. At the event I was attending, I told a Negrense about how my lolo and his brothers had to flee Manila during the siege of Manila. I asked him why it was necessary to book a boat bound for Negros instead of going straight to Leyte. He explained that in the middle of the 19th century Negros saw a period of rapid economic expansion on account of the widespread cultivation of sugar. There was a lot of traffic of trade goods and, because of the booming economy, many were migrating to the island. Negros had a bustling port with a lot of vessels coming in and out from all parts of the archipelago. Just to note, two years after my lolo and his brothers boarded their boat to Leyte, Generals Aniceto Lacson and General Juan Araneta joined Aguinaldo’s revolutionary army and laid a successful siege on the Spanish garrison in Negros.

 

Another watercraft mentioned by Galang was the karacoa, the largest locally made vessel at the time made for war and raiding. They were owned by chieftains and when decked up could carry as many as 300 warriors. Spanish accounts would describe the sight of at least 50 or so karacoas at a time attacking settlements along the coasts of Leyte and Samar and at times going head on with Spanish fleets. What a sight that would have been!

 

Another sea vessel indicative of the existence of a strong and developed maritime tradition in the Philippines even before the point of contact with our colonizers is the balanghai, described as “beyond 30 meters long, with squared keels and edge-pegged planks.” The balanghay or balanghai is also where we get the word barangay from. 

 

Today the barangay is known as the smallest political unit or “administrative division” in the Philippines. As it was when the barangay was first observed by Spanish colonizers to be “well-organized independent villages serving under a chief,” the barangay today is the “primary planning and implementing unit of government policies, plans, programs, projects, and activities in the community.” Also, it exercises judicial powers to settle disputes between and among neighbors. In simple terms, the barangay is tasked to address the immediate concerns of members of its community and cater to their wellbeing. 

 

The late President Ferdinand E. Marcos (PFEM) believed that the barangay system could restore power to the people, “where it properly belongs.” PFEM believed that the barangay provided the humble citizen who could not be heard and who seemed powerless with a ready access to political authority through his barangay. This political authority is the barangay captain, who is accountable to his constituents on “a daily basis and (is) the people’s link to government,” he explained. 

 

Voter’s registration in the Philippines ended on Sept. 30, 2024 and the filing for Certificates of Candidacy has now begun (Oct. 1 to 8, 2024). Participatory democracy is still in its infancy in the Philippines whose independence has been regained only in 1946, only to be succeeded by a number of republics (five total in nearly 100 years!). We are still learning but as Plato in The Republic is quoted as saying, “The beginning is the most important part of the work.” 

How Mother’s Day came to be

And a simple DIY present you can give to your mom

BY ELIZA ROMUALDEZ-VALTOS

May 10, 2024 10:28 PM

  

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AT A GLANCE

• It took a few years but in 1914, then US President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day a national holiday and by virtue of us being an American colony, the tradition of celebrating Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May has been kept.

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Mother’s Day in the Philippines is tomorrow. If you haven’t yet found a gift or want a more novel and meaningful token of your appreciation for your mom, I will talk you through a few quick and easy DIY Mother’s Day gift projects but before that let us remind ourselves how this annual celebration came to be.

MOTHER KNOWS BEST Ana Reeves Jarvis was a Sunday school teacher and social worker who taught poor families in the US how to take care of themselves

The modern-day tradition of setting aside one Sunday to honor mothers was started by a spinster from Philadelphia, US named Anna Jarvis. Ana was the daughter of Ana Reeves Jarvis more popularly known as “Mother Jarvis,” a social activist, Sunday School teacher in Virginia, and founder of the Mother’s Day Work Clubs in 1858. These Mother’s Day Work Clubs (later known as the Mother’s Friendship Clubs) wanted to “educate poor families to combat poor health and unsanitary living conditions.” You see Mother Jarvis had 13 children but only four survived into adulthood. It was said that this was not unusual in West Virginia where the Jarvis lived as infant mortality rates were high on account of “poor sanitary conditions and hygiene practices and the very limited availability of professional physicians.”
 

FOUNDER OF MOTHER’S DAY Ana Jarvis, daughter of Mother Jarvis

During the American Civil War (1861-1865) the Mother’s Day Work Clubs, despite being predominantly located in the state of Virginia, remained neutral and tended to the injured, sick, and dying Union (North) and Confederate (South) soldiers. The Civil War centered on the moral issue of slavery. The North led by President Abraham Lincoln comprised of the following states: Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, California, Nevada, and Oregon. While the Confederacy included Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. The North fought for the abolition of slavery. It won the war in 1865.
When Mother Jarvis’ daughter Ana was 12 years old, the young Ana heard her mother offering a prayer, “ I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial Mother’s Day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it.” Upon Mother Jarvis’ death in 1905, Ana worked to make her mother’s prayer come true. It took a few years but in 1914, then US President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day a national holiday and by virtue of us being an American colony, the tradition of celebrating Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May has been kept.

Ironically, not 10 years after Mother’s Day was declared as an annual national holiday, Ana turned from advocate to critic, What she fought against its commercialization. On the same line of veering away from the commercialization of this annual celebration of Mothers’ love and hard work, here is a simple yet meaningful and easy DIY piece for Mother’s Day.

Materials:
Asst colored or scratch paper
Scissors
Paper (for flowers and leaves)
Old manila folder or cardboard box (for stems)
Glue gun
Spray paint/poster paint/colored markers/colored pencils/crayons*
Clean glass jar (cleaned out mayo, sardinas, pickle glass jar)
Image of one’s mother, you, or your family members

On a piece of paper (new/scratch/colored), draw the shape of a leaf. You can also Google “leaf template” and pick the desired shape and print. Do this for the flowers as well. For the stems cut out strips ½ inch by two inches strops for trunk and ¼ inch by two inches branches. I normally create a set of three flowers big and two small flowers then add another set until you have the desired volume. Attach leaves and flowers with the glue gun and when you have decided on volume, you can start attacking the bottom of the stems to the inside of the bottle cap. When all stems are secured by a glue gun, insert paper floral arrangements into a glass jar. You can add photos of you or your family and perhaps a Mother’s Day greeting with the year. Who knows this project can be a family tradition for many years to come.
I have been a fan of the tradition of Globe de Mariee Display pieces. Well, the tradition of capturing a moment whether it be through memorabilia, pieces of art, or even of everyday things because it’s one way of storing things that you can find right away – especially nowadays when you tend to forget where you put things – in glass domes or bottles. Perhaps it’s associated with happy memories of my childhood experiences when I’d look around in wonder at imagine eating those deliciously sweet things contained in the glass jars of our local sari-sari store.

The decorative art of the French Globe De Mariee became fashionable in the 19th century. These glass domes were started on the day of marriage and added to with other objects from various milestones in their married life. It’s like a living time capsule. I really like that. I suppose not only is it aesthetically and symbolically beautiful but almost impossible for me who can’t throw things away. To be able to store all that I thought important in that jar spanning a lifetime would be as possible as one colleague of mine put it, “like going to the moon on slingshot and back!” This artform is truly the height of aspiration for me, but beautiful nonetheless. 

For Catholics, we often associate these glass globes containing relics and statues of saints and the Virgin Mary. The use of glass domes to contain religious objects also appeared in the 1800s when glass-blowing technology advanced enough to “create large and clear glass pieces” that could be used to contain and preserve valuable and delicate objects. Using domes also made it easier to transport religious icons and securing objects when displayed. In addition, being contained in a glass dome added to the aesthetic appeal. Through the clear glass, the item renders a striking visual display of craftsmanship, religious dedication, and faith.

Why forest bathing is transformative

 The healing powers of nature

BY ELIZA ROMUALDEZ-VALTOS

  

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AT A GLANCE

• Immersing in nature ‘boosts the immune system, lowers blood pressure, slows the pulse, and even reduces stress hormones.’

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MEDICINE OF LIFE Author jumps off a rock into the river

I had heard about the healing powers of walking in nature but didn’t realize it had a name—forest bathing. Used in Japan in the 1980s, meant “forest bathing, forest therapy, or taking in the forest atmosphere.” 

Immersing in nature involved the physical and psychological healing of individuals weary in mind and body. The demand to “reinvigorate the body and mind” via nature also saw locals begin to share their knowledge of the forest and the belief, long held yet often discarded, of its benefits to humanity.

I started to read more about forest bathing, its origins, and how it had become such a transformative sensory experience and began to understand and better articulate why I kept going back to the Sierra Madre Mountains and booking myself on yearly treks to the Himalayas, the Scottish Highlands, and even the Alps for days-long treks.  

THE BEAUTY OF SCOTLAND These photos were taken during the author's eight-day hike in the Scottish Highlands

I would often describe how I feel after as “power charge,” which I found ironic, since walking even at some point up to 32 kilometers a day could get grueling. I won’t deny that trekking for days is hard. In all my years of walking, running, and climbing mountains, I have learned to control one thing, my breathing. 

This was even pointed out to me by our local guide in the mountains of Montalban, Rizal during my last climb, “Ma’m kahit paano, kahit anong klaseng terrain, parating even at regular ’yun breathing ninyo (no matter what, regardless of the terrain, your breathing is always even and regular).” So, this is mindfulness. 

On every ascent and descent, I automatically focus on my breathing, realizing that the chant-like cadence of the sound of my breath propels me on my journey. This I learned I can control.  To realize that you can control and can learn to control, with practice and some measure of discomfort, other aspects in your life is powerful.

BE ONE WITH NATURE Hikers are encouraged to cherish nature by engaging with the outdoors

Geosciences professors Dr. Hayden Lorimer and Dr. Katrin Lund described forest therapy as “taking people on a journey that leads at least part way toward greater personal security, reviving lapsed aspirations and life ambitions.” 
Indeed, the mind and heart are healed but forest bathing heals the body as well. A 2008 study by Akemi Nakamura, spanning 30 years of data, showed immersing in nature “boosts the immune system, lowers blood pressure, slows the pulse, and even reduces stress hormones.” 

In one paper I also read about healing vibrations in the forest. If you stay long enough, you can activate the parasympathetic nervous system that helps with bodily functions and generally relaxes the body.

I must add though that forest therapy does not require trekking for days or involve an arduous hike. In fact, it is described merely as “an intense visual encounter with nature that is not destination-oriented but punctuated merely by a beginning and end.” 

RISE AND SHINE Flexing muscles on an actual mountain with gym buddies from Rise Nation

With this in mind, I decided to invite some friends from my gym for a short day hike. I’ve written about my gym Rise Nation that specializes in the versa climber—a climbing machine that helps tone the body and gives one an intense cardio workout in just 30 minutes. The trek was to apply all those muscles toned during our workouts on a real mountain.

Our hike took us up to view a portion of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range basking in the radiant morning light and then down trails, almost non-existent and overgrown with forest flora, to walk by streams and rivers that end in torrents over waterfalls cascading into the Marikina River. At one point I slipped on a stony slope, stopping short by the stream’s edge.

HEALING OF THE HEART Yoga teacher and mental health advocate Jennifer Non strikes a pose

From experience, I did not resist and just naturally followed gravity. As I lay there, I looked up at the sky overhead that was obscured only slightly by the over-reaching tree branches. Later, I closed my eyes and luxuriated in such a pristine natural environment. I let the various sounds and sensations take over me—the wind on my face, the sound it makes in the trees, the polyphonic pitches from the cascading stream at my feet and, as my senses grew more acute, I could even detect a bird call. Nature creates such beautiful music! 

At school, I learned that music, particularly indigenous music, is an imitation or recreation of nature. Listening to the melodies around me, I was reminded of the T’boli’s klutang, a wooden percussion beam played with mallets. The T’boli’s musical repertoire is said to mimic the sounds of nature, interlocking with the calls of a pair of crimson-breasted barbet or “fu.” The fu has a metronomic call, “large pitch for the male” and “small pitch” for the female.  

The fu bird plays highly in T’boli cosmology that is inextricably linked to Lake Sebu, around which lies the cultural and ancestral land of the T’boli. 

In her paper “The Sounding Pantheon of Nature. T’boli Instrumental music in the Making of an Ancestral Symbol,” Manolete Mora enumerates: the two-string lute, the sludoy or bamboo polychordal zither, kumbing (jew’s harp), d’wegey (single stringed spike fiddle), and the Ketimbow (an extinct instrument).  These are what she calls the “courting instruments.” 

You see, they were created by a celestial deity called Lemugot Mangay who was sent down to earth by Di’wata, the supreme celestial deity, to bring the T’boli’s ancestral female figure Boi Henwu back to heaven. 

GOING NUTS FOR BETEK NUTS Members of the Manobo tribe in the mountains of Agusan del Sur give out Betek nuts

To make Boi Henwu fall in love with him, he created musical instruments to woo her with. Boi Henwu did fall in love with Lemugot Mangay but before allowing herself to be brought to heaven, she said she would play the klutang for the last time. When she was done, she threw the mallets down to the ground, which then turned into a pair (male and female) of crimson-breasted barbets. There is another man involved, Kludan, who was with Boi Henwu for 16 years before Lemugot Mangay entered the picture. Through the years, Kludan grew to love Boi Henwu but tragically it was one-sided. (Spoiler alert: Boi Henwu went with Lemugot Mangay to heaven and Kludan ended up in the underworld.) 
Roused from my thoughts by my fellow hikers and, after checking I was OK, we proceeded down the mountain to the base camp.

The beauty of our traditional music remained in my mind the rest of the day. I recalled an interview I did with US-based Filipino soprano Stefanie Quintin Avila, who said, “Filipino singers should work toward the decolonization of our consciousness as a people.” 

She decried how Filipino musicians would revere Western classical music while our own traditional music is simply relegated to intermission numbers. For centuries, musicians all over the world have had to adhere to strict norms of the field of vocal arts. Avila pointed out, “The Philippines has its own musical traditions that (are) enough to fuel the Filipino artist’s creative passions. This has to be acknowledged and cultivated with the help of government. Only then can we find our voice and realize the full potential of the Filipino artist’s capacity to create, innovate, and liberate ourselves from established musical authorities.”