Behind a Nation: Akbay, Bayan, Anak. Guest post by Jay Malvar 2003 was the last time I visited the Philippines. I still speak Tagalog, kumupas na (faded), but still speaking. A lot of people often say it was because we spoke it at home. But I can tell you right now, we spoke a lot of English. My siblings and I know that it is felt when we speak Tagalog: our link to home. When my family speaks to each...
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It is not uncommon for letters, pictographs and symbols to have deep hidden meanings—even magical power, for cultures around the world have rich histories and stories connected to symbols, letters and written words. Other countries and cultures too have symbols and writing systems that were multi-dimensional, that is, their writing systems in application could not only be read as words and every day messages or chronicles, but...
Read MoreThe insights that baybayin symbolism can give us can be quite deep and mind-bending. This post is inspired by Diwata Olympia who wrote the words lakbay and bakla in baybayin symbols in a notebook and shared the page with me in 2011. Bakla is defined in Filipino as third-sex or effeminate man. In Philippine society, all types of bakla, gay men and women have been socially and economically accepted to various degrees. In some...
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It is not uncommon for letters, pictographs and symbols to have deep hidden meanings—even magical power, for cultures around the world have rich histories and stories connected to symbols, letters and written words. Other countries and cultures too have symbols and writing systems that were multi-dimensional, that is, their writing systems in application could not only be read as words and every day messages or chronicles, but...
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The Babaylan Mandala II.I, is a red version of the mandala fine art print series and is on the cover I created for Leny Mendoza Strobel’s new anthology “Babaylan: Filipinos and the Call of the Indigenous.” 14 essays by 14 authors are shared in this book: Sr. Mary John Mananzan, Teresita Obusan, Katrin DeGuia, Karen M. Villanueva, Venedel Herbito, Maina Minahal, Michelle Bautista, Tera Maxwell and more. The golden...
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by Reimon Sonam (Raymund Cosare) Below are the words of bahay (life), buhay (life), bayan (nation or country), and bayani (hero) spelled in baybayin. Notice the similarities and differences between the words such as bahay and buhay (home and life) and bayan and bayani (nation and hero), and how their meanings are inter-related. Below is another slide that shows further examinations of various baybayin spellings of Filipino...
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