{"id":1599,"date":"2017-08-23T08:33:23","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T13:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/?p=1599"},"modified":"2017-09-08T10:05:03","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T15:05:03","slug":"ambahan-about-sickness-and-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.henrydelrosario.com\/?p=1599","title":{"rendered":"Ambahan about sickness and death"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Baybayin script calligraphy: logographing \u201cdalisayan\u201d (fining-pot; \u1707\u170e\u1712\u1710\u170c) (\u00a9 2017 Henry Del Rosario)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ambahan about sickness and death<\/h2>\n

In ancient, pre-Spanish Philippines, reading and writing were ubiquitious rather than for the elite or religious class. Writing was not for government texts or religious scripture but for personal letters and love poems. (more about Baybayin script here)<\/a><\/p>\n

An ambahan<\/a> is an indigineous Filipino poetic form of heptasyllable lines. Themes of this poetic form covered all stages of life, included sickness and death. This poem about death touched me as exquisite (Ambahan number 246 from Postma’s “Treasure of a Minority”):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Hanunoo-Mangyan:<\/strong><\/td>\nTagalog:<\/strong><\/td>\nEnglish<\/strong>
\n(Postma’s translation):<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Magkunkuno ti karadwa
\nKang kis-ab mag-iginan
\nGinan kang tipit lingban
\nApwan mambon mambu-nan
\nBabaw apnig bariwan
\nUd paway sa gihitan
\nHalaw nangitlagan wan
\nKasanggaling sa siknan
\nKahabog sa ulangan
\nTaghilyan di kumon wan
\nKang apwan sa humagan
\nManrikuyan manrigsan
\nSa danom magka-uman
\nBag-o paligbuyungan
\nKan bansay nag-abyagan
\nKan suyong nalan-ganan<\/td>\n		Taghoy ng kaluluwa:
\nKanina nang lumisan
\nSa dampa kong tahanan
\nKatawan ko’y naghihirap
\nSa banig na higaan
\nDi pa lumilisan
\nBalisang nagpaalam
\nPa-biling-biling naman
\nPakaliwa’t pakanan
\nSige na nga kung ganyan
\nAko na ay lilisan
\nLiligo sa hugasan
\nSa tubig dalisayan
\nSa bago kong hantungan
\nSa tabihan ni Amang
\nKapiling na si Inang!<\/td>\n		Says the soul remembering:
\nJust a while ago at home,
\nin the house I used to stay,
\nMy body was really bad,
\nlying sickly on the mat,
\nthough not ready yet to go.
\nScared to death I really was!
\nI was going to the right
\nand to left, back and forth!
\nSo confused I was that time!
\nNow, my body laid at rest,
\nfinally I took a bath
\nin the waters for the soul.
\nI am starting on my way
\nto the place my father went,
\n& where mother joined him, too.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Fining-pot<\/h2>\n

Many ambahans begin with a “who is speaking” (magkunkuno) line. In this case it is the soul of one who recently died. The soul remembers his or her body becoming sick. It is unclear what the cause was however the moving of the body to the right and left, and back back and forth suggest convulsions from seizures or fever from an infection (or both). Confusion may also suggest delirium (which is very commonly seen in the sickest of patients in the hospital and ICU) as well as the emotional and spiritual distress that comes with dying.<\/p>\n

The poem then takes a turn (like kireji<\/a> or volta<\/a>) when the soul describes the body being buried. Postma translates the body “being laid at rest” and then taking a “bath in the waters for the soul.” I believe Postma, who married and lived among the Hanunoo (tribe in the Philippines), must have had further insight into the meaning<\/em> of these lines. The Tagalog translation also took interesting choices in translation of the Hanunoo-Mangyan language.<\/p>\n