Cerebral Combustion
Hugyaw Panay Bukidnon
I never anticipated that a trip to Tapaz, Capiz will excite a cultural awakening in me. I left with a 3-man crew including myself to shoot something and it was only on our way there that I learned that we are to cover a festival of indigenous people of some sort. This is one of the things I have learned to embrace working in media, surprises just never stop and sometimes in ways unimaginable.
It was a long trip and one that is not too comfortable given the fact that I have motion sickness. I do not really intend to hate long drives but going to Capiz was an oddly head spinning ride for me. The CBL bus left barely a minute before we arrived to the city terminal so we took the trip with a hapless van going to Calinog and from the drop off point had to wait for the same bus we were supposed to ride from the terminal. I was able to hold myself from vomiting in the van and amazingly at the bus too while it was spiraling its way up to the mountains. Or perhaps, it just felt exaggeratively uncompromising for me with my eyes closed.
From the town of Calinog, it did help that I mumbled a few prayers and hummed sporadic melodies in my head for in what seemed like a matter of minutes instead of an hour we reached the town of Tapaz unscathed but hungry. My companion says his friend will gladly accommodate us for our late breakfast and lunch and that's when the fun continued. We were all anxious to get settled so riding on a single motorcycle with the three of us and the driver was not one of our major concerns.
We came a day before the town's fiesta and one of its events was the Hugyaw of the Panay Bukidnon of Capiz. Panay Bukidnon is an indigenous community rich in many facets of old age epics and richness of culture that is distinct but dying. They are the people of the mountains in Panay in dire need of preservation for they are an opulent bearer of the past with their unique way of living, craft, language, and communal habits among others.
The first festival of the Panay Bukidnon was organized in Capiz to help create awareness and distinction and to spread interest and concern for sustaining and conserving the surviving Panay Bukidnon community and also to strengthen the value and the foundation of these people.
Proving that they are made of great talent I was particularly fascinated by ethnic traditions they proudly shown which are the sugidanon, embroidery, binukot, and the binanog.
Sugidanon is an epic chanting. It tells a story, often heroic tales or narrative sagas.
Binukot are kept maidens of the community. A woman chosen to be a binukot is treated like a princess who is not allowed to go out, work or do anything except remain hidden. They are deemed beautiful in the community and men interested can buy a binukot for a worthy value.
Binanog is an ethnic dance resembling an eagle, hence it is called a hawk-eagle dance where dancers are clothed in embroidered garments, head dresses made of antique coins, patadyong, enthralling necklaces and accessories and beguiling smiles. It can be a form of entertainment among the tribe or a form of courtship or a proposition of marriage.
Dancing the binanog with the community surely was one I could not miss. For me, it sparked a captivating awakening, one that is thrilling and inspiring. It definitely was a remarkable festivity filled with fun. For me it was interesting to see and feel the undeniable brilliance of our past and look beyond our modern society. Panay Bukidnon surely is a vibrant culture worthy of respect and importance.