by: Kristine Sanchez
"Kinaray-a"
or hinaraya is derived from "iraya" meaning "upstream," "ka" meaning "companion,"
with infixation "in" meaning "to have undergone something." It refers
to the language of Antique (from "Hamtik," or large, red ant or wasp) and
the upland parts of Iloilo and Capiz. Kinaray-a, says the writer
Leoncio Deriada, is the "mother of mellifluous West Visayan lingua franca,
Hiligaynon (Ilongo), and the less well-known child, Aklanon." He
adds that Kinaray-a "is the Ilongo contribution to the mixed languages
of Romblon, Palawan, and Cuyo Islands, some parts of Mindoro and Masbate
and the southern towns of Negros Occidental and Oriental." Kinaray-a
speakers outnumber Ilongo speakers in Antique, most of Capiz, all of the
central Iloilo towns, and the coastal towns south of Iloilo City; Ilongo
is mainly limited to Iloilo City and all the coastal towns to the north
as well as in Bacolod and most of Negros Occidental (Ani 19:11).
Ilongo
has long enjoyed primacy in the region because it is the language spoken
by the ruling classes in the region, namely the hacenderos on both shores
of the guimaras Strait and the Chinese compradores from the Molo Parian,
while Kinaray-a has long been identified as "the language og the sacada
and the muchacho" (Ani 19:12). The Spanish priests added to the development
of Ilongo by publishing grammars and catechisms in that language, while
producing none in Kinaray-a.
Despite
having a disparate vocabulary, with usage differing slightly from town
to town (for example, the English "here" could be rigya, rugya, digya,
di-a, depending on the location), Kinaray-a speakers understand one another
whether they come from Antique, Capiz, or Iloilo. Apart from the
population of Antique, which was 419,000 in 1990, the populations of Iloilo
towns west, north, and northeast of the towns of Tigbauan, Santa Barbara,
Pototan, anilao, and Dingle inclusive, and the towns of Tapaz and Jamindan
in Capiz, all speak Kinaray-a. All in all, there may be around 1,000,000
Kinaray-a speakers.
According
to the tales of the Maragtas, Antique once enjoyed primacy among the realms
carved out in Panay by the 10 Bornean datu (chieftains), who, fleeing from
the tyranny of Sultan Makatunaw of Borneo, bought the island from the Ati
King Marikudo and established the sakup of Hamtik, Aklan, and Irong-irong.
The datu supposedly landed in Malandog, Hamtik, where a marker commemorates
the event which is reenacted in the Binarayan (literally, "place where
the boats landed") Festival. In Hamtik ruled the wisest among the chieftains,
Datu Sumakwel, whom Datu Puti designated as the primus inter pares among
the seven remaining datu who formed the confederation of the Madya-as.
In
Spanish times, Antique was adminished from iloilo, and remained a backwater
of the colony. When Miguel Lopez de Legazpi transferred his headquarters
from Cebu to
Panay,
his men came upon the village of Bugasong and Hamtik. Encomiendas
were established in Pandan and Hamtik in the 1570s.By 1581, the Augustinians
set up a mission in Hamtik, establishing the first parish in Antique.
This was followed by Barbaza, 1596, San Jose de Buenavista, 1733, Bugasong,
1742, San Pedro, 1744, Sibalom, 1745, Pandan, 1752, Patnongon, 1761, Dao,1771,
and Culasi, 1773. In the 1660s,Antique belonged to Ogtong, one of the two
provinces carved out from the island, the other being Panay. In 1793 Antique
became a separate province.
The
Antiquenos did not welcome the Spanish rule. The natives, called mundo
and cascado, refused to live in the cabeceras or town centers, a problem
that occasional Muslim raids along coastal towns did not help relieve.
In 1828, secular priests participated in serious revolt launched againsts
the alcalde mayor, Don Francisco
Oreta,
which ended when he was replaced by Don Benito Domingo. In 1888,
the Igbaong, secrest organization in San Remingo led by Gregoria Palmero
revolded againsts abuses by Spanish officials and Augustinian clergy. It
was pacified only seven years later.
When
the revolutionary movement was launched, Panay became an active area for
katipunan recruitment. On 21 Sept 1898, Gen Leonardo Fullon landed
in Inayawan, Pandan and captured the town, holdingthe parish priest captives.
The following day, Fullon and his army landed in Culasi, forcing the Spaniards
to withdraw Tibiao. The Filipino soldiers under spanish command muntinied
and placed themselves under the command Fullon. A week later, the
forces of Fullon clashed with spanish troops in Bugasong in a battle
that momentarily stopped Fullon's succesful southern campaign. Fullon
retreated to Culasi. Spanish success was short-lived, however, as
another filipino no mutiny decimated the spanish officers. By 23 November
that year, Filipino revolutionaries had taken San Jose de Buenavista. Fullon
then beacame Antique governor.
During
the Philippine-American War, the Americans did not land a force in Hamtik,
until January 1900. Not long after the revolutionary forces under
Fullon were forced to shift to guerilla warfare. Fullon held out
until 22 Mar 1901, when he surrendered to the Americans. In April the civil
government was established and Fullon was elected governor. A lasting legacy
of the revolution to Antique is Iglesia Filipina Independente, which was
founded by Gregorio Aglipay, Gen Emilio Aguinaldo's Military Vicar General,
and labor leader Isabelo de los Reyes. Next to Ilocos, Antique has the
greatest number of Aglipayans.
In
1939, in anticipation of the Japanese invasion, Antique became mobilization
center. WWII saw an active anti-Japanes guerillacampaign led by Col
Macario Perlta and other officers of the 61st infantry Division of the
USAFFE ( United States Armed Forces in the Far East). The firstsubmarine-borne
supplies to the 6th Military District (as Gen Douglas McArthur designated
the Panay-Negros area) were landed in Libertad, then a barrio of Pandan.
Guerillas operated rather freely in Antique, as their mountain bases in
Mts Baloy and Madya-as were located on the border of the Iloilo and Capiz.
Moreover, the Japanese were garrisoned for most of the time in the capital
of San Jose.
The
Japanese would occasionally sortie north to pursue guerilla forces in actions
that the people would call as "penetretion" and associated with"evacuation".
The guerilla warning system worked effectively in evacuating the people
from the town centers whenever Japanese columns would venture out of San
Jose, such that the majority of the people Antique could say that they
never saw a Japanese soldier during the entire war. Looming large in the
public imagination were the horrors, not so much of Japanes atrocities
as of the guerilla killing fields called Badyang, a place where suspected
collaborators were executed. Stay-over public officials and traders
were most vulnerable to charges of collaboration.
In
general, Antique has kept a low profile in national affairs. Its
mountanious terrain, lined by a narrow coastal plain, as well as its lack
of good roads, ports, and other transportation and communication facilities
have prevented Antique from raising its standard of livingdespite being
a net surplus producer of rice, sugar, and other agricultural crops. Antiquenos
also partly attribute the lack of development to politics, especially as
they tend to support the opposition. For instance, in pre-marital
law days, when the president was Nacionalista, the Antique governor was
Liberal.
During
the Snap Elections of 1896, the pro Corazon Aquino led by former Gov Evelio
Javier conducted a succesful campaign against entrenched pro Marcos forces
led by Assemblyman Arturo Pacificador, but after the elections, the charismatic
Javier was gunned down in broad daylight in San Jose. The assasination
intensified the tension that culminated in the EDSA revolt 11 days later.
Religious Beliefs and Practices
The
spiritual world of the Antiquenos is inhabited by numerous engkantu, fairies,
and other supernatural spirits. They are encountered at the headwaters
of junctions, shallow wells, isolated places, enchanted trees, thickets,
and lonely trails at high noon or late evening (Magos 1978:58). The
province of Antique itself has been identified as a plpace of the aswang,
the generic term for a creature of the netherworld which takes human form
during the day and transforms into viscera-sucking, flesh-eating ghouls,
polymorphing creatures, or witchcraft practitioners during the night.
There are dwellers or residents in the towns or barrios who may also be
aswang or maranhig. The aswang has a double, according to belief,
and so can appear or change form easily. The maranhig, on the other
hand, cannot cross a stream, otherwise he turns into a worm. These
spirits and supernaturals are the cause of people's illness and many of
the evils that befall them.
The
maaram or medicine man counters or neutralizes these creatures. In
places where there are no doctors, the maaram becomes a general practitioner
as well as specialist - a medium or rite officiator, diviner, herbalist,
bone setter, midwife, and extractor of foreign objects poaced by supernatural
forces or beings inside the body of the individual (Magos 1978).
Being
an isolated province, Antique is a culture area where the connection of
traditional magical practices can be studied in relation to economic survival
(Magos 1978:25). Each stage of the rice production, from planting
to harvesting, is punctuated by ritual; the same holds true for the production
of corn, cassava, sweet potato, beans, kadios, jackfruit, coconut, and
so on. The presence of a menstruating woman or an animal urinating
before or during planting are considered bad omens; planting should be
done during low tide, or during the time when the moon is full, so that
the fruits or tubers will grow large; and so on.
The
Sulod believe in a double or soul-spirit who removes itself from the carnal
body upon death and travels from one place to another until it reaches
a lake which it has to cross with the assistance of Bangle, the ferry man.
According to this myth, Bangle asks the soul-spirit several questions before
he takes it to the other shore. If the soul answers that it has had
more than one wife, it is congratulated and immediately carried across
on Bangle's shoulder. If it has had only one or remained a bachelor,
then it is told to hold on to Bangle's pubic hair and to swim across the
sticky water. (As there are no recorded cases of polyandry, it cannot
be assumed that the same questions apply to the female soul.)
The
soul has yet to pass another stream guarded by another deity called Balugu,
who asks him the same questions. After passing the examination, the
soul is admitted to Madya-as (a mountain nearby), where it participates
in a cockfighting game. Then it is taken to the rest house called
haramyangan. If its relatives in th earthworld perform the right
ceremonies, it undergoes a strengthening process, after which it takes
its place in the center of Madya-as, where it leads a normal life and eventually
turns into one of the environmental spirits which guard every aspect of
Sulod society.
Sulod
religion is inextricably intertwined with social and economic activities
like fishing and hunting, which are influenced by defined environmental
and ancestral spirits. All phases of the agricultural practice, like
preclearing, begin with an invocation to the ancestral spirits. The
sagda ceremony, for example, is a postclearing chanting ritual as a gesture
of apology to the spirits who may have been hurt by the burning of the
field during the clearing process.
It
is believed that illness is caused by forest spirits who must, therefore,
be appeased. A procession is led by the baylan who dances to the
beat of gongs and drums to invoke good and evil spirits
Several towns in Antique have the distinction of producing quality ware ranging from salakot and sawali from Belison, bamboocraft from San Jose, ceramics from Sibalom, pottery from Bandoja, Tibiao; mats from Pandan and Libertad; and loom-woven patadyong (barrel skirt) from Bagtason, Bugasong, the only one of its kind in the Visayas and well-known throughout Panay.
Puedan
was able to collect 92 folk songs, nine of which are ballads. "Juanita,"
"Sa Baryo Sang Burok-Burok" (In the Barrio of Burok-Burok), and "Esing"
deal with love's frustrations and tragedies; "Composo ni Dieme" (Compose
of Dimme), "Sa Baryo Sang Gamad" (In the Barrio of Gamad), and "Sa Banwang
Culasi" (In the Town of Culasi) take off from the senseless deaths of certain
persons; and "O Mga Senyores" (O Dear Sirs), "Kanta Sang Pagsulod sang
Hapon" (Songs About the Arrival of the Japanese), and "Composo Guikan sa
Guerra" (Composo from the War) recount experiences during WWII. With
the exception of the last two songs, the Antique ballads cluster around
a single event. The stories are told dramatically, using dialogue
for emotional impact.
Children's
songs range from the ili (lullaby) to adaptations of Tagalog and English
originals. Greed is parodied in "Tatay Beroy Tikwaog," spinsters
are satirized in "Nagtanum Ako Pinya" (I Planted a Pineapple). Mothers
ask their children to perform "Ang Tatlo Ka Pato" (The Three Ducks), complete
with hand gestures imitating ducks flying and rear ends waddling.
"Lubi-lubi" (Coconuts) is a mnemonic device to remember the months of the
year. "Ang Tilapia" (The Tilapia) tells of an impetuous fish who
escapes from the aquarium.
Love
and courtship songs are still sung as serenade, which are prevalent during
harvesttime when girls from out of town help their kin in the fields.
While
Modern swains have been heard to strum pop and old tunes like "Serapin
Sang Gugma" (Angel of Love), "Pagkalum-ok" (Softly), "Ako Ining Kailo"
( I Am a Poor Lover), "Bilin Sang Kabuhi" (My Life's Desire), "Didto Nayon
sa Bukid" (There in the Mountain) are still heard. The most popular
of these are "Sa Pugad Sang Pispis" (In the Bird's Nest), "Karom kay Tingadlaw"
(Now That It's Summer), and "Maghihirupay Kita" (Let's Share Our Love).
The latter invites the beloved to share the lover's affection, so that
they could be like two birds on a bough.
"Sang
Diutay pa Ako" (When I Was Small) is about a maiden, being courted, who
sets impossible conditions for her love. Another rejection song is
"Igso-on sa Tabuk Nayon" (Godbrother Across Our House). "Ang Gugma"
(Love) advises ladies to choose their husbands carefully, while "Dalawidaw"
(The DalawidawBird) has a happy ending, with the girl reciprocating her
suitor's love.
Songs
that have been adapted in other Visayan tongues include: "Lumabay-labay"
(If Passes By), which compares the sweet things in life, like love, to
smoke which dissipates: "Dandansoy," which was composed by roman who hailed
from Culasi; and "Ay Ay Kalisud" (O How Sad). The latter two are
standard numbers in the repertoire of Visayan singers, and are well-known
nationally.
Other
love songs, which invariably speak of lost love and hearthache, include:
"Maminglaw nga Dalamguhon" (A Lonely Dream); "Mahapdi ang Dug-han Ko" (My
Heart Aches); "Pispis nga Adarna" (The Adarna Bird); "Ang Pana-ad" (The
Promise); "Rosing, Yanang Yuhom Mo" (Your Smile), "Nadura ang Paglaum"
(Hope is Lost); "Ginamingaw Ako" (I Feel Lonely); and "Nene Ati."
Work
songs include: fishing songs like "Si Tarok, Ang Belong-belong" (The Belong-belong
Fish); "Ang mga Manunura nga Ansyang" (The Ansyano Fisherfolks), and "Si
Felimon." The latter two, and the nonfishing song, "Ako Mananggete
nga si Ikot" (I Am Ikot the tuba gatherer), have references to tuba, indicating
that they are generally sung during drinking sessions. "Si Filemon"
os a tongue twister because the song is repeated over and over, with
the various vowels converted to the one called out by the song leader:
"A!" - "Sa Falaman, Sa Falaman ..."; "U!" - "Su Fulumun, Su Fulumun;" and
so on.
When
drinking, the old favorite is "Dandansoy, Inum Tuba Laboy" (Dandansoy,
Drink Laloy's Tuba). But the work songs and humorous songs do equally
well: "Nagligad and Adlaw" (A Day Has Passed), "Bisan Tamun Ati" (Though
We Are Aetas), "Sa Banwa sang Kape" (In the Town of Coffee), "Kalantahon
sa Adlaw-adlaw" (The Everyday Song), "Puyayang" (Jelly Fish), "Tahur" (Gambler),
"Si Manong, si Manang, Ako ang Prinsipe" (I Am the President, "Manok nga
Bukay" (My White Rooster). The first four songs use metaphors for
sexual organs and intercourse.
Three
polgnant songs express grief over the death of parents: "Binhi sang Paghihugma"
(Seeds of Love), "Ang Ilo sa Iloy" (A Motherless Child); and "Ako ang Nailo"
(I Am An Orphan). These are sung furing funerals. There are
also songs that praise knowledge and winged creatures, and game songs.
Two
wedding songs, "inday, Himus-himusa" (Inday, Prepare Your Things) and "Laylay"
have similar patterns. There are instructions to the woman to prepare
her things as shw is getting married, and to the men against maltreatment
of the wife lest the relatives take her back; the eventual reply is that
the woman can no longer be separated from the man because they have been
married by a priest.
Weddings
showcase the Antiqueno's dancing prowess. During their pamalaye,
the parents of the groom in Anini-y town perform the soryano before the
parnets of the bride. The soryano has two counts to a measure, and
is danced to guitar music.
The
wedding procession is marked by sinurog dancers up front, shouting and
making considerable noise with drums, empty cans, basins, and other percussion
instruments. The dancers, all boys, having fierce masks of black
and red. They wear red trousers , dark colored under shirts with
long sleeves, red bands or kercheifs around their heads, and a dark-colored
length of cloth worn over the shoulder and knotted at one side of the waist.
Some sinurog dancers wield spears, bolo, and daggers. The dancers
are believed to frighten and drive away evil spirits that might spoil the
happiness and welfare of the newly married couple.
During
the reception, the bride and groom may dance the padang-padang, the music
of which has three counts to a measure. The partners shake and clap
hands, bow to each other, and move in a sway-balance-hop sequence. Ideally
only the married couple dances while the guest shower them with presents
of cash and valuables, but the members of the entourage may also take part
(Reyes-Tolentino 1946:203-206).
In
response to the pandang-pandang, the parents of the bride and groom perform
the kandang-kandang. The dance, which is named after a seaside plant, uses
a tune similar to the pandang-pandang. It also has three counts to a measure,
but has more steps which is characterized by reversed arm positions, step-hops,
and flirtatious brushes punctauted by beginning motions from the boy and
point steps, leaps, and occasional kneels.
The
urukay from Anini-y also has the parents-in-law dancing each other. This
is lively and vigorous dance where the male tries to assert his supremacy
over the female by making her kneel and crawl in between his legs.
The woman retorts by snubbing the man and elbowing him as she moves away.
Other
Dances found in Antique include a number of waltz derivatives, such as
the escopiton malandog, from Barangay Malandog in Hamtik, which is danced
by couples and feature kumintang movements; the regoniza, also found in
San Jose, which is dance for important guest; the yano pandaninio, a delicate
dance from the northern town of pandan; and the salidsid, a dance for fiestas
and other special occasions, produced by the people of the island town
of Caluya. The salidsid is vigorius, using body twist, trunk jerks,
knee bends, and tapping steps, among others.
The
kuratsa, a perennial Visayan favorite, has two versions, the kuratsa San
Jose and the kuratsa Tibiao with the latter having more complex steps.
The haplili is a stylization of the dance step of that name. The
count is two to a measure, with two pairs performing. The girl's
main prop in her movements is her patadyong. The virgoire, which
is derive from "Virgo-Eres" (You are a Virgin) is like a kumintang dnce
but is performed barefoot by a girl wearing patadyong and camisa or long-sleeved
blouse with stiff sleeves. The Antique version of the itik-itik os
performed in Tibian invariably during social gatherings. Dancing
two counts to the measure, the couples are in closed ballroom dnce position
chracterized by slide-close and itik-itik steps, topped by a quarter turn
at the end of each sequence.
Nuptial
ceremonies among the Sulod are repleted with prototypes of theater, literature,
song, and dance. The pagbati is the ceremonial meeting of the two
sets of parents, who pretenc ignorance of the couple's engagement, so that
they may formally confirm it. The marriage negotiations are conducted
in the form of a poetical joust, in which the girl's family again pretends
ignorance of the boy's intentions. Part of the joust includes the
haggling over dowry. This accomplished and the boy duly accepted,
the boy sevice to the girl's family begins. He brings to ther house
symbolic objects, such as banana leaves, which signify the virtue of "righteousness
giving shade and protection to the couple in their life's journey" (Jocano
1968).
The
wedding day begins with the hungaw, another poetical joust between two
spokepersons. This is recited as the wedding entourage takes some
numbered steps from the gate to the stairs of the house. After the
wedding, the feast begins but is regularly interrupted by another poetical
joust, in which the bride is referred to metaphorically as the "flower
of the house." For such occasions, heirloom plates called lahang
and the sibulan, the ancient chinese jar in which rice wine is fermented,
are taken out of storage and used.
Antique
theater has depended largely on traveling komedya troupes from Iloilo which
perform during town fiestas. There have been no recorded writers
of Kinaray-a komedya or sarswela.
The
advent of electronics, however, has opened up venues for writers, enabling
them to rpoduce radio dramas. Foremost of these Kinaray-a writers
is the late Russell tordesillas, who wrote the scripts for the long running
radio serial Olayra: Ang Prinsesa Sang Dagat played over Antique radio
DYKA.
Writers
are gradually responding to the renewed literary and institutional interest
over the prootion of Kinaray-a. Aleks Santos (Ani 19) published Lupa,
a one-act play detailing the hardships of women left to tend their farm
after the menfolk went to work as sacada in Negros. D. Javier with
R.C. Lucero and E.A. Manuel
Ani 19, Vol V, No 3 (Dec 1991).
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Jocano, F. Landa. The Epic of Labaw Donggon. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1965.
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Monteclaro, Pedro. Maragtas. Iloilo: El Tiempo, 1907.
Magos, Alicia P. "The Ma-aram in a Kiniray-a Society." Master of arts thesis. University of the Philippines, 1978.
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