hinilawuod

My roots are from Iloilo. Miag-ao, Indag-an to be exact. The typical Ilonggo speaks a dialect called Hilagay-non which is is commonly called now, by the Tagalog, as Ilonggo. But my forefathers speak something else, a sub-dialect of this Hilagay-non. It is called Kiniray-a.

Growing up, I've heard Nanay, Tatay, Lula and my Manangs speak this language at home. So it was a bit unnerving when I heard this language spoken at the start of a theatrical play at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. A play based on, what others may consider as, the longest epic of the world - Hinilawuod.

To put this into context. The Bible has around 22,000 lines. The great Greek tragedy of Odyssey has around 15,000 lines. Hinilawuod has something close 28,000 lines. And the reason this is only entering our consciousness now is because this epic is only sung until recently. Which suggests that our forefathers can sing from memory 28,000 lines of lyrics.

And 'they' had the audacity to call us 'indios'. Colonial Spain's pride and vanity has made their wisdom dull. Funny :)

We really need to think this one out. The limitations of colonialism were reached when the world ushered in democracy and its sister named capitalism. Now, we are at a time when we are now reaching the limits of capitalism and we, as a race, is still struggling to unshackle the yoke of colonialism.

Maybe, as we move forward, it is of worth to look back on who we are as a race before the colonials came.

As I sat their, watching and listening, the play made me teary eye. And when the cast sang "Bayan ko", the tears ran down my cheeks.

The tears fell down because we have done a very bad job, so far, in taking care of ourselves. As a Filipino who traces his ancestry to Miag-ao, Indag-an, I never knew the treasure that Hinilawuod is as I was growing up. The tears fell down for the Filipino educators have done a very bad job in instilling love to the young that wherever they are from, the bundoks or somewhere else, they should be proud of themselves and of their culture and dialect. The tears fell down because the prevailing local media, networks and advertisers, have done a very bad job in molding the mind of a brown boy that he should be proud of his skin.

We have done a bad job. And knowing that we have is the start of good.

Lord, thank You po!

"... why think like mere men!"