Many a local lore were told children to provide a more visual learning of community values and the dangers of the world, origins, to recount the histories of tribes, and to celebrate survival and courage. They were, to say the very least, the earliest possible record of culture as the communities grew, thrived, and evolved.
This November, to commemorate National Children’s Month, we celebrated the evolution of Filipino children’s lore two ways.
Through Memory
Oral tradition was the primary means of communication available for forming and maintaining societies and their institutions before any means of recording the same ever existed.
In the early 1900s, Mabel Cook Cole studied the “wild tribes of the Philippines” and collected their orally shared stories in the seminal book, Philippine Folk Tales (1916). It was her attempt to have a thorough compilation of folk tales as part of her research, and they were not meant for public consumption.
Gunitaan (Memory), revisits these same folktales as a special and limited edition art zine and online library. It is said that each of the designs featured is primarily influenced by the local cultures from which they hail.
One of the stories is Si Lumawig at ang Mundo (Lumawig and the World), an Ifugao folktale.
In the story, Lumawig is the creator and the greatest of all spirits who is said to have come down from the sky, cut reeds, and then scattered them all over the world, ordering them to speak. The reeds came to life, became men and women, and each spoke a unique language. These early peoples bore children and Lumawig, seeing their needs gave them the means by which to trade and prosper—salt, which he’d given the inhabitants of Mayinit, and clay for jars to the Samoki who made beautiful earthenware.
Other stories include Ang Pagkabuo ng Mundo at ng Tao (How Earth and Man Took Shape), Ang mga Anak ni Limokon (The Children of Limokon), Ang Araw at ang Babaeng Apoy (The Sun and the Woman in Flames), Ang Pagsikat at Paglubog ng Araw at Buwan (Why the Sun and Moon Rise in the Sky), Ang Pinagmulan ng Buwan at mga Bituin (How the Moon and Stars Came to Be), Ang Kalabaw at ang Kabibe (The Carabao and the Shell), Bakit Kumakawag ang Buntot ng Aso (Why Dogs Wag Their Tails), and Ang Digmaan ng Alimango at ng Alon (The Battle of the Crabs and the Waves).
What makes this work unique is its rendering of native art, such as those redolent in cloth and mat weavings, basketry, folk drawing, tattoos, and pottery among others, into relatable digital art for the new generation of readers.
A digital compilation of all these that is readable by mobile means is available in both English and Filipino. The online library is also available as a risograph-printed art zine which was designed in collaboration with Bad Student. Proceeds of the sales are to benefit the indigenous communities supported by PAGASA including the Aetas of Zambales and Pampanga, the Lumad of Mindanao and at UP, and the T’boli dreamweavers of Lake Sebu.
To preorder Gunitaan, students and lovers of literature can go to https://serious-studio.com/gunitaan.
Through Action
Araceli Limcaco Dans, Cheloy to her friends, is unafraid about dabbling in different media and incorporating calados, intricate embroidery patterns on pineapple textile, as a common motif in many of her paintings.
She started drawing as a child, only to discover art as a means of survival during World War II. To make the most of her circumstances, she drew propaganda comics during the Japanese occupation, and then later worked on commissioned portraits for American soldiers. After this, she finished her Fine Arts degree (University of the Philippines) in three years under the guidance of national artist Fernando Amorsolo, who is said to have told her that she was advanced in her art, and so he put her in senior classes. The rest is history.
Her work reflects a colorful career that now spans more than 80 years. Much to have accomplished for a woman who had once been a little girl keen on drawing the one crocodile that her father had brought home to lounge in the family’s swimming pool.
It is her story that has inspired granddaughter and 2019 PBBY-Salanga Prize Winner, Gabriela Dans Lee, to write the picture book, Cely’s Crocodile: The Art and Story of Araceli Limcaco Dans (2019). She collaborated with 2019 PBBY-Alcala Prize Winner Adrian Panadero to bring Cely’s Crocodile to life. It is part of CCP’s 50th anniversary celebration, while the e-book launch is part of the CCP Children’s Biennale, a month-long series of online events which aims to encourage and develop creativity and artistic expression among children.
Cely’s Crocodile is published by Tahanan Books. To order, visit www.tahananbooks.ph.