Surat Mangyan - Kahusayang Pampanitikan ng mga Hanunuo-Mangyan sa Oriental Mindoro [Buwan ng Panitikan]

Pagdiriwang ng Buwan Ng Panitikan ngayong Abril 2021 na may temang “500 Taon ng Pagsulat sa Kalibutang Filipino.” 

Ibinabahagi ng #PambansangMuseoPH ang kahusayang pampanitikan ng mga Hanunuo-Mangyan sa lalawigan ng Oriental Mindoro. Ang kanilang nagpapatuloy na tradisyon sa pagpapantig na pagsulat na tinatawag na surat Mangyan ay nauugnay sa pagtatala at pag-aaral ng ambahan / umbahan, isang matalinghagang tula na may pitong pantig bawat linya, gamit ang sinaunang talasalitaang Hanunoo. 

Ang mga taludtod ay karaniwang nakaukit sa mga biyas ng kawayan o kagamitang yari sa kahoy kagaya ng luka (sisidlan ng tabako), apugan (sisidlan ng apog), bayi (pana), mga instrumentong pang-musika, at maging sa mga bahagi ng bahay. Ayon sa antropologong si Antoon Postma, bagaman ang pinakalumang sanggunian ukol sa ambahan ay matatagpuan sa isang lathalang antropolohikal na Aleman ng 1895, karamihan sa mga tula ay naibabahagi sa mga henerasyon sa pamamagitan ng patuloy na pagsipi nito mula sa kanilang mga ninuno. 

Ang patulang pagpapahayag na ito ng mga Mangyan ay ginagamit ng mga magulang upang turuan ang kanilang mga anak, ng mga kabataan sa pagliligawan, at ng isang punong-abala sa pagsalubong sa mga bisita. Kapag may panlipunang pagtitipon, ang ambahan ay binibigkas sa saliw ng pang-musikang instrumento tulad ng gitara, gitgit (biyolin), plawta, at alpang pambibig. Natututunan ng mga batang Hanunuo ang pagpapantig sa pamamagitan ng pagmamasid, pagtatanong, paggaya, at palagiang pagsasanay sa pagsasalin ng awit o tula sa mga lalagyan ng tabako o apog.

Ang urukay / urukai (erekey sa Kuyunon), isa pang uri ng tula ng mga Hanunoo-Mangyan, ay may tig-walong pantig sa bawat linya. Ipinakilala ito sa mga Hanunoo mula sa hilagang bahagi ng Dagat Sulu, at karaniwang binubuo ng talasalitaan ng kanlurang Bisaya at mga salitang hiram na Kastila. Halos ang mas nakatatandang henerasyon na lamang ang gumagamit nito, kaya hindi gaanong kilala kumpara sa ambahan, at karaniwang inaawit kasabay ng gitara.

Bukod sa matulaing gamit nito, ang papantig na sulat ay ginagamit din sa mga liham ng pag-iibigan at iba pang mga liham katulad ng paghiling o pag-abiso sa mga seremonyang gaganapin. Isinusulat din nila ang mga dasal sa baybayin bilang paghahanda sa ritwal ng paglilipat ng tanim. 

Ang sulat baybayin ng mga Hanunoo at Buhid (Bukid / Bu’id / Bongabong) sa lalawigan ng Mindoro, kasama ng mga Tagbanua (Tagbanwa / Tagbanuwa) at Pala’wan (Palawano / Palawanin) sa lalawigan ng Palawan ay magkakasabay na idineklara ng #PambansangMuseoPH bilang Pambansang Yamang Pangkalinangan noong 1997 at opisyal na naitala sa UNESCO Memory of the World Registry noong 1999. Ang mga ito ay kabilang sa eksibisyong Baybayin: Mga Sinauna at Tradisyonal na Panulat sa Pilipinas sa Pambansang Museo ng Antropolohiya simula pa noong 2014.

Teksto at larawan mula sa NMP Sangay ng Etnolohiya

©Pambansang Museo ng Pilipinas (2021)

--------------------------------------------------------

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Celebration of the #BuwanNgPanitikan this April 2021 with the theme “500 Years of Writing the Filipino World.” 

The #NationalMuseumPH shares the literary prowess of the Hanunoo-Mangyan in the province of Oriental Mindoro. Their continuing tradition of alpha-syllabic script writing called surat Mangyan is associated with the recording and learning of the ambahan  / umbahan, a metaphoric poem with seven-syllable lines using archaic Hanunoo vocabulary. Its verses are often engraved on bamboo internodes and wooden objects such as luka (tobacco containers), apugan (lime containers), bayi (bows), musical instruments, and even on house beams. According to anthropologist Antoon Postma, though the oldest reference to the ambahan can be found in a German anthropological publication of 1895, most poems have been handed down through generations by continuously copying them from their ancestors. 

This Mangyan poetic expression is used by parents to educate their children, by young people during courtship, and by a host in welcoming visitors. During social gatherings, the ambahan is recited with accompanying musical instruments such as guitar, gitgit (fiddle or violin), and Jew’s/jaw’s harp. Hanunoo children learn the alpha-syllabary through observations, inquiry, imitation, and constant practice by transcribing the chants onto tobacco or lime containers.

The urukay / urukai (erekey in Kuyunon), another kind of poem of Hanunoo-Mangyan, consists of eight-syllable lines. It was introduced to the Hanunoo from the northern Sulu Sea and predominantly composed of western Visayan vocabulary and Spanish loaned words. It is almost exclusively used by the older generation, thus, less popular than the ambahan, and sung mostly with a homemade guitar accompaniment. 

Aside from its poetic function, the Mangyan script is also used for love letters and other correspondences such as request letters and ceremonial notifications. Their prayers are also written in the script in preparation for transplanting rituals.

The alpha-syllabic scripts of the Hanunoo and Buhid (Bukid / Bu’id / Bongabong) in the province of Mindoro and Tagbanua (Tagbanwa / Tagbanuwa) together with Pala’wan (Palawano / Palawanin) in the province of Palawan were collectively declared by #NationalMuseumPH as National Cultural Treasures (NCT) in 1997 and inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Registry in 1999. These are included in the Baybayin: Ancient and Traditional Scripts in the Philippines exhibition at the National Museum of Anthropology since 2014. 

Courtship and expressions of love among the Hanunoo Mangyan of Southern Mindoro

Let us also bring you to the world of magkaibog (courtship) among the Hanunoo Mangyan living in Oriental Mindoro, with their expressions of love through writing and serenading.

Pamtang or exchanging gifts during the courting stage is an important practice among the Hanunoo. Traditionally, the women weave buri baskets while men prepare apugan (bamboo lime containers) and luka (tobacco tube containers) as gifts. What makes these containers special is that men, aside from incising them with geometric designs, would also inscribe a song or personal message before giving it to the women they adore. In response, a woman may answer her suitor/s by writing on the same tube to be given in the next betel exchange. 

A young man may also serenade (maglayes) his beloved by playing a traditional ceremonial guitar or violin along with the recitation of the ambahan, the 7-syllable line poetry that is often inscribed on bamboo and other wooden objects. Hanunoo children learn the scripts from their parents and during social gatherings through observation, imitation, and constant practice of inscription of chants and verses in bamboo, wood and even leaves, such as the backbone of a banana leaf. 

In the old days, a suitor would cross mountain ranges to visit the woman he adores and verses of the ambahan would also refer to such journeys. Being torn between two lovers is also a dilemma among Hanunoo teenagers, as reflected in these verses: 

Kang di magsawilihan I love both of them, they say,

Sa uway sa inwagan the vines inwag and uway.

Ga di ud sa masungnan But you should not say I’m bad,

Ga di ud sa malut-an and no reason to be mad!

Ya pangurog tunya wan You should call it: real, true love.

Ya panadya kumon wan Or this: over and above!

(Postma, 2005: 43)

The Hanunoo script, along with those of the Buhid, Tagbanua and Pala’wan was declared by the National Museum of the Philippines as National Cultural Treasures and inscribed in the Memory of the World Registry of UNESCO in 1999. Projects and programs geared towards the preservation and propagation of these traditional scripts have been launched by the National Museum of the Philippines, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Mangyan Heritage Center, and other government agencies and private institutions. 

Ginaw Bilog, a Hanunoo Mangyan from Oriental Mindoro, was the first recipient of the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) award conferred by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) for his preservation of the surat Mangyan, or the Mangyan script, and the ambahan. His works are displayed at the Manlilikha ng Bayan Hall in the National Museum of Anthropology in Manila. 

The book, Baybayin: Ancient and Traditional Scripts in the Philippines, was also published by the National Museum in 2014 should you wish to know more about the ancient script of the Philippines. 

__________________

Text and posters by NMP Ethnology Division

©National Museum of the Philippines (2021)

See Also: The Mangyans of Mindoro Philippines - History, Culture and Traditions [Philippine Indigenous People]

In the News:

DOST funded Mangyan language App to preserve a dying language

by: Geraldine Bulaon-Ducusin, S&T Media Service

"Imagine an endangered language now available on your smartphone."

This is according to Dr. Rowena Cristina L. Guevara, Undersecretary for Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in her remarks during the zoom presentation of the Language Preservation and Documentation of Hanunoo: Saving the Mangyan Culture, a presentation of research funded by the DOST-National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP).

There are 187 Philippine languages, but only 183 are living, while the other four are already extinct. Of the living languages, 175 are indigenous, while eight are non-indigenous. Some 13 languages are endangered and 11 are dying.

The research on Language Preservation and Documentation of Hanunoo, led by Dr. Rochelle Irene Lucas of the De La Salle University, involving an ethnolinguistic vitality study and the creation of mobile electronic-dictionary (E- dictionary), is actually a response to a call of then Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro in 2016, to adopt an indigenous language to help preserve endangered or in the state of dying languages. 

There are still 13,000 remaining speakers of Hanunoo-Mangyan, one of the languages of the Mangyan population found in Mindoro. The Mangyan comprises of eight tribes: Alangan, Bangon, Buhid, Hanunoo, Iraya, Ratagnon, Tadyawan, and Tawbuid.

In the survey of 170 respondents from Sitio Bailan and Umabang, Bulalacao, Mindoro, the results indicate the universal use of the Hanunoo language in social interactions at home and in the community. It is also a source of identity and a sense of pride, which primarily is the driving force for the language to survive amidst encounters with people from the dominant cultures.

According to Lucas, while the results seem to develop an impressive picture of the Hanunoo Mangyan, the language is critically endangered because of the limited use of their writing system. Only few respondents are able to identify or write the Mangyan script. 

“The younger generation Hanunoo Mangyan are no longer literate in their system of writing which will eventually lead to the language loss in writing their script,” Lucas said.

Lucas added that for the writing system to regain its presence in the community, the orthography needs to be accessible, visible, and functional. 

The research team recommends the need to promote the use of Surat Mangyan in community/barangay/LGU documentations of Hanunoo Mangyan activities, such as town hall meetings, observance of traditional practices, and sharing of indigenous knowledge. 

They also urged the use of Surat Mangyan as part of the Mother Tongue- Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) curriculum of the Department of Education for Kinder to Grade 3 through the Indigenous Education Program (IPED).

DOST-NRCP is a collegial body of highly-trained and productive scientists and researchers who contribute in providing knowledge, skills and innovations in the sciences and humanities, to help improve of the quality of life of the Filipinos. Visit their Facebook page Research Pod for updates on activities for Filipino researchers and the public at large on the latest in research for policy and the communities.