DJ WORKZ

Good-bye, Flipper

By DJ Workz - November 28, 2017

GOOD-BYE, FLIPPER

Simeon Dumdum, Jr.

¹They’re looking for a little girl who was photographed squatting beside a dead dolphin. the photograph—captioned, “Good-bye, Flipper”—had won a prize in a contest. Touched by the picture, someone has offered to give the girl gifts.

²of the creatures of the sea, the dolphin probably comes closest to the heart of a child. Hollywood has much to do with this, thanks to the many films and television series in which the dolphin, predictably named “Flipper,” plays a child’s best friend. the dolphin’s entrenchment in our affections, however, is not entirely the work of show business. The creature is naturally friendly and intelligent. Constantly smiling (the beak gives the impression), it swims alongside ships and regales everyone with its somersaults. And its popularity with people goes back a long time. the ancient Greeks and Romans mentioned the dolphin in their mythologies and portrayed it on their coins, pottery and walls.

³How the dolphin in the photograph died, we do not know. (If a picture speaks a thousand words, it can also ask a thousand questions.) did the fish (or mammal) get itself beached after its sense of direction fouled up? Did a heartless fisherman spear its heart? Whatever happened, a little girl was there to mourn its death.

⁴She reminds me of Bidasari, the girl in a Malay poem mentioned by Sir James Frazer. A merchant and his wife had seen her when she was a baby, and (being childless) adopted the little angel. The merchant had a golden fish made and into the fish he transferred Bidasari’s soul. He put the golden fish in a golden box and hid it in the pond in his garden.

⁵In time Bidasari grew into a lovely woman.

⁶The queen of the kingdom heard of Bidasari’s beauty, and, afraid that the king might take her as second wife, lured Bidasari into the palace and there tortured her. But Bidasari could not die because her soul was in the fish. Unable to bear the suffering, she told the queen, “If you want me to die, you must get the box in the pond in my father’s garden.”

⁷The queen had the box brought to her and had it opened. In the box was the golden fish. “My soul is in that fish,” Bidasari said. “In the morning, take it out of the water, and in the evening put it back again. Wear it around your neck and don’t leave it lying about. If you do this, I will die.”

⁸So the queen did a told. Whenever the queen removed the fish from the water, Bidasari would collapse, and would revive when the fish was put back in the water. The girl now in her control, the queen sent her home.

⁹The parents brought Bidasari out of the city and housed her in a lonely and desolate spot. There she lived alone, going through the sufferings that coincided with the sufferings of the fish which had her soul.

¹⁰One day the king went out hunting and came to the house and found the unconscious Bidasari and was smitten with her beauty. He tried to wake her up but failed. Towards evening of the next day he returned, and still he could not revive her. But when night came, Bidasari came to herself and told the king the secret of her life.

¹¹When the king returned to the palace, he got the box from the queen and put the golden fish back in the water. Bidasari recovered, and the king married her.

¹²The girl in the photograph is little Bidasari. In a sense her soul was in the fish, and the girl died with the dolphin.

¹³So far the girl is nameless, which makes her every girl, everyone. Just as Bidasari’s soul was in the golden fish, so is everyone’s soul in the environment, in every fish and beast and tree. The ancient peoples knew this. Before they would go out fishing or hunting, they would purify themselves to be worthy of the catch. They would preach to the fish to come and be caught and not be afraid, because they would not burn their bones but would throw them back into the sea, there to become fish again.

¹⁴He who seeks to console the girl with gifts shares the spirit of the ancients. He wants to restore her life. But to do this he—and the community—must assure her and everyone else that no dolphin will ever die again, that all of creation, which has all our souls, will endure. This in effect is to say to the dead Flipper, not “Farewell,” but “Fare forward.”

Meet the Writer

SIMEON DUMDUM, JR. is a widely published and anthologized poet. He was born on March 7, 1948 in Balamban, Cebu. His impressive educational attainment include degrees in Law from the University of San Carlos, Cebu City, 1976, Theology from the San Carlos Seminary, Makati City, 1970 and Philosophy from the Cluain Mhuire and University College, Ireland, 1969. He works as Senior Attorney for the Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. He is also a columnist for the SunStar, a Cebu City daily newspaper.

Dumdum has attended writers’ workshops and conferences in the Philippines, Singapore, and England. He was also panelist Cornelio Faigao Memorial Writers Workshop. His awards include Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature (Third Prize, Selected Poems, 1981; Third Prize, Axioms, 1983; Second Prize, Masbate, 1982 and Second Prize, Gossamer, 1984). He has also garnered Honorable Mention from the CCP Literary Contest and a Citation, Philippine Literary Arts Council.

His poems appeared in Focus, Jose, Solidarity, Mithi, Midweek, Caracoa, Philippine Studies, Versus, Kamao, and Tenggara. Dumdum’s volumes of poetry are The Gift of Sleep (1982) and Third World Opera (1987).

(http://panitikan.com.ph/authors/d/sdumdum.htm)

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Connecting with Nature

Rituals

By DJ Workz - November 28, 2017

RITUALS

Hagabi

¹The Hagabi feast is the most expensive, the highest and final ritual in the display of Ifugao wealth. One who has performed the Hagabi feast has attained the highest rank in Ifugao society, in wealth as well as in social prestige. He is entitled to certain privileges such as a voice in village affairs, the sounding of the gongs at his death, invitations to similar feasts even in distant villages.

²A man intending to give the feast must have everything ready: rice, rice wine and animals. When all is set, they announce their intentions to their relatives.

³On the appointed day, the male villagers go to the forest to look for a big hard-wood tree, preferably an ipil or narra. To the sound of gongs the men go about their search for a tree that must be big enough for a hagabi couch to be carved out from a single trunk with no joints at all. As soon as a tree has been selected, the men start working, sawing and chipping until the tree is felled. From the fallen tree trunk the men start hewing out a rough form of the hagabi. In its rough form, the hagabi looks like some monstrous animal with two heads, one on each side.

⁴On the last day of their stay in the forest, the folks back home and along the way are notified so as to prepare food to serve the hagabi party as they pass by. Sometimes it takes two or three days for the hagabi to reach the owner’s house, not because the forest is far but because the men who carry it make so many detours and stops on the way just for the fun of it. And when the party stops for the night on the way home, the man holding the hagabi is expected to butcher a pig for the meal.

⁵The hagabi is tied with strong vines to a sturdy pole. As many as thirty men line up on opposite sides of the pole and with the aid of small poles tied to the main pole they carry the hagabi on their shoulders. As they inch their way along, they keep shouting “He, he, he,” meaning perhaps, heavy is this hagabi. They have much fun pushing and swinging the hagabi from side to side amidst shouts and laughter. Some don’t even help to carry the poles. Instead they would hang on to the pole and swing on it thereby adding to the weight.

⁶As the hagabi nears the village, people from all around come to witness its arrival. When the hagabi is about a hundred yards away from the house of the owner, someone takes a basketful of cooked malagkit rice and puts it down in the yard. Those who are around each take a handful of the rice and throw it at the men carrying the hagabi. Then a sort of free-for-all throwing ensues. However anything that might hurt is not used.

⁷As soon as the hagabi is in the yard, the owner leaps on it while it is still on the men’s shoulders. He stands majestically and bids everyone to be still and listen as he eloquently announces that he is a wealthy man just his ancestors had been. He welcomes the hagabi home but he also bids it to come with only the best of everything… fortune, health and wealth, increase of his pigs and chickens and that his fields will yield good harvests. The people feast and drink and a big carabao called the hidug is butchered for the sacrifice of the day. At about sunset the festival ends and the owner at his leisure will then fix the roughly-hewn figure to give it its polished look.

Putong

¹The Philippines is known as a land of friendly people. Tourists to the country have nothing but fond memories of the natural warmth and affection that the Filipinos shower on their guests. From Luzon to Mindanao these virtues are extolled on all who come, but nowhere is it more beautifully expressed than in the island of Marinduque where the effusive hospitality of the people is brought forth by honoring and adopting the visitors as children of the island in a ceremony called “Putong.”

²“Putong” is the ritual that has been performed by the townspeople of Marinduque for many years now. The origin is lost in history but tradition has established its practice. The old folks of the island speak of the time when the celebration of the “Putong” began as a fulfillment of a promise to perform the ritual in return for favors granted. This usually occurred when a person in a household was taken ill and the parents and relatives of that person pray for his quick recovery in return for which they promised to perform the “Putong” every year for a certain number of years.

³The rite of thanksgiving revolves around the honoree—the person for whom the favor was asked—who sits on a chair at the center of the room, with a sponsor standing behind him holding a lighted candle. As he sits there, the old women folk of the town and his relatives perform the ritual. If the honoree or celebrant is indisposed or is out of town at the time of the scheduled celebration, his photograph is set on a chair at the center of the room and the festivities go on as if he were present.

⁴The ceremony is usually celebrated at the residence of the most prominent person in town. The living room or yard is bedecked with palm fronds and flowers and the lights brightly shine through the night as if for a ball. A group of old women who are usually professional singers for this type of celebration are dressed in kimonos and shirts with flowers in their hair and garlands around their necks. These women request permission to enter and join the celebration. They dance and start singing to a haunting melody as they sway to and fro around the room. In their hands, they carry small baskets filled with petals which are thrown around the honoree. The oldest of the group then approaches the celebrant with a crown of entwined vines and flowers which she places on his head amidst shouts of jubilation. The dancing continue as flowers and petals are happily strewn about the room. Before the crowd breaks and the ceremony ends the host throws coins for a mad scramble to the enjoyment of the crowd and the children.

⁵Feasting and dancing then follows the celebration as the whole town joins in to share in the momentous event.

⁶This gay and lavish affair, which started as a symbol of thanksgiving has evolved into a symbol of welcome where it is now celebrated to honor special visitors to the island of Marinduque. The guests are honored with the festive rite because it makes them feel that they truly belong and are really welcome.

⁷Great is the hospitality of the Filipinos and with each time the “Putong” is celebrated so do the Marinduquenos endear themselves to the hearts of their friends.

Runsay

¹It is said that once a long time ago, while a Tagbanua datu was sailing on the beach, he suddenly saw eight men and one woman seated on a large metal cooking vat sailing through the waves near the shore. They called to him with a message that his tribe should hold a “runsay” every year on the fourth day after the full moon in December. They said that the people should prepare offerings to them; rice, wax, cigarettes, fruits and one chick. For they were the spirits—the nine deities who took care of life. They warned the datu that if his people did not call on them every year they would become very sick and die.

²And so it is that very year on the fourth day after the full moon of December one of the most dramatic of the Tagbanua rituals is performed on the beach near the mouth of the Aborlan River in Palawan.

³The ritual of the runsay begins at dusk and lasts till dawn, embracing five distinct phases. The first phase is devoted entirely to building a twelve-foot ceremonial raft, for the ritual is centered around this raft, which at midnight is set to sail into the unknown deep carrying the offerings to the nine deities.

⁴The second phase marks the time when the spirits of the dead and the nine deities are called. The datu performing the ceremony arranges the offerings just beyond reach of the lapping waves. Then, squatting before the offerings he throws a pinch of rice into the air. He then calls to the spirits of the dead asking them to help him call the nine deities and convince them that they should protect the Tagbanua from the spirits of epidemic sickness.

⁵The raft, still resting high on the beach, is the scene of the third phase of the runsay. The families of the tribe pile the raft with food. Then, the datu picks up a bowl full of rice, holds it towards the sky and the sea, and prays briefly. He then lights a candle, sticks it on the platform of the raft, and at the same time throws seven pinches of rice taken from the bowl into the air, calling the nine deities to partake of the offering. The “promise” made has been fulfilled.

⁶As the wind blows over the beach, a signal goes out through the crowd and the children edge towards the raft to dive into the mound of food, and try to obtain and eat as much as possible. While the children fight to get the food, the surrounding crowd becomes very boisterous, shouting encouragement and laughing at the food bedecked figures.

⁷A brief lull in the ceremony follows wherein the raft is cleaned up and repaired. Then the datu once again calls the nine deities, initiating the fourth phase of the runsay. The women, representing each family approach the raft with baskets of offerings. The quantity of the offering being determined exactly by the number of members in the family. When all the individual offerings have been piled and arranged on the raft, the datu ties a small chick to the platform and sticks candles on both sides of it.

⁸And then the fifth phase begins. The raft is brought by the men of the tribe to the water about two hundred yards from shore. The crowd quickly gathers on the edge of the surf to watch the raft as it moves briskly out to sea, the excitement rustling through the crowd as the raft sails away, for it is considered an ominous sign if it should “be returned” to the beach.

⁹Ceremonial dancing and laughter follows as the ritual comes to an end and the Tagbanuas, once more protected by the deities, meet the dawn.

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Good-bye, Flipper

Rituals

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