by MITCHELL BADELLES
broadcaster, contributing columnist
Magellan induces a current affair
Sinulog, the feast of the infant Jesus, was celebrated at The Good Shepherd Catholic Church at Plumpton recently. It was the 20th anniversary celebration for the Cofradia Del Santo Niño based in Blacktown.
The feast was celebrated with a nine day novena including a triduum mass followed by Sinulog dancing then, similar to Jesus’ feeding of the multitudes, all visitors and participants were invited to partake with the plentiful food.
This year’s estimated attendance was 3000 people. Devotees literally packed the church to the walls and overflowed into the courtyard.Sinulog comes from a Visayan word, sulog which means ‘water current’, hence the dance. Sinulog means ‘like water current’. It proficiently describes the forward-backward movement of the Sinulog dance.
The dance consists of two steps forward and one step backward, done to the sound of the drums.
Historically, it was the explorer Hernando de Magallanes, better known as Ferdinand Magellan, who presented the effigy of the infant Jesus to Hara Amihan, wife of Rajah Humabon. After her baptism, Along with the rulers of the island, some 800 natives were also baptized to the Roman Catholic Church.
At the moment of receiving the idol, it was said that Queen Juana danced with joy bearing the image of the child Jesus. With the other natives following her example, this dance was regarded as the first Sinulog. Queen Juana was believed to have encouraged the people to turn to Sto Niño for blessings and to drive evil spirits and afflictions away.
To quench the devotee’s earthly thirst, Noble Beverages provided 960 litres of pure water in casks. Noble’s Pureau is Australia’s purest and best-tasting water, completely free of all impurities including chlorine, bacteria and sodium.
Having water in casks mean much less plastic bottle waste – there are great environmental benefits of choosing water in casks over plastic bottles.
With tongue in cheek, one could believe that devoting oneself to the Sto Niño and Noble’s Pureau is the safest choice for helping improve your family’s health and wellness. I couldn’t help but sound like I was pitching an advertisement (my promise/panaad to noble water).
I could see parallels between the quenching of the spiritual body through Jesus and of the physical body through water. Water, as a ‘giver of life’ is the source of our existence. Let’s have a quick look, shall we, of how we are immersed in water.
In our mother’s womb, we were enveloped by water (amniotic = liquid = water = wet), before we were born, it is said that the “water broke”. Before we were conceived, a seed travelled via bodily fluids, to get into the womb. As we drank our mothers’ creamy water (milk), a ‘wee’ amount will eventually escape.
In baptism, water is used to signify our rebirth. With plants, we have to “baptise” it, for the plant to grow. Our mother earth is predominantly water. So are our bodies. All living things need water, for it to survive.
Step into space and view earth from a certain distance and the rivers and streams appear to be the veins and aortas, just as blood courses through our bodies. The earth supports innumerable organisms and animals and all things in it correlate to make it function.
Our bodies really are a kind of planet with all different kinds of living things in and on it to make it function.
It was over water and its currents that Magellan travelled and got to the Philippines. The Sinulog Dance was based on water and its currents. I leave you with this thought; is it not water that makes the world go round that life depends on it?
Maybe the Indians got it right when they revere the Ganges River. I think it is righteous and wholesome that we should keep our water, Noble & Pureau.
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by AUSSEELA THANAPHONGSAKORN
Journalist
Changing the literary landscape
On studying Filipino-Australian writer, Merlinda Bobis, I found few sources and a gap in research about the Filipino diasporic story. Perhaps Filipinos themselves lack the volition in voicing their stories. But wouldn’t we rather speak our own history? Power lies in the pen and the stories we write.
The Filipino community is the 11th largest ethnic community in NSW. We have stories to share of journeys from a country far away and vastly different to Australia. But why is it that when Filipinos arrive on Australian soil that rich culture is left on the shore. This is especially in the creative literary scene where grappling questions about the meaning of “Australianness” and how the Filipino story fits in is significant.
Some conflicts exist in the representation of Australian identity, which can be a challenge for Filipino-Australian literature. The image of the “Aussie battler’ believing in a “fair go” and “mateship” still represents an image based on a colonial past, or something exclusive which often competes with contemporary nationalisms.
These reveal underlying and sometimes overt discourses in racism from the time of Federation which existed in legislation through the “White Australia policy” and of course, manifested itself in popular culture such as literature.
Merlinda Bobis’ writing in the form of poetry tackles this racism evident in history and shapes a new Australian literary landscape. In her poem “Word Gifts for an Australian Critic” from the anthology “Summer was a Fast Train without Terminals” Bobis makes a point through form and language. The poem contains words written in Tagalog, which cannot be understood by those who do not speak the dialect.
The effect is that the non-Tagalog speaking reader struggles with pronunciation just as much as the narrator is struggling with her new form of identity as part of the new Australian community.
“So now I can laugh with you.
Halakhak! How strange.
Your kookaburras roost in my windpipe when I say ‘laughter’.
As if feathering a new word.
Halakhak k k k kookaburra
One of the few academics who have studied Bobis’ work Edna Manlapaz highlights that Filipino women writers who solely wrote in English were seen as elitist as they did not embrace the wider readership by writing in the vernacular.
But Bobis does both, and celebrates her rich bi-cultural heritage. As a Filipino-Australian, she adds to a long tradition of Anglo-Australian writing, however if her poems were solely written in Tagalog, would her works still be considered ‘Australian literature’?
Although there is no straight cut answer it determines how far Australia is progressing as a multicultural nation, cultivated by a diverse literary scene and inclusive of its many voices. Through local art, film and literature the Filipino story needs to be a part of this literary journey. #
