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Showing posts from 2012

Visayan dances in Spanish colonial era dictionaries

The study of Philippine history during the Spanish colonial era is never a task solely relying on digging of chronicles, travel accounts, books published during that time, letters, government documents, statistical reports, catechisms and various ethnographic reports written (and most were published) by the frailes  themselves.  While the invaluable pieces of information the aforementioned offered can't be discounted, something  as paramount and as encompassing are on vernacular dictionaries and lexicons! The foreword written by Fr. Jose M. Cruz, S.J. for   prolific writer William Henry Scott's book  Barangay: Sevententh Century Philippine Society   mentioned the importance of dictionaries in the reconstruction of 17th century Philippines Society and culture: Dictionaries figure importantly in this book.  in the sixteenth century, there were only about a million and a half natives and only a small number of missionaries.  Aware of the acute imbalance between thei

San sadto pa daw...

To the Visayans of Samar and Leyte, where this blogger came from - san sadto pa daw literally means (approximately) "the ways back then".  Of course, the expression is uttered with longing, reminiscing, or feeling sorry for something lost or wasted!  I'm not a "prophet of doom", certainly.  I only want something to happen.  Something, which is not worth a good night sleep because it quickened me to start doing a thing - writing on a blog. For the present-day Filipinos' consumerist attitude, nothing is more exciting than earning a living and having our needs and wants satisfied.  A consumerist myself, such attitude proved that a little box - smallest of its kind - seem to restrict me from knowing the breadth and depths of who am I, a FILIPINO.  With perennial problems hounding us all, will this blog which is intended to discuss Philippine dance culture be of paramount importance or relevance?  Well, any answer will be correct.  'Yes', 'no'