The province of Masbate is known as cattle country. The cattle breed found on the island was taken from herds in India that have flourished in the benign climate of the island. The province is the second largest supplier of cattle that is brought to Manila for slaughter. This industry has inspired the establishment of a 'Rodeo Filipino' on the third week of June. This festival features a week-long tournament of bull riding, cattle wrestling, lassoing, calf casting, post driving, carabao racing and a host of other ‘rodeo’ games. This unique observance is also accompanied by cattle raising contests, a trade fair and parades, much like the rodeos in the American West.
Pre-Spanish Period
There were Masbateno with culture and a triving economy based on agriculture and fishing. They were already trading with mercantile from neighboring Islands as indicated by antique earthenwares and Jewelries found in Ticao Island. This debunks the idea that the Philippines was discovered by the European.
One artifact found was an agricultural tool more than 1000 years old.
Indigenous Masbatanos still practice thanking elements of nature e.g. water, wind, land, river, etc. before and after harvest. They call this as Pa-ulaw or Pasasalamat literally thanksgiving. Thanking elements in nature througy Pa-ulaw is not a Western Philosophy as introduced by Christian Philosophy. Related to Pa-ulaw is the Pa-tamoy or nagpapaalam literally asking permission. This means also asking a bountyful harvest or water. In the Pa-tamoy indigenous people as permission from un-seen elements in nature for them to use the land, if they are doing agricultural activities.
Pa-ulaw and Pa-tamoy have a big possibility that these were handed down by their ancestors centuries before the the Europeans colonized the Bicol region. This practices are now part of Filipino and Bicolano fold religiosity that is still observed today.
Festivals in Masbate
There are a lot of fun times to see in Masbate, and if you are trying to find the best time to travel, you may want to travel during one of the Masbate festivals. The festivals offer a great way to learn more about the area and provide ways to join in on the fun celebrations held in the city.
Rodeo Masbateno
The Rodeo Masbateno festival is in the month of April. The event has 10 competitions for cowboys, and you can enjoy some of the exciting events. There is also calf wrestling. This is one of the Masbate festivals which many people from Asia and all over the world attend.
Pagdayao Festival
The Pagdayao Festival is held in June. The residents come to celebrate Saint Anthony of Padua, and many other cities also come to be part of the culture and fun. You can see some of the traditional celebrations that are enjoyed by people all over and in the city of Masbate and how the culture celebrates its holidays with activities and fun that anyone can enjoy.
Lapay Bantigue Dance Festival
The Lapay Bantigue dance festival is a great way to see all of the seagulls and beautiful colors. You can see the local dance that has been part of the area for many years. The folk dance brings people from all over to watch the performers and to see everyone dancing the folk dance that has graceful movements and is sure to entertain everyone. It is held in September.
Long time ago when the world was still young the good and evil gods were not yet enemies as they are now. They're friends, each living separately in a mountain (Bolod, Bicol). Report said Gugurand and Asuang that they were brothers. Gugurang, the good god, was living inside Mount Mayon, and Asuang, the evil one, inside Mount Malinao. As gods they had control of the welfare of the people. But Gugurang was more powerful than Asuang who was merely a subordinate; the former was the chief deity (cagurangnan) of the Bicols.
Now Gugurang was given full control over the people, who learned to look up to him for protection. Whenever the people disobeyed his orders or wishes, he would cause the pit of the Mayon Volcano to rumble terribly. The people in that time took this as a sign of warning, and accordingly, mended their foul ways because of their sins were beyond forgiveness Gugurang would make the volcano erupt to wipe out the sinners.
Gugurang is the symbol of the good (an mga marhay) ready to punish the bad (an mga maraot). When the people saw fire (calayo) flowing out of the crater of Mayon, they would grow afraid. They would then offer a sacrifice (atang) to him to appease his wrath. The Baliana, priestess, officiated in the ceremony. Always when they committed wrong, there would be loud moaning of the earth followed by an eruption of fire and lava.
The rituals where the boats figured are most instructive in revealing the beliefs that lay beneath the surface. One such religious procedure was called the kibang. In Tagalog, this term meant the rocking motion of a boat on the waves. As a ceremony however, kibang was the old tradition of asking the anito (the spirit of the departed) what luck would befall the riders before sailing or docking, and the movement was attributed as the spirit’s response. Visayans also had this ritual, similarly called guibang. It was usually done before a raiding or a fishing expedition, intoning before the small baloto, “Guibang, guibang cun magtoto cami” (Sway, sway, if we should proceed).” If the baloto did sway, it meant good fortune; the greater the rocking movement, the better one’s fortune. As the baloto swayed, they would ask who was causing the boat to sway, a deity or an ancestor’s spirit. Where the boat swayed at the mention of the name, deity or spirit, there was their answer. This ritual is practiced until the present time. Likewise, when the children or relatives of a person who had drowned got sick they would be placed in a boat called barangay together with a baylan (a female diviner) and at the place she indicated, they would throw down a wooden chest full of clothes and other belongings of the dead person. Simultaneously, they would ask their ancestors to help and heal the sick relatives.
The bacalag was an important Visayan boat launching ritual recorded in the 17th century. When a mangaiao (raiding boat) was to be launched, it would be rolled over several pieces of logs and at the end of these was an enslaved captive. This was reportedly done so that through the blood of the human sacrifice, the boat would be feared by their enemies and would succeed in obtaining numerous captives. During the ritual, the appeal was uttered, “Daoharlucsin iginbabacalagna,” a request that people would fear the boat in the same manner that the sacrificed captive did. In Calagan (Caraga), the bacalag ritual was performed for the healing a of datu (chief) who was seriously ill.
Calag in Bicol and Visayan means “soul,” the root word in both bacalag and Calagan. We can conclude that Fr. Combes was referring to the bacalag ritual as a “revolting” ancient tradition in Caraga when he said, “for the boats to obtain good fortune, they promise it at the first instance a name, usually that of one of their slaves” . It would have been the name of the sacrificed slave, which made it so repulsive to the Jesuit observer. Remnants of this ritual remain although in less severe form. In Masbate island, the prow of a boat to be launched is brushed with chicken blood, while prayers are intoned. This is usually performed by an elderly person. A boatbuilder in Cavite also reported doing this practice on the boat of a businessman from Iloilo City, who had requested the ritual. In the movie “Muro-Ami” which was set in Bohol island and records its fishing practices, the captain’s father brushed chicken blood on the prow of the boat that would be used for fishing. The practice has even been transmitted to a modern form of transport: the wheels of a new car are also brushed with chicken blood. The sacrifice is believed to bring the boat good fortune. Fishermen in the northernmost Philippine island of Batanes offer up a pig to transfer to the animal whatever ill fortune may befall them or their boats. When they do not find any catch, they perform the cleansing ritual not only on themselves but also on their boat, as they believe envy or witchcraft has made them dirty, along with the boats and the port.
In addition, early farmers in Masbate made beautiful stuffs out of shells. They also buried their dead in burial jars and caves. The Kalanay Cave in Arroy and Bat-ongan Cave in Mandaon, the two huge and famous caves in Masbate, are known as burial caves all over the world.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masbate%C3%B1o_people
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Masbate
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Gugurang
http://www.researchsea.com/html/article.php/aid/1999/cid/5/research/the_soul_boat_and_the_boat-soul__an_inquiry_into_the_indigenous____soul___.html
http://jefafernandez.blogspot.com/2010/10/wonderful-place.html
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