THE BABAYZAN IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY Zeus Salazar i (Translated from the Pilipino by Proserpina Domingo Tapales) We can divide into five parts our discussion of the topic babaylan or katalonan in the course of our history. In the first part, we can focus on some important basic concepts — more imp. tantly, the relationship and difference between the two very im- jortant concepts of “women” and “babaylan” (Visayan term) or ‘katalonan” (Tagalog term). After this we will analyze the status | of the babaylan - katalonan in each important stage of our na- tional past. ‘Three phases will be seen in the development of the paper, | involving the responsibilities and tasks of the babaylan in Philip- pine society and culture. The first phase refers to ancient times — i.e,, before the archipelago was formed through Spanish coloniza- = - . tion; and the second covers the period from the time of entry of Christianity and foreign ways into our country until 1896 when the Philippine Revolution broke out. The last phase is the present — ie. from the Revolution until now. In our discussion of this phase we will show who and where the babaylan are and what they are doing now, or where they are going, The fifth part is the conclusion and assessment which will end the paper “Woman” and the “Babaylan”/“Katalonan” While being a Babaylan - Katalonan is a societal duty, gen- deris an important determinant of it, because most of the babaylan or katalonan in our history are women, especially if we compare ieee210 © The Babaylan in Philippine History them with those with political and economic power in our old Phil- ippine society and culture who were mostly men. This means that women or anyone with some female characteristics could be babaylan or katalonan during ancient times. This changed with changes in historical phases, until the gender division of roles which has almost disappeared in contemporary society. That is why we have to determine the concept of “woman” before we can explain the concept of “babaylan - Katalonan.” ‘What then is woman? Woman is a difficult concept to ex- plain and more difficult to be explained by a man like me, espe- cially in a gathering like this, But, let us assume that the term “woman” has something to do not only with the gender of the person referred to but with duty, role or function in the society where the person belongs. Itis easier to explain her gender, more difficult to explain her duties (or probable duties) in society, be- cause it differs in every civilization and changes with the flow and phases of each civilization. In fact, we are all here because of the many changes in the duties and roles of women in our society. Sometimes { do not even know what is woman and what is man. Most of the time, it seems that their differences are only in their respective feelings and preferences. Thave said in a gathering of women that, in fact, there are five sexes in contemporary social reality and civilization — truly male, wuly female, effeminate male (“bakla”) and mannish female C‘tomboy"). The fifth sex is neutral or physically female or male (real hermaphrodite), We may add the male ACDC and the female ACDC as sixth and seventh categories The babaylan is a function in society, but most of those per- forming this function are female. In old Philippine society most babaylan were female. Only a few of them could be called ACDC or neutral, What is meant by neutral, physically, is what we call hermaphrodite, and may probably be translated into Pilipino as effeminate (“may tiki" 0 “may kiti” in jest). In ancient Philippines and even at present in other parts of Indonesia and Polynesia, the function of habaylan is performed by the female or hermaphrodite Women's Rotein Philippine History + 211 ‘or maybe ACDC with male tendencies. In the Philippines accord- ing to Fray Domingo Perez in his Relacion about the Sambal: These Indios have their own male and femiale priests, al- though there are persons not embracing others ... and they are the only ones who recognize the supetiority of either in granting authority to some male and female priests so that, they can perform special sacrifices. This priest is called bayok and is dressed up like a woman. He wears a capi, or apron, and he tes his hair in a knot like a woman, although over the ‘apis isa slit on the left and a slit (a sword) on the right, like other men, We can also read in Chirino in his Refacion that male Aatalonan appear like women in dress and coiffure. If they were not female, they were old — i.e., they had lost their masculine power, they had become women. ‘The Babaylan in Ancient Times During ancient times the babaylan was part of a socio-eco- nomic structure which revolved around three main personalities — the das, the panday, and the babaylan or keralonan, ‘The datu was responsible for political government, for mili tary duties and even the entire economy of the barangay — commerce and agriculture. In fact, the barangay was not the fun- damental political unit of ancient Philippines, like what is shown in many textbooks. The daiu was also not just a political-head. This is because the hasis of the economy during those days tran- spired on the level of the barangay. On that level (and under the administration of the datu) lands were divided, cultivated and used ‘The datu owned lands, while there were also lands in the barangay which were communally owned or owned by the maharlika (military retainers of the datu), but they were within the barangay territory and the datu took charge of managing them, He also administered commerce. Most of the darus were mer- chants who owned boats. For instance, he organized piratical as22 + The Babaslon ia Philippine History well as commercial expeditions. They would use the balanghay (boat) and attacked if they wanted: or if they could not fight peo- ple in a particular locality, they would exchange products, That is one element of ancient Philippine society. Tam not showing here the actual political system because, as I said, the barangay was only an economic unit. The basic political unit was what we now call town bayan (community) settlement. Even then it was called bayan and it had the function of bayan, There were several barangays in the Bayan and in fact its head was really a political head who could be called hari, taken, rajah, and in the end, even sultan, For example, Rajah Soliman headed Manila, with his male who was also a rajah — Rajeh Matanda, even if the leader of Tondo was Lakan Dula. There were many barangays inside Manila itseif, which was a unit, and many towns (bayan) were under Rajah Soliman, in the south, the Sultan of Sulo also had power over many towns. This is what many political scientists cannot understand, ‘They think that the basic political unit when the Spaniards arrived was the barangay. The most fundamental unit then, in fect, was the native state, what [ have referred to elsewhere as “ethnic state”, One important example of this political unit is the karadyahan or kaharian (Kingdom), if not the sultanate. So, if the daw was in that level, he was the hari (King), lakan, rajah, or sulran as a po- litical head; but he also remained the economic leader as datu of his barangay. ‘The second pillar of the barangay. is what we call panday (blacksmith). In some parts of the country he was a specialist in welding iron and instruments or materials made from iron, One well-known example was Panday Pira, who specialized in build- {ng cannons. Others were blacksmiths for agricultural implements. But the panday was really skilled in making tools, military instru- ments or agricultural implements in the economy itself, utensils using iron. That is why the technical aspects of Asian-Philippine civilization were contained in the term panday. Thus, the datu spe- cialized in military and economic aspects and the panday in the technological aspects. Women's Role in Philippine Hiory = 213, ‘The third specialist was the babaylan herself. The babaylan was interesting, because she was the central personality in ancient Phil- ippine society in the fields of culture, religion and medicine and all kinds of theoretical knowledge about the phenomenon of na- ture. In other words, the babaylan was a proto-scientist because of her specialization about man and God She took charge of religious ritual. In agricultural ritual, for instance, she worked with the dat on the economy. She set the time to start clearing the forest and burning it for planting. Tn other words, she advised the system for kaiingin and, most of the time, she did this through her knowledge of astronomy. It means that she knew that when a certain star appeared in the heavens, the field had to be prepared for planting. If you can relate this to dif- ferent ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines, this star may be seen in the sky around January or February. That is the start of the planting season. The babaylan also determined. when to harvest. Hand in hand with planting and harvesting (especially harvesting) is an old custom of ours in the Philippines. ‘The datu also worked with the babaylan on this. This custom is headhunting. And headhunting or the collection of heads was related to agriculture and, because of this, was also related to mythology and religious beliefs presided over by the babaylan. In mythology the Filipino had three levels: heaven, and heneath the earth, For beautiful agriculture, what was neces- sary was to correct the world of man on the surface, the sky ancl the world beneath, It was important, therefore, to make the three worlds meet, in order to attain cosmic perfection. (We ean recall here the well-known story of the separation of the earth and sk The sky had to move upward because a woman could not pound rice; what should be related (o this story is that the world beneath was also separate, the world inhabited also by the dead and the ancestors.) One very important element in conneeting the three worlds is the head of humans. According to an old myth of ours, the sky ow. Because every time a woman poanded rec earth, before was too