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Babaylan
Babaylan
BABAYLAN ESSAY
1. HOW DID ONE BECOME A BABAYLAN?
2. WHAT WERE THE USUAL REASON WHYS THAT BABAYLAN WOULD PERFORM RITUALS?
3. WHAT WERE THE DIFFERENT ROLES DID THEY HAVE IN THE COMMUNITY?
Babaylan were highly respected members of the community, on par with the pre-colonial noble
class. In the absence of the datu (head of the domain), the babaylan takes in the role of interim head
of the domain. Babaylans were powerful ritual specialists who were believed to have influence over
the weather and tap various spirits in the natural and spiritual realms.
This initial engagement with Leo and Joyce however spurred a rash of visions that seem to traverse
from both the physical and spiritual world, bringing to life heroes, beautiful maidens, gods,
goddesses, deities and other supernatural beings as if they were alive in the right here and the right
now, communicating and interacting with them. Sharing these visions, Lawrence would later
understand from Joyce that the images they were seeing are similar to characters described in the
Suguidanon epics of the Panay Bukidnon cultural communities.
I have no favorite character and I found those characters hard to deal with and they seem to be
predictable.
“Babaylan” narrates the story of an academic’s pursuit for knowledge, his ancestral roots, and his quests to quell the
call of the spirits that blazes from within. Inundated with various misconceptions and erroneous generalizations of the
babaylan
7. WHAT ARE THE VALUES SEEN IN THE MOVIE LIKE JOYCE THAT ARE WORTH ?
a babaylan apprentice who seem to have a deeper and more definitive understanding of what a babaylan is from a
cultural, historical and experiential perspective, but also struggling within herself in her search for true identity.
The babaylans believe that God understands us in our native language. Praying the Mangurug,
the Ibanag Apostles’ Creed based on the Christian prayer and Ba-diw Ibaloi chants, are
appropriately sacred. For many decades, the mystical women in Mt. Banahaw have been going
on pilgrimages and meditating in sacred places called pamumuesto. Babaylans acknowledged the
belief that God is in all nature.
Precolonial babaylans have inherited practices and worldviews we could all learn from: praying,
chanting and singing in native tongues, inviting and asking the Divine Source for bountiful
harvests and protection from harm. It is also important for us to preserve the culture and history
of our beloved country.
We can preserve the babaylan culture by looking back to it and learning its ways. We
should be also able to connect with our history for us to show how much we want to learn
about it.