TRADITIONAL SIDAY:

History and Craft

A MINI CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP

Reynel M. Ignacio
Session Objectives
• be refreshed and updated on the history and craft of
traditional siday writing
• write traditional siday in Ninorte Samarnon
• appreciate the importance of writing traditional siday
in Ninorte Samarnon
NAHIARAAN
(POETRY OF TRADITION)
1860 - 1970
Siday
 Originally, siday (sidai) was characterized by “long, sustained
repetitions and heavy metaphor and allusion” and was about
“the heroic exploits of ancestors, the valor of warriors or the
beauty of women or even the exaltation of heroes still living.”
— Francisco Ignacio Alcina (1668), Historia de las islas e
indios de Bisayas, 1668

 Siday now generally refers to any poem in Waray.

Sanghiran san Binisaya
 It is founded in 1909 under the leadership of Norberto
Romualdez, Sr.
 Its mission is to “cultivate, refine, and enrich the dialect
spoken in Samar and Oriental Leyte” (Vilches, 1982).
 It counted among its members, Jaime de Veyra, Iluminado
Lucente, Juan Ricacho, Casiano Trinchera, Francisco
Enfectana, Espiridion Brillo, Francisco Alvarado, and Eduardo
Makabenta.
 It drew up the rules for usage of the Waray language and
tried to revive the use of certain terms that had been
supplanted by borrowings from Spanish.
 It sponsored contests and urged writers to use Waray for
their expressive endeavors.
Mitotic Verse
 It is the term used by the National Artist for Literature,
Resil Mojares to describe the near-uniformity of themes,
insights, literary techniques, and modes of versification that
characterized Visayan poetry from the early 1900s to as late
as the 1960s or even beyond.
 The common themes in Waray folk poetry: filial love, the
innocence and chastity of women, tall tales, drinking songs,
didactic tendencies, sentimentalism, sadness and despair.
 The poetry of the folk reflects the sweetness of the Waray
temperament that “belies the ferociousness that lurks within
him, a deep spiritual consciousness that sees a divinity in
every creation of nature and a zest of life that is almost
hedonistic” (Vilches, 1982).
The Siday Form
 The traditional siday is rhymed and measured verse, usually
arranged in stanzas of four lines or quatrains.

 Meter is established through linear syllabic count with a

break or caesura at midline, thus:
 The established meter of
the above stanza is 6 x 6,
which means that twelve
syllables (dodecasyllabic)
per line with the caesura at
every sixth syllable. Except
for the slight variation in
the third line, the form
holds true for the whole
stanza as well.

— Filomeno Singzon
The Anthologies
 Probably, the first anthology of
Waray literary materials was Vicente
I. De Veyra’s “Hinugpung: mga Siday,
Garaygaday, Titiguhon, Liaw-Libang,
Diwata” (1914).
The Anthologies
 Ani is a literary journal produced by
the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
 ANI IV was entirely dedicated to
Waray writing. It was edited by
Charo nabaong-Cabardo, Fra. Paolo
Maria Diosdado Casurao, and Aniceto
O. Llaneta.
 It contains 27 pieces representing
the works of some 19 contemporary
writers.
Performance Poetry
 About the 1960s, the phenomenon Nemesio “Mano Totoy” Baldesco, Sr. ,
“The Poet Laureate of Calbayog City)
of the “commissioned” poet or
paragsiday developed.
 A known poet in the locality might
be requested to write a poem for an
occasion such as a wedding
anniversary, a birthday, the
retirement of an honored employee,
the coronation of a fiesta queen,
eulogies and poems of praise.
 The bard is chosen from among
those in the community with proven
eloquence and performance ability.
Attrition and Revival
 The enthusiasm for writing Binisaya did not last beyond the
generation of of Sanghiran writers.
 The public school system instituted by the Americans was
adopted after independence and English remained as the
medium of instruction.
 The Fledgling Philippine Republic adopted Tagalog as the basis
for a national language, which was to be called Filipino.
 For decades, no new literary pieces were being created in
Binisaya and there was no readership for whatever materials
still remained.
 By the 1990s, Waray writing started to revive again through
the dyVL program, Puplonganon.
REFERENCES
 Alunan, M. et al. (2017). Tinalunay: Hinugpong nga Panurat
nga Winaray. UP Press: Quezon City.

 Alunan, M., Acebedo, E., Custodio, F., & Agner, R. (2005). Mga
Siday han dyVL. National Commission for Culture and the
Arts.
Workshop
Salamat!
MAGSURAT KITA SA NINORTE NGA PINULUNGAN!