Art and Culture of the Dulangan Manobo

(Blogger’s note: The following is an excerpt from Defending the Land: Lumad and Moro People’s Struggle for Ancestral Domain in Mindanao, specifically pp. 109–10. The publishers welcome and even encourage the reproduction of the book in part or in its entirety, so I am posting this excerpt here without prior permission. Not a single word has been changed, and the style of the text as they appear on the book has been preserved. For complete citation, please see Webliography.)

The Manobos of Kulaman do not normally wear their tribal costumes and adornments in their daily undertakings. They only wear these during special occasions and gatherings.

In their traditional wear, the Dulangan Manobas of Kulaman don a saya, often a patadyong, and a long sleeved figure hugging V-necklined blouse called kawal. They only wear an occasional bracelet, ligti, which they secure from the nearby T’boli villages. They adorn their necks with beads, in single or several layers, that they learn to make themselves. Some Manobo women are able to purchase more intricate necklaces from department stores in nearby semi-urban centers.

Betel chewing Manobas sling on their shoulders a small rectangular shaped cloth bag called solok, measuring 4 inches by 6 inches, containing the ingredients for chewing. They may also wear sigkil (anklets) on their legs. The males have similar cloth bags called fuyot, usually colored blue, and larger than the women’s solok. They sling this around their forehead even in plowing the field, to reach out to while resting from the task.

The datu has several rows of earrings called tunggal, some reaching the upper section of the earlobes. Many of the present day datus have stopped wearing this, probably influenced by the Christians who see this as an unusual sight.

The older datus wear their hair long and tie it into a bun, while younger generations of datus have shorter hair. The datus also wear a long sleeved shirt called kawal; the short sleeved shirt they call fotok.

One distinctive feature of the adult Manobo is the ever present tattoo on parts of their bodies, the most noticeable being those on the wrists or on the legs. There may also be tattoos on their waists or around their nipples, on both men and women.

The tattoo may be any design in accordance with the tattoo artist’s conception, ranging from connecting squares or rectangles to more elaborate ones. It is said to serve as an indication of their noble aspirations of keeping to the right path in their journey through life, a path that will lead them to a place called Baya, equivalent to the Christian’s heaven.

During the Spanish times, tattoos were done purely for ornamentation purposes, but later, this was utilized as form of identification to protect victims of kidnapping for slavery. When a victim was captured, it was customary to change the name as often as the victim was sold or resold. The only manner to identify said captive was by his tattoo marks on some parts of his body.

The Manobos of Kulaman have similar tattoo marks, no longer as indications of slavery, but now with purely spiritual intentions, as some kind of guidance to the other world, the baya. Children do not have tattoos on any part of their bodies.