Bamboo Cases for Betel Quid

Let me admit it at the outset: I don’t know the correct Manobo name for the object that I’m going to feature today. This is quite a failure on my part as a researcher, considering my claim that the object is my favorite among the displayed items in Delesan Menubo. The object is a tiny bamboo stem used by Manobo men as a container for their betel quid. Each one has an accompanying lid, apparently fashioned from the same stem. If it were made of plastic, it can be easily mistaken for a lipstick case, albeit fatter.

What I like about the tiny bamboo case is the design on its surface. The design is carved on the bamboo with probably the tip of a penknife, and each case has a unique design. If you look closely, you can see that the design is composed only of simple geometric cuts, but when viewed as a whole, the cuts make the bamboo case a work of art. The design looks so intricate that I want to have a collection of these betel quid containers. One of the cases displayed in Delesan Menubo even has braided strips of black vine wrapped around it as an additional decoration.

I thought the name of the object is fuyot, which is described in the Kitab (Dulangan Manobo Customary Law) as “gamit ng lalaki lalagyan ng mama” (men’s container for betel quid). My other sources state, however, that a fuyot is a small drawstring bag. Maybe anything that is used to keep betel quid is called fuyot. When I asked the Manobo girls in Delesan Menubo what a fuyot was, I think some of them pointed a cloth bag and some of them pointed the tiny bamboo cases. I have to look for a Dulangan Manobo again to verify these things. For now, let me show you the three bamboo cases on display in Delesan Menubo.

Update: I've learned that the tiny case is called a selapa. I wrote the post in November 2015, and I asked a Manobo woman for the correct term in January 2016.

(Blogger's note: This post is part of a series on items that the Dulangan Manobo people traditionally use in their daily lives. Special thanks to the RNDM nuns assigned in Kulaman Plateau. For more information about the series, read my introductory post or click the label Delesan Menubo below.)