Bakunawa in Badlit, or Sulat Bisaya
The Bakunawa is a large serpent that causes lunar eclipses, as it rises to swallow the entire moon!
I learned about this and more from Bàbà Bisaya and Minxie Villaver of Karakoa Productions. It turns out Filipinos have a lot in common with our Southeast Asian neighbors, as the Bakunawa, Badlit, and Baybayin share common threads in these areas. Colonization may have taken place for more than 300 years, but influence from Southeast Asia goes back longer.
After the workshop I took, led by Baba Bisaya and Minxie, I drew the Bakunawa and wrote its name with Badlit, or Sulat Bisaya. They shared even more knowledge of the different writing systems in the Philippines that long existed before the arrival of the Spanish.
Baba Bisaya conducts Bisaya language and writing workshops, which are open to everyone. So far the sessions have been online, so they’re really accessible for anyone around the world.
The work that Baba Bisaya and Karakoa Productions is doing fills a large gap in cultural and historical knowledge in the Philippines and for its diaspora. Much of the discourse and even policies regarding Filipino art, culture, language, and even writing, has been more centered around rather monolithic and singular ideas of what is Filipino. One example is the discourse and policies regarding the Filipino language, and even a Filipino writing system called Baybayin. Unfortunately most of the inputs and suggestions have been centric to Manila and the language spoken there, Tagalog. This is because of a long history of colonization, from the Spanish to the Americans, having taken place in Manila and with its Tagalog-speaking aristocracy.
Because of this, a long legacy of exclusivity has prevented Filipinos to agree on how to go about national policies regarding language, writing, and others. For one thing, there are 180+ languages in the Philippines, let alone many different regional and cultural groups. Linguistics scholar Danica Doroja wrote the following in regards to this “marginalization” of minority languages:
“Language policy in the Philippines has been designed to produce an ideal citizenry capable of
-Danica Mariz A. Doroja, Lessons Learned From The Philippine Language Policy of The Malolos Constitution.
speaking the languages seen as promoting democracy and national unity. Though the goals of
democracy and national unity are laudable, this language governmentality has had the unfortunate consequence of marginalizing minority languages and alienating their speakers from full participation in
society.”
Though I enjoy writing in Baybayin and I’m also slowly learning Tagalog, it is best to also consider the many other languages and cultural groups of the country when creating policy around a national language or writing system. Baybayin for example is just one of many other writing systems in the Philippines with roots in Kawi and Brahmic scripts such as Badlit, Tagbanwa, Hanunoo, and more. In other words, any policies regarding national identity, language, culture, and heritage must apply methods of “collective identity building.”
Baba Bisaya notes here, “Our heartwork aims to deepen the plurality of islander identities, heritages and knowledges preserved in our ancestral languages.”
Be sure to explore the languages, cuisines, and cultures of the other “7,000+ islands” of the Philippines. This includes those found in the Visayas, which Baba Bisaya has a focus on. Follow them, as well as Karakoa Productions in their social media and projects below:
- Baba Bisaya Instagram and Facebook.
- Karakoa Productions Facebook.
- Support Baba Bisaya in their work to bring Bisaya language and culture to more people. Baba Bisaya GoFundMe.
Download a free printable of the Bakunawa in Badlit on my Gumroad!