Baybayin revival in the Us

40 Pages·2010·4.38 MB·English

Reclaiming the Now: The Babaylan Is Us
Come and be part of this historic gathering where we can reclaim Filipino
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices and Babaylan Traditions.
Together, let us offer them as gifts of Beauty, Healing, Creativity. Here is
a unique opportunity, a time and place, where the loom of memories
weaves a path to sacred wholeness deep from our ancestral roots.
Come. Learn. Remember. Honor.
April 17-18, 2010. Sonoma State University.
April 17, 2010
WELCOME TO THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL
BABAYLAN CONFERENCE!

On behalf of the women and men volunteers of the Center for
Babaylan Studies, I thank you for hearing the call to come to this
conference/gathering. This present gathering is a small link in the
very long unbroken chain of Filipino indigenous spiritual and cultural
practices that transcend time and space.
When we began to unearth and rediscover the Filipino indigenous
knowledge and practices during our process of decolonizing, the story
of the Babaylan called out to us. One by one, story by story, book by
book, from listserves to blogs, we listened to one another’s yearning to
get to know this tradition. Who are the past and present Babaylans?
What is a Babaylan in indigenous communities and what is a
Babaylan in the diaspora? All of our questions and yearnings brought
us to this moment of gathering with you.
“Please, allow us to express our Beauty!” this is the voice of an
indigenous woman leader from Mindanao during a dialogue at
Ateneo de Davao University two years ago. Her voice has never left
me and I have, since then, repeated her plea and all its pregnant
meanings to others. We want to express our Beauty.
If you have been to the smaller CFBS events this past year, you may
have experienced the Babaylan spirit that inspires and sparks the
creative energy that leads to a sense of Pagbabalikloob/Coming
Home. Home is where our Kapwa is. Home is where we embrace our
Wholeness.
These two days will offer up these gifts of Beauty, Wholeness, and
Healing. I am grateful to the artists, scholars, poets and writers,
activists, and healers who have come forward to share their
Babaylan-inspired work. I am grateful to the community of volunteers
whose dreams and visions moved them one day to say: “Our
ancestors are calling; they want to help us; they want to heal us. Let’s
do something.” Now here we are together.
…Home. Tuloy Po, Kayo!

Leny Mendoza Strobel, Ed.D.,
Project Director
Center for Babaylan Studies
About
The Center for Babaylan Studies was created
CFBS
to continue the exploration and illumination of
Babaylan indigenous wisdom and spirit as it
facilitates our ongoing process of decolonization
and indigenization – towards Pagbabalikloob
(Turning Towards Home) and PagkaPilipino
(Being Filipino). This year’s conference is the
Center’s first project. After many years of research and conversation, we offer the
global community a glimpse of the sweet nectar of the Babaylan spirit that this
growing community has experienced in a connection with each other over the
years.
The Center for Babaylan Studies is supported completely by volunteers. We are
excited to present the 1st International Babaylan Conference and need your help
to make the conference a success. For a list of volunteer opportunities, please
visit our website www.babaylan.net.
The Center for Babaylan Studies is an activity of the IHCenter, a nonprofit
public charity exempt from federal income tax under Section 501[c](3) of the
International Revenue Code.
Visit www.babaylan.net for more information.

Filipinos have a very rich spiritual and cultural heritage carried forward by
babaylans, culture-bearers, and artists. To honor those who continue the
rich legacy of Filipino indigenous knowledge systems and practices, the
Center for Babaylan Studies (CfBS) hosts the First International Babaylan
Conference on April 17 and 18 at Sonoma State University.
Key speakers Grace Nono, Katrin de Guia, and Virgil Apostol will present
aspects of the Filipino indigenous culture seldom taught outside the
Philippines.
The Babaylan in Filipino culture represents the figure of the indigenous
healer. This sacred gathering of healers, artists, scholars, activists,
performers, and other culture-bearers will share Babaylan-inspired
work through ritual, ceremony, dance, poetry, film, academic panels,
conversations, and workshops.
Leny Strobel believes it is timely and relevant. “There is a growing realization
in mainstream society,” Strobel explains, “that indigenous knowledge and
practices carry the ancient wisdom that enabled people to survive the
genocide and holocausts brought by modern civilizations.”
Stories of physical, spiritual, and emotional healing by a babaylan run strong
in Filipino and Filipino American families and communities. Also known as
an arbularyo, hilot, mombaki, bailan/beliyan/babaylan, catalonan, dawac,
or ma-aram, these women and men received
knowledge passed down by ancestors about
About
healing herbs and massage techniques, while
others were respected for their ability to speak the First
with spirits and ask for the release of the soul of
a loved one. International
These women and men provide advice and
Babaylan
healing for the community. Their practices
are part of the Filipino Babaylan Tradition and
Conference
incorporate Filipino indigenous knowledge
systems that continue to be followed today both
2010
in the Philippines and in the diaspora.
Many Thanks to
Our Conference Partners
North Bay International
Studies Project
SSU Office of the President
SSU School of Arts &Humanities

~~~
April 17, 2010
7:00- 9:00
Keynote Speakers
GRACE NONO
Born and raised in Agusan, Northeastern Mindanao,
Southern Philippines, Grace is a Philippine music
performance artist, Philippine studies researcher/author,
and community organizer/cultural administrator. A product
of the Philippine High School for the Arts and the University
of the Philippines where she earned her bachelor’s
degree in Humanities and master’s degree in Philippine
Studies, Grace has further received training as an Asia-
Pacific Performance Exchange fellow at the University of
California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and as an Asian Cultural
Council fellow in New York and various parts of the United
States.
For the past fifteen years, Grace has studied sung oral traditions from Philippine
elders. Infusing these with her own contemporary spirit, she has used oral chant
to advance the contemporary issues of living identity, environmentalism, women’s
rights, and inter-faith dialogue. She has been a featured artist at the House of World
Cultures in Berlin, Mercat de les Flors in Barcelona, Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid,
the Music Village Festival in London, concerts in Paris and Monte Carlo, WOMAD in
Yokohama, the Exposition on Nature’s Wisdom in Aichi, the Asian Fantasy Orchestra
tours of New Delhi, Bombay, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Miyazaki, Bangkok, Vientiane,
Yangon, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, the Hong Kong Asian Arts Festival, the Singapore
Arts Festival, performances and conferences in Huairou, Bangkok, Jakarta, Nanning,
Shanghai, Seoul, Penang, Taipei, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego,
Chicago, as well as many different parts of the Philippines.
In 2008, Grace’s book TThhee SShhaarreedd VVooiiccee���� CChhaanntteedd aanndd SSppookkeenn NNaarrrraattiivveess ffrroomm
the Philippines wwaass llaauunncchheedd bbyy AANNVVIILL PPuubblliisshhiinngg aanndd FFuunnddaacciioonn SSaannttiiaaggoo aatt tthhee
Philippine National Museum. She is working on a second volume on the music of
Philippine babaylans and other ritualists. Together with composer and fellow record
producer Bob Aves, she has also published a series of CDs and monographs on
Philippine music and oral traditions used in the study of Philippine music, arts and
culture. She has further taught Philippine Traditional Arts at the University of the
Philippines-Diliman, and Philippine Oral History at Miriam College.
As a community organizer and cultural administrator, Grace serves as Founding
Director for the Tao Foundation for Culture and Arts, a non-government organization
engaged in cultural regeneration and holistic development initiatives, for which she
has been granted support by the Toyota Foundation, the Ford Foundation, UNESCO,
the British Council, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the National Commission for
Culture and Arts, Advocates of Philippine Fair Trade, AusAid, and other institutions.
To date, Grace has won over 40 awards, including TOYM or Ten Outstanding Young
Men, TOWNS or The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service, numerous Catholic
Mass Media, Katha, Awit, National Press Club, and other awards for her artistic and
cultural contributions.

The Mail Order Bookshop dedicated to
Filipino Americans in search of their roots.
[email protected]
[email protected]
2114 Trudie Drive
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275-2006, USA
Tel and Fax [phone]
www.philippineexpressionsbookshop.com
We have blazed the trail in
promoting Philippine books in America.
2010 marks our 26th year of service
to the Filipino American community.
Mabuhay.
KATRIN M. DE GUIA, PhD
Katrin is the founder/President of Heritage and Arts
Academies of the Philippines, Inc.. The founding of
HAPI is one moment in 25 years continuity of cultural
work that began in the early 80s when Kidlat Tahimik
and Katrin de Guia opened up their Baguio residence
to the community as an art-space and a temporary
home for Filipino artists whose orientation, interests
and creative style were rooted in indigenous Filipino
Knowledge Systems and Practices.
Her achievements include��The organization of a
pioneering two day international conference at the
University of the Philippines (2004) which put indigenous knowledge on par
with academic knowledge, while popularizing Asian kapwa psychology and
Virgilio Enriquez’ Filipino personality theory (2004); followed by a symposium
that brought together the leaders of 12 Schools of Living Traditions / Heritage
Centers; a work-shop series on indigenous arts and crafts; a lecture series/film
showings by/on Filipino culture-bearers; as well as two art-exhibits showcasing
Filipino culture-bearer art. The event–series closed on 9/11 (2004) with another
symposium on traditional forms of healing.
She followed up with the organization of a second international Kapwa
Conference at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas (Iloilo) in 2008.
Katrin has a PhD in Filipino Psychology and was mentored by the founder of
Sikolohiyang Filipino, the late Dr. Virgilio Enriquez. Her dissertation discussed
indigenous world-views and lifestyles of Filipino artists within the framework
of Enriquez’ Filipino personality theory, in order to come up with a profile of
contemporary Filipino culture-bearers. In collaboration with the Akademiya ng
Sikolohiyang Pilipino, the Philippine Academy of Culture and Psychology, headed
by Felipe de Leon Jr., Dr. Katrin de Guia received several grants from the Toyota
Foundation (1999 – 2003) which resulted in the writing of a book on Asian
psychology and the worldviews of Filipinos, KKaappwwaa���� TThhee SSeellff iinn tthhee OOtthheerr..
Katrin was born in Germany, and has been a German Permanent Philippine
Resident since 1979. She is married to Kidlat Tahimik, known as the father of
Philippine independent filmmaking, and they have three sons who are all culture-
bearer/artists – Kidlat, Kawayan, and Kabunian.

Mabuhay!
More Power To
The Wisdom of
Indigenous
Culture.
Greetings from:
Clotilde Valdes,
Filipino Elder
& Culture-Bearer