baybayin

had a workshop on baybayin with Bong the other night. deep.

tagalog is deep. the ancient tagalog syllabary has its roots in sanskrit. who'd a thunk? they used to be these funny sqiggles on a page.

now,i've drawn them. painted them. danced them. i can write them now and feel like i get them. and they get me, too. gets kita. we are finally in appropriate relationship. amazing what a proper introduction can do for a relationship...it can only help, di ba?

felt in my body when i danced.
the drums.
something happens when i hear the drums.
and the kulintang.
and the gongs.

it's like i go into a trance. actually, i sort of do.

my body starts to move and i don't stop her anymore. she's relieved that she finally gets to move. and dance.

unencumbered.

thank you she says.
you're welcome i say.
sorry it took me a bit to get it.
i won't forget like that again.
promise.
good.

from my notes:

the word baybayin means "crossing the shore." (holy shit! crossing the shore from where to where? not knowing to knowing? asleep to awake? holy shit!)

there are no vowels. vowel sounds come alive when they are given breath, when they are spoken. baybayin "purists," of which Bong is one, (shocking), prefer not to use the dots-dots characters or the other characters for vowels. the reading of it, without vowels, then depends on context. and relationship of the writer to the reader. (jyesss!)

alibata is the word that the spanish colonizers used for baybayin. when they came, they learned this script so that they could communicate with the 'indios', introduce their teachings...then systematically destroy any trace of this form of communication.
insidious.
effective.

kahulugan = meaning
the root word is "hulug," which means to fall, or move from a higher place to a lower place. (i picture knowings falling from the heavens to the earth.)

bathala or bahala = supreme being, god
in baybayin, when this is spelled out, it has the character, "ba" (female character, babae = woman) connected to "la" (male character, lalaki = man) by the character "ha," which resembles a lemniscates, or infinity sign. (i think of the male and female energies, their relationship within me, and their constant, dynamic evolution.)

words are magic. they cast a spell. to write is to spell.

a funny (and brilliant) insight by susan: the way pinoys text tagalog nowadays is largely without vowels.
is this our way of reverting back to this ancient script?

could be.