MAGUINDANAO PEARLS: IT'S CULTURE
INTRODUCTION:
Maguindanao Pearls is a Philippine folktale that was
written by Isidro L. Reztizos. The tale has been passed from generation to
generation. The story talks about how Sinag-Tala was accused of stealing
Lakambini’s pearls even though she hadn’t. And because of a false statement
that Lakambini created, Sinag-Tala died. Afterwards, Lakambini regretted
everything that she has done. However, because of what Lakambini did, it made
the story more interesting.
BODY
The setting of the story was in Old Maynila,
according to Wikipedia, Manila became the seat of the colonial government of
Spain when it gained sovereignty over the Philippine Islands in 1565. The seat
of the Spanish government was situated within the fortified walls of Old Manila
(now referred to as Intramuros meaning within the walls). The walls were
constructed to keep out invading Chinese pirates and protect the city from
native uprisings. Several communities eventually grew outside the walls of
Manila. The city became the center of trade between Manila and Acapulco, which
lasted for three centuries and brought the goods from the Americas to South
East Asia and vice versa. In 1898, Spain ceded control of the Philippines after
over three hundred year of colonial rule to the United States after the Treaty
of Paris (1898), which ended the Spanish–American War. During the American
Period, some semblance of city planning using the architectural designs and
master plans by Daniel Burnham was done on the portions of the city south of
the Pasig River.
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| Old Maynila |
On the other hand, it is stated in the book that the setting was in
In
the story, Sinag-Tala was ordered to dip her hands into the boiling pot and
take out the white stones that are found on the bottom part of the boiling pot
Her hands should remain unblistered and unburnt so that the judges declare her
innocent because for them, it is a sign from the gods that she’s innocent. The
order that they required to do by Sinag-Tala was called ‘Trial by ordeal’.
According to Wikipedia, Trial by ordeal was an ancient judicial practice by which
the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to a
painful, or at least an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience. The test was
one of life or death and the proof of innocence was survival. In some cases,
the accused was considered innocent if they escaped injury or if their injuries
healed. In medieval Europe, like trial by combat, trial by ordeal was
considered a judicial Dei: a procedure based on the premise that God would help
the innocent by performing a miracle on his behalf. There are 8 types of
ordeals; combat, fire, cross, ingestion, poison, boiling oil, turf, and lastly
water. The water has 3 types, namely; cold water, witch-hunts and lastly hot
water which were required to do by Sinag-Tala.
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| Trial by Ordeal (Hot Water) |
The
story mentioned of slave women, according to Wikipedia, Spaniards considered it
legitimate to enslave non-Christian captives from wars and trade them legally
in the past. This is because they did not consider this as an uncivilized and
unchristian act because they believed that men were not created equal and the
inferior men may be ruled by the superior ones. The Philippine communities in
the olden times were composed of baranganic societies with small populations
and low production levels. To harness the rich natural resources of the
country, the datus thereafter increased the manpower and made the legal
penalties not limited to fines but also included labour services. The debtors
also did the same for the creditors since a lot of them did not have many
properties to offer as collaterals. This lack in manpower also brought wars
that not only did widen a barangay’s territories but also increased the number
of captives who could work for them. These dependents were called alipin in
Tagalog or oripun in Visayan. These slaves were traded legally from one owner
to another. The difference of the Philippine slavery from the
Spanish slavery was that it was arbitrary in a sense that datus may take slaves
just from committing minor violations from their laws. Also, Philippine slavery
was less harsh in a sense that some of them could eat together with their
masters and those who did not live in their masters’ houses supported
themselves. On the other hand, Spanish slaves worked solely for their masters
and everything that they earned were given to them (the masters). A slave owned
by a Spaniard debtor could even be rented out to his creditor and work to pay
his debt and the slave could also serve a jail sentence in place of his master.
Filipinos make other Filipinos their alipins. On the other hand, Spaniards
generally get slaves from other races or religions
The
story mentioned of a rajah. According to Wikipedia, rajah is a title for a
Monarch or princely ruler in South and Southeast Asia. He is the ruler or the
landlord, according to freedictionary.com. This explains why in the story, whenever
the people hear the name of Lakambini, the daughter of Rajah, they respected the
Rajah and as well as his daughter. If not then, things would be chaotic.
Hearing her orders, the slaves and the people didn’t have any choice but to
follow or to do her command. Just like what Sinag-Tala experienced, she was
given a command, which was to create two beautiful baskets for her. Unfortunately,
because of jealousy and hatred, Sinag-Tala wasn’t able to fulfill the task
because Lakambini was accusing her of stealing her pearls.
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| A Rajah |
The
story also mentioned about pearls. According to purepearls.com, in countless
cultures around the world, the pearl has its own origin myth. Arabs believed
these gems were the result of the tears of the gods, fallen into the ocean and
making their way into the oysters. The Greeks believed that the goddess of
love, Aphrodite shed pearls for tears. The Roman greatly revered pearls, and
decreed that only men and women of high birth would be able to wear them. In
the Philippines, White and Golden South Sea pearls were found. The indigenous
natives used the natural pearls as part of religious ceremonies and dream
interpretation. Sinag-Tala believed that if a woman wears pearls, it means that
that woman is beautiful. When she saw the pearls’ of Lakabini, her eyes glowed
with wonder, and her lips slightly paled with desire.
CONCLUSION:
I
realized that pearls aren’t that important to show everyone that you’re
beautiful. In this world, physical appearance doesn’t matter, but attitude
does. The story also states how powerful love is to one person. Sometimes, we
got carried away with emotions and because of that, we people create mistakes.
As they say, “Love conquers all.’ But love could also be a threat to other
people, just like what Lakambini did to Sinag-Tala. In the end, if we learn how
to forgive and ask for forgiveness, we can say that love is indeed a beautiful
thing.
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