Mangyan Script

Hanunoo Syllabary

The Banai (Interview with Inang)

Mindoro, Island (1992)

I sat down and interviewed my mother about the folklore of our people. She told me scary about forest spirits called, "Labong"that feast on the souls of unfortunate travelers who stray from the trails. As our conversation continued she told me about a forest spirit that was not as devious, nor scary. The spirit is called, "Banai" and has taken a particular interest to children. She lurers children away from their village into the forest. It appears that they are not harmed by this spirit, but instead is protected. Perhaps all the Banai wants is company that it once had in a previous life-time.

Mangyan Poems

Ambahan: This is a poem with 7 syllables per line, the final syllable of every line rhyming with all the others. Extensive use is made of archaic words which have dropped out of conversational usage.

The origin of the ambahan is unkown although the word occurs in some Bisayan dialects with the meaning of "song" of "poem" and be derived from the word amba (Hiligaynon) which means "to sign" . Alzina, in his "Historia de las Islas, e Indios de Bisayas ... 1668" also mentions the ambahan but his definition of the term does not fit the Mangyan ambahan. (P1.51, Postma, p.3)

Modern ambahan deal with everyday subjects and frequently have humorous or even bawdy undertones.

Says the monkey
(Magkunkuno ti amo)

having a head-ache
(Magkasakit kay ulo)

sitting on top of a stone:
(Babaw purantok bato)

Grandmother dear!
(Ido ido anito)

If you will call for a doctor,
(No ga bumalyan kawo)

don't get an inexperienced one.
(Danga sa barubago)

I need a very good doctor
(Sa balyanan matuo)

so that my headache
(Hampay ti sakit ulo)

will not come back.
(Ud yi waydi misalyo)

Or let it come back eventually,
(Sakit bago misalyo)

when I have grey hairs already.
(Mangabukay kang ulo)

Reference Material

UPDATE: Below is a list of articles and books gratuitously provided by the Mangyan Heritage Center for this project.

P1.97
The Function of Folklore in Mangyan Literacy

P1.51
Mangyan Folklore

C1.17
Hanunuo Music from the Philippines

P1.139

Hanunuo-Mangyan Beliefs: their visible and invisible world

P1.75

The Concept of Time Among the Mangyans