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The toltog palanog, a clay flute, was the earliest musical instrument
in Panay; it had three holes at one end and two at the sides. There
were several kinds of bamboo flutes, or tulali. A child's flute
was the payok, made of stiff rice straw. The dios sios was a set
of reeds of different lengths, tied side by side. The budios, which
sounded like the cornet, was a shell with the pointed tip cut off.
The tan-ag, made of two pieces of lightwood, was the earliest percussion
instrument. A set of these was called the dalutang. The bunkaka
or takup was a section of bamboo with a split end. It was held in
the right hand and struck against a pole in the left hand. Rhythmic
variations were achieved through different ways of striking. The
bulibaw was a drum made of hollowed-out wood topped by animal skin.
The ludang was a smaller drum held on the lap. The lipak-pak was
a clapper made of a narrow section of bamboo, two nodes long, split
in two down to one node, the lower half being the handle. It was
also used as a matraca or clapper during Holy Week.
The native guitar was variously called the passing ("to strike");
boktot ("hunchback") because it was made of coconut shell;
or the culating. The strings were made of fibers or any twine. There
was a guitar with six strings made of hemp, banana fiber or lukmo.
It is now called the sista, from the Spanish word sexta or six.
The buting was a thin bamboo tube whose two ends were strung with
hemp or any fiber, so that it bent like a bow. The kudyapi was a
violin made of thin, light wood and strung with hemp or banana fibers.
The subing or Jew's harp was made of seasoned bamboo.
Aklan dances can tell a story, imitate a children’s game,
or-because of Spanish influence-be choreographed for the ballroom.
Bayong-gayong tells a comic story about Gayong, the nickname for
Leodegario. According to legend and the words of the song, Gayong
and Masiong (nickname for Dalmacio) once attended a feast commemorating
the death of a townmate. While eating, Masiong choked on a piece
of adobo (braised meat cooked with vinegar, garlic, and soy sauce).
Masiong’s love for feasts and the consequences of his voraciousness
are held up to playful ridicule by this dance that is part of the
merrymaking in rural gatherings.
Pokoe (pukol in other parts of Panay) is adapted from one of the
oldest native games of the children, and means "to strike or
bump against each other." The children usually play this game
at the riverside or seashore while bathing or after. The dancers
use coconut shells, which are struck together rhythmically in time
with the music. The male dancers roll on the ground to show their
agility and suppleness.
Pahid is a lively ballroom dance, which originated from Madalag
and Libacao. It is very popular in all 17 towns of Aklan, and is
accompanied by a song.
The famous ati-atihan festival in Kalibo is celebrated on the third
Sunday of every January. However, having become a hodge-podge of
Catholic ritual, social activity, indigenous drama, and a tourist
attraction, the celebration now stretches over several days. Days
before the festival itself, the people attend novena masses for
the Holy Child or Santo Niño and benefit dances sponsored
by civic organizations. The formal opening mass emphasizes the festival’s
religious intent. The start of the revelry is signaled by rhythmic,
insistent, intoxicating drumbeats, as the streets explode with the
tumult of dancing people. The second day begins at dawn with a rosary
procession, which ends with a community mass. The merrymaking is
then resumed. The highlight of the festival occurs on the last day,
when groups representing different tribes compete. Costumes, including
the headdress, are made of abaca fibers, shells, feathers, bamboo,
plant leaves, cogon, and sugar cane flowers. The day ends with a
procession of parishioners carrying bamboo torches and different
images of the Santo Niño. The contest winners are announced
at a masquerade ball that officially ends the festival.
The origins of Ati-atihan are buried in myth and legend; hence,
there are several versions. According to the Maragtas, there were
occasional skirmishes that occurred between the Malays and the Aeta
or Ati even after the barter of Panay. A peace pact ended the strife,
and the two formerly warring groups celebrated. To emphasize their
oneness in spirit, the Malays covered themselves with soot so as
to look like the Ati. And so began the first Ati-ati which translates
into the Tagalog word Ati-atihan, now the more popular term for
it.
Another version, dating back to the Spanish Period, says that the
festival began with the Aeta’s practice every Christmas of
descending from their forest habitat and going from house to house
in Ibajay town, in northwestern Aklan, about 35 km from Kalibo.
The men played their gongs or bamboo flutes while the women danced.
They were given food and drink, old clothes, beads, knives and odds
and ends. When the Aeta stopped coming, the Ibajay townsfolk, who
realized they had begun to look forward to its yearly practice,
blackened themselves with soot, put on colorful headdresses and
loincloths just as the Aeta had done, and danced from house to house
requesting alms or gifts. Through the years it became a rowdy and
spectacular show performed on a grand scale by everyone in the town
wearing masks and costumes, beating cans, bamboo tubes and boards,
or blowing on whistles and trumpets, and parading through the main
streets until they wore themselves out. Every household was open
to guests who were offered sumptuous food. The celebration spread
to other towns and became a regional festival.
The Spaniards virtually ignored it but incorporated Catholic elements
into the feast. This was a practice often resorted to by the Spanish
friars whenever an indigenous practice persisted despite Catholic
influence. In the 18th century, a priest moved the date of the festival
to coincide with the feast day of the Santo Niño. Pilgrims
then traveled to the town to fulfill a religious vow, and the street
dancing imitated the playful pranks of the Santo Niño.
Up to the 1940s, it was just a local affair. But today it is the
Mardi Gras of the country, and local and foreign tourists flood
the streets of Kalibo to join in the revelry. Many areas in the
country have begun to imitate it. In 1983, it was chosen by the
United Nations Committee on Tourism as Asia’s best tourist
attraction.
Another performance held in Ibajay town on the third or fourth
Sunday of every January is the sayaw, a playlet depicting the fight
between the Moro and the Visayan. Legend claims that the celebration
began with the appearance of a wooden image of the Santo Niño
to a childless couple in Sitio Boboc-on, Naile. The couple regularly
prayed to their god for a child. One evening, Hangeo took his bamboo
basket and net to got fishing in Ibajay River. Twice he threw his
net into the river whenever he saw a school of fish; but each time,
the net came up with nothing but a piece of driftwood, which he
would throw back into the water. The third time, he placed the piece
of wood in his basket, and then his net was finally filled with
fish. That night, the couple was awakened by strange noises, which
they realized were coming from the piece of wood. They discerned
the features of the Santo Niño crudely marked on it. From
then on, the image performed miracles for them. For instance, the
image guarded the couple’s rice from birds and other animals.
Word about the miraculous image spread and pilgrims came to worship
it. Several times the town priest moved it to the parish church
but the image always disappeared and was found in the couple’s
hut again. The priest then explained this strange event by recalling
the Biblical story of the city of Nineveh. Upon learning from the
prophet Jonah that God would destroy the city within 40 days, the
people, in sackcloth and ashes, repented. The people of Boboc on
then did the same thing, and since the, the image has remained in
the parish church.
The most important miracle attributed to the Santo Niño
is that it warded off Muslim invaders centuries ago. Every time
an attack was imminent, a small boy walked up and down the seashore,
brandishing a shining sword. Henceforth, the townspeople would place
the image of the Santo Niño and a sword on the seashore whenever
they sighted the Muslim boats. The sayaw is therefore an act of
appeasement to God and thanksgiving for the Holy Child’s blessings.
The sayaw is a war-dance-verse-drama resembling the moro-moro in
its dramatization of the victory of the Christians over the Muslim
invaders. The text is said to have been written by Marianito Dalisay
Calizo in the mid-19th century.
The Christian chieftain and his men, in black costume and colorful
accessories, gather in front of the church. He exhorts them to remain
steadfast in their devotion to the Santo Niño, and the men
chorus their vows of faithfulness. Across the field, the Muslim
leader and his men, dressed in red, vow to attack the Christian
settlement and take the Santo Niño image as hostage.
Two ambassadors are sent by the Muslim chieftain to the Christian
settlement with the message that the people’s lives would be
spared in exchange for the image. The Christian chief refuses and
a stylized battle takes place, followed by a series of duels, each
one preceded by the combatants’ boasting of their fighting
prowess. All Muslim combatants are defeated and, finally, baptized.
For one week before the presentation of the sayaw, the people dressed
in tribal costume and blackened with soot, dance and celebrate.
The presence of the ati-atihan component may be explained by Hangeo’s
having been an ati and this was how the ati villagers celebrated
the return of the image to Boboc-on.
Friday is the municipal fiesta as well as the commemoration of
the liberation of Ibajay from the Spaniards, who surrendered to
the revolutionary forces led by Gen Ananias Diokno on 21 November
1898.
Vespers, held on Saturday evening, ends with the reenactment of
the transfer of the Santo Niño image from Hangeo’s hut
in Boboc-on to the parish church. The ati-atihan groups summon the
image and have it enthroned in the church altar. It is believed
that typhoons will occur if this rite is not held. All the festival
participants converge at the door of the rectory, bringing palm
leaves and inasae (roasted seafood or meat) in an act of reverence
and gratitude for a good harvest and other blessings.
In Ibajay, the sayaw is followed by the ati-atihan parade, a unique
feature of which is that each tribal group has a float filled with
harvest products representing their main industries. Costumes are
of seaweed, shells, fishnets, buri, coconut leaves, sinamay or hemp,
and other products found in their environment. The participants
carry bamboo and wooden spears, shields, and bolo, and standards
made of various types of fish and shrimps, as well as roasted chicken.
Jose Trinidad Roxas of Kalibo ahs been described as Aklan’s
"foremost dramatist and only professional…short story
writer" (De la Cruz 1958). He wrote about36 plays, and was
also a poet of note. Using the pen name "Saxor" in Ro
Announcer and Banhaw, Roxas wrote stories about the folly of young
people in love, invariably ending with the character realizing his
error. In "Badlit it Kapaearan" (Destined by Fate), for
example, a fortune teller tells a rich man’s son that he will
marry the torch singer he has been dating. To prevent this fate,
he kills the singer. He goes to the city to study, becomes a successful
lawyer, and marries a beautiful woman, the adopted daughter of a
rich couple. On their wedding night, he notices a scare on her back,
and she tells him how she was assaulted and stabbed several years.
Ago. He realizes that his bride is the former torch singer, and
begs her forgiveness.
Manuel Laserna wrote poetry and drama, his favorite themes being
the value of education and love of country. Rogelio Torres of Banga,
the editor of Ro Akeanon, wrote plays about marital strife and love
triangles.
The plays of Cleto Trinidad Ureta were staged in Makato, Banga,
Kalibo, including Manok nga Bukay (The White Hen) and Nagnganga
sa Hangin (One Who Gaped). R.C. Lucero with E.A. Manuel.
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