The Babaylan - Badass Priestess of the Philippines!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
- Did you know that abortion was once legal and widely accepted in the Philippines? 🤔 Women’s rights and gender equality were once thriving when Babaylans were in charge. What exactly happened? Who were the Babaylans and why were they fed to crocodiles⁉️🐊🔥
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Related Videos & Playlists:
🔥 The Fierce Women of Southeast Asia: bit.ly/FierceSEA
🌏 Demystifying Southeast Asia: bit.ly/KnowSoutheastAsia
🇵🇭 Precolonial & Early Philippine History bit.ly/EarlyPhilippines
Salámat! ❤️💛💚
#History #PrideMonth #WomensRights #KnowHistoryKnowSelf
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:48 What is a Babaylan?
03:30 Powers & Abilities
07:53 Status in Society
08:35 Transgender Babaylans?
11:28 Decline & Survival
14:18 Babaylans Today?
17:28 Fed to Crocodiles!
Resources:
🌕 Center for Babaylan Studies - www.centerforbabaylanstudies....
🇲🇱 Ágúman Sínúpan Singsing: Center for Kapampángan Cultural Heritage - www.sinupan.org/
🏳️🌈 UP Babaylan - upbabaylan.org/
Recommended Readings:
📖 Barbara Watson Andaya, The Flaming Womb: Repositioning Women in Early Modern Southeast Asia (Hawaii, 2006).
📖 Kirby Araullo, Know Our Roots #2: The Fierce Women of Southeast Asia (California, 2021)
📜 Grace Baretto-Tesoro, ‘Where are the Datu and Catalonan in Early Philippines Society? Investigating Status in Catalagan’, in Philippines Quarterly of Culture and Society, Vol. 36, No. 3 (September, 2008), pp. 74-102.
📜 Carolyn Brewer, ‘Baylan, Asog, Transvestism, and Sodomy: Gender, Sexuality and the Sacred in Early Colonial Philippines’, in Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context, No. 2 (1999).
📜 Maria Milagros Geremia-Lachica, ‘Panay’s Babaylan’, in Review of Women’s Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1996), pp. 53-60.
📖Leny Mendoza Strobel, Babaylan: Filipinos and the Call of the Indigenous (California, 2010)
📖 Anthony Reid, ‘Female Roles in Pre-Colonial Southeast Asia’, in Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 22, No. 3, Special Issue: Asian Studies in Honour of Professor Charles Boxer (1988), pp. 629-645.
📜 Ramon C. Reyes, ‘Religious Experience in the Philippines: From Mythos Through Logos to Kairos’, in Philippine Studies, Vol. 33, No. 2 (1985), pp. 203-212.
About Kirby:
Kirby Pábalan-Táyag Aráullo is a renowned Filipino Culture Bearer and currently the National Coordinator for Culture and Heritage for NAFCON (National Alliance for Filipino Concerns). He is a Dátû and Lakan by blood, and an Activist at heart. Kirby is a direct descendant of the last Paramount Kings of Luzon (of both Lakandúlâ of Tondo and Rája Matandá of Maynílâ), and of the anti-colonial revolutionary Katipuneros and World War II Guerilyeras who fought for the liberation of the Philippines from colonialism. His upbringing exposed him to the contradicting worlds of traditional politics and grassroots activism.
With a keen interest in varying fields (such as history, government, and human rights) and a strong commitment to serve the community, Kirby studied in some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, such as the University of California, Davis, Harvard University, and Université catholique de Louvain. Kirby is also the Co-Founder of the Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies at UC Davis and author of the groundbreaking book “Black Lives & Brown Freedom: Untold Histories of War, Solidarity, & Genocide.” He is a visiting professor at various colleges in the Philippines and a research fellow with Ágúman Sínúpan Singsing, an institute for indigenous advocacy and the study of Kapampángan language, history, and culture. Kirby is also well-known for his educationally engaging TH-cam channel where you can find videos about history, culture, and everything in between!
Dátû Kirby is an educator who is well-rooted in his culture and passionate about his colorful heritage (Kapampángan, Tagálog, Indigenous Áytá, Pangasinan, and Spanish-Basque-Portuguese Mestizo); he strives to decolonize Philippine history and democratize Ethnic Studies through knowledge and creativity. - บันเทิง
Our pre-colonial women ancestors were really empowered 💪 Makes me more proud as a Filipina 😄🌷
Yes they were! 💖🌷💖
Crazy and a little sad (through hindsight) that our precolonial ancestors were arguably more progressive in terms of gender identity, sexual orientation, and reproductive rights than our own contemporary Philippine society.
Not too late to become this society now. We all have the power to become empowered
@@ZestyWithTheZa I agree :) Padayon!
Blame Christianity
Plus women actually had Rights to initiate & get a DIVORCE if their husbands were horrible. Pre-Colonial women also had rights to land & inheritance without surrendering any of it to their husbands when they married.
Meanwhile, many European countries at the time(including Spain, Portugal & England) Mandated that women's dowries, inheritances & ALL their things belonged to their husband. Also if European women had brothers, they didn't inherit much, if anything.
This is so beautiful
I am amazed to read and hear all of your Reports & research about my Filipina heritage . I was adopted and cut off from my biological mothers culture and heritage, fortunate for me I have embraced all the updates of my heritage.
Great video as always, Kirby! I can only recommend reading "Babaylan Sing Back" by Grace Nono for anyone who is interested in reading more about babaylans.
On that note, I also think it's important to emphasize the importance of singing for a babaylan and their way of communing with the anitos, their abaylan or diwatas. Singing is still very important for our people today and it's no wonder since it used to be (and for living babaylans still is) the main way through which we told our stories and connected with our ancestors. Their incredible vocal abilities is what makes them so unique imo.
It's not just the Spanish/Christians do such things it also happens in Mindanao(I don't hate Muslims or Islam but this is the truth)
Feminized men were also persecuted harshly in the (then recently) Islamized ethnic groups in Mindanao. In Historia de las Islas de Mindanao, Iolo, y sus adyacentes (1667), the Spanish priest Francisco Combés records that their "unnatural crime" was punished by the Muslim peoples in Mindanao with death by burning or drowning, and that their houses and property were also burned as they believed that the behavior was contagious.
In Bisayan Mythology Their is a deity called Barangaw god of the rainbow who was invoked by bisayan wariors during times of hardship and war. it is said that if you die an honorable death such as dying in battle, sacraficing yourself to save others or getting eaten by a crocodile it was said that you would be deemed worthy to walk on the rainbow road and follow barangaw into the afterlife. I nerver understood why getting eaten by a crocodile was considered an honorable death but Your video might of given a posible explanation. Daghang salamat kirby your doing Barangaw's work heheh
In Zamboanga Del Norte,
the "Balian/s" still plays an important role in Subanen tribe and some Bisayan people. The thing is, finding a Balian is getting a bit difficult nowadays. Anyway, pretty cool vid.
It's bad to shame or attack someone's beliefs but one time I had enough when one of my religious friends invalidated the existence of LGBT people throughout history without knowing what the history really tells. He said that we are mentally ill due to the influence of western cultures as they became more progressive. So, I had to tell the story about babaylans and the gender fluidity of the pre-colonial Philippines. I just said it, verbatim:
"So funny how a religious person like you thought gayness was a foreign idea here, when in fact, your bible is the real imported idea here from the western. Mas nauna pa bakla dito kaysa sa paniniwala mo!"
I know it was bit disrespectful but I feel so satisfied na mang-realtalk minsan lalo na kapag araw-araw ka niyang pinangangaralan dahil sa kabaklaan ko na di ko mapigilan. Sometimes, I also questioned our friendship eh.
Bakla means soft puso hearts 💕 💞 ♥ 💓 💖 ❤ 💕 💞 ♥ 💓 💖 ❤ 💕
In d holy bible it is written wag kang magpaka bakl means don't be too soft ens
I suspect that some Male Babaylan became Catholic Priests during the late 1600's including some female baybaylans taking the title HERMANAS. A lot of the esoteric Anting-Anting rely on baybayin script.
I don't remember any Catholic priests in the 1600s, or maybe I only know of the friars' history and not the diocesan priests.
Dang, another reason why colonization screwed up our culture and society 😭
That's something to hold against the Spaniards. However it is also a silver lining because a lot of Babaylan Esoteric Culture through Filipino Folk Catholism. One example are vocations to the Virgin Mary were use as guises for Babaylan Worship.
babaylans especially on diff. tribe are very much traditional
Thank you for this Kirby. I remembered my Grade 4 teacher discussing about babaylans but not that detailed. Please do continue with this type of content for us Filipinos to learn about our history before colonization that we can really be proud of. Our pre-colonial society can be considered as modern and forward thinking in practicing gender equality. They have high respect and regard towards women compared to today's society.
I don't know what to feel.
Sinira nila yung culture natin.
Hindi masyado, kaso naghalo sa western esoteric ng mga Europeans. I suggest the channel ESOTERICA sa TH-cam for academic study on Religion and Occult. Also check out Christian Magic sa video topics nya 😉👍
Aw. Missed opportunity, I was hoping you'd use "kruhay!" As a greeting instead of "mabuhî", kruhay in Karay-a language means "welcome" or "mabuhay" now but it is originally used as a call to spirits, used by Babaylans. But it's understandable, mabuhî is more inclusive to other Visayans.
Mabuhay means your welcome
@@alejogarciajr022 it means live life
Antiqueño kaw man? It's sad no how babaylanism is very much a part of our contemporary life pero nagaaamat amat dun ka dura. I think more studies have to be conducted to research the extant remnants of babaylanism in contemporary kinaray-a communities. I feel like duro duro ang mga histories natun nga nadura simply because wara nadocument or ginhungud iomit because ka christianity despite the fact nga ginapractice ta everyday.
I always hear about babaylan but I never thought that they have a bigger influence..wow ..so beautiful
Currently trying to carve taotao for my grandparents and continue to study the indigenous spirituality of my Ilocano and Negrense ancestors.
This is a nicely made video providing historical context and a better understanding of the issue, thank you prof. Kirby!
A Christian from Mindanao here. And yes, indeed, we "stereotypically" think Lumads as uneducated and backwards, even making words such as Mamaw, Mamanwa, Manobo, to refer to morons. But personally, after I listen to the words of their leaders and priests, I find out that they possess wisdom that we, the civilized and educated Visayans, often miss. Worse, their philosophy is often mocked as it didn't align to those of the common capitalist B1zSaYA.
Hello po, I am currently writing a story about pre-colonial tribes in the Philippines and their gods and I am so happy I discovered your channel. Will keep on watching your videos. Thank you!
Until now, I am still mad at what ABS-CBN's Bagani did to our babaylans... Such a shameful act of portrayal to these magnificent being...
So much stuff makes sense now thank you ❤️
Even though we were Islamized, Walian still exists until to this day in Maguindanaon culture.
❤️💛💚
Islamized? LoL
@@halfevilhalfgood5738 We, Maguindanaons were literally Islamized or converted to Islam. Wdym??
Dakal salamat keka. 🙏
I have both Visayan and Kapampangan ethnicity, and as a modern transgender woman, I am always fascinated by the idea that Philippines was once a gender affirming society. Getting to know more about this comforts my heart from all the oppression I have to endure in today’s society.
I also would like to thank you for activating my interest in history, Shamanism (which I partially practice through mysticism) and thriving ancient writing systems/scripts in the Austronesian region. Now, I am in search of related events I can participate within central Luzon.
Although this channel is quite underrated, I hope you continue and gain more viewers. ❤
Dakal mu namang salámat 🙏🏽
Beautifully done. So proud of you for shining light into our shadowed past and sharing these stories in fun and entertaining ways. Thank you. 🥰
Mabuhay, Namaste, & Blessings…
Salamat 😊
Another video where we can learn a lot:)) SaLaMaT kuya Kirby!!
Babaylans aren't actually community leaders. The leaders are the Rajas and Datus. Babaylans are more like advisors, healers and teachers who mediates between humans and the diwata to help guide the community.
I will be writing a fantasy novel po and this is really helpful. Thank you kuya Kirby < 3
Sana mapreserve pa kung ano pa ang natitira.. mahirap kasi pag pinag aralan mo tapos ini apply mo pa, hindi maiwasan na mapulaan ka pa na kakaiba at kadalasan pinagtatawanan pa..
I love this video!
I wonder if a princess could become a babaylan? Like the princess of gunung ledang tho she is not a priestess but her abilities are simikar or she is a deity herself.
Idk if babaylan is equal to tambalan as they are called here in leyte, they call "balisong" when they want to reverse the spells to the person who cast back to them.
Guess that highly depends on the region. But datus and their heirs generally also could wield poweful spells. So just because they have the same abilities does not make them babaylan. But I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibilities, given how heavily truncated the few written accounts of our pre-colonial ancestors are.
I learn so much from your work . Thank you!
You are so welcome!
I come from a town in Antique where Babaylanism is very much a part of contemporary life. I grew up havinng five babaylans (now called Manugluy-a, Manugbulong, Maaram or Surhana) who we go to for healing. They have varying styles and specialties. I also come from a line of babaylan women who chose to turn to catholicism. One of the manugluy-a of our barangay recently died and with her dies some of the wisdom of the ages. They are dwindling down. There are not so many of them anymore.
Interesting to know how Lumads and other indigenous peoples reject other beliefs.
what a fantastic and enlightening presentation... I love the knowledge that you are providing us...
I am from Negros Island and am quite interested in whatever information you can provide us with the story of Papa Isio , who is part of our past and has been erased in our educational format,
as much of it were... thank you so much Kirby... your passion in bringing us these information is truly a blessing to us ...
Me too i want to know about the historical story of negross lead by papa isio,... Madamu nga salamat
Excited to watch this po! Ikaw talaga Sir Kirby ang isa sa pinaka-favorite ko na Historian & History Content Creator dito sa TH-cam. Keep it up sir! Cheers! 🥂
Thank you for not forgetting the transgender babaylans!
Hi Kirby wow you are awesome. I consider myself a babaylan being a direct decendant from Panay province according to my Father his great great grandfather was the Babaylan behind Kapitan or teniente Gimo a famous revolutionary depected as Aswang lol. Sadly I now realised that we lost the stories pass down to generation. Someday maybe I will trace down my family history. :) Anyway I enjoyed your video and will be watching for more. Thank you for keeping our heritage alive.
Thank you! I'd love to learn more from your family history too 😊
GREAT VIDEO!!!!! thank you!!! could you shar more information about the different tribes in philipines that STILL follow the tradiations and in what areas can one find them? thank you iorana
Love this
Imagine if all barangays will have a Diwata temple with babaylan♥️♥️
I really love the Babaylans and the stories about them❤ they are so cool and amazing
I really admire and respect them💕
It's just sad that they need to s*ffer much during colonialism but more importantly, some of it still survive and I wish to meet one someday!!
I'm really curious about our pre-colonial history, beliefs and culture to the point I'm always asking myself "what will it be if we're not colonized" and later start working a comics out of it where soon to be published and it would be exciting since it involves the Pre-colonial Beliefs and some things that I've learned here from you Kuya Kirby
And yes, it's also the fact that I love their fashion
Anyways,I'm looking forward for more of your videos about them especially that epic you mentioned earlier
I'm so excited and thank you very much for another exciting topic to share with my friends! Mabuhay ka po❤❤❤
That is the deped will evolve or changed because the only recognize is baybayin in the cordillera region meaning other tribes are discarded some a small interview they are forgotten or misunderstood as a language like japanese or other asian language. They didn't know that anymore. So we need to tell the deped to extend the mother tongue language which is difficult but the only way is to speak orally in their local vernacular dialect. Period.
Wow! Our culture is so beautiful ❤️
Nice video idol...in my ancestors has a blood on it.. Most of them are spiritual healer and could walk in burning charcoal...they used to have spiritual companion called in my term as "sinakpan"... 😅❤️
Can you make also a video about the MAMALO and TABUNAWAY ??
It’s interesting to hear about the transgender Babaylans being seen as effeminate men but qualified as women, to the point where they could be married to men, but still seen as a gay marriage. Being trans and Filipina has a confusing history, but I’m proud to see how we were once held in high regard no matter, compared to post-colonial belief systems.
..sir kirby,kapampangan,bisaya at muslin sir, salamatz or peace be with u,mabuhi ka sir,l0ve ur contents,i l0ve history.. 💖😉👊👍🏾
Hello, sir Kirby! Pwede mag request about a more detailed history of Sultan Kudarat- his resistance against the Spanish and his alliance with other powerful datus in Mindanao.
Hi, yes it's on my list for this year 😊
Our history clearly been manipulated.. Sa elementarya ang kasaysayan at sibeka ay mabilis nang nalilimutan pag dating sa high school.. Ayy.. Pro through your channel and video pakiramdam ko ay muli kong nararamdaman ang aking pagka Pilipino... Thank u.. And more power po...
I hope you will also make a video about TABUNAWAY and MAMALO.. Kung tama ang pagka alala ko na siyang pangalan ng unang muslim at lumad.. Ang mag ka patid na ito pls... Correct me if im wrong.. I read there story when i work at MUNICAPAL TRIBAL HOUSE in Lake Sebu So.Cot. And married to a T'boli..
Thank u
That was interesting
Salamat Thankyouu po sa knowledge about sa baabylan i've been searching for this!
Great
Katulad din ng autonomy ng cordillera region pero katulad ba? Please enlighten me and elaborate.
Is it true that in Maritime Southeast Asia, Maynila is one of the most influential place?
During the 1400s-1500s? Yes 😉
There was a time when the emperors of the Middle Kingdom would only trade with Maynila.
And the nations of Tondo, Sulu, and Butuan were also recognized as equals to that of China.
@@KirbyAraullo what is a pre colonial filipino equivalent to a emperor
@@benjamingamez1718 Sultanates/Datus(?)
@@user-rp2vc5ov2r actually the filipino equivalent to a emperor is a lakan who is said to to higher then the datu
Daghang salamat sa nimo, Kirby! Posible lang ako ra ang langyaw nga naminyo og baylan! Asawa kong Ling Higaonon na, ug bisan pa napuyo siya sa Cagayan de Oro, nakat-on siya sa kahibalo sa baylan gikan sa iyang lola. Gitudloan ko niya sa Magbabaya ug mga diwata ug mga abyan. Giayo niya ang iyang kaugalingon sa mga tambal nga herbal. Pwede mag hilot siya, ug kanus-a dose anyos siya, noadto siya kauban sa iyang lola sa nag tabang sa mga babaye nga nanganak. Duna kami og diwata sa among balay.
I need a Netflix series of pre colonial Philippines
I love you so much!!!! I just found you today and you make me so happy! I am a male version of babaylan whatever that is called. I receive many visions and know many things from the spirits. Someone once called me “bi-polar” I replied “shiiiii.. you ain’t paying attention them cuz I be Legion bittchh” lol love you !
hindi ka babaylan dahil walang babaylan na foreigner kahit sa mga tala wala
Greeting from Nepal dhami/jhakri
Naalala ko tuloy yung kina Amaya at Talim
Sa kwentong literature at stageplay sa lokal government activities.
🥰❤️💕
Anong taon ba talaga namatay so Jose Rizal
Re upload?
Yes! There was an issue with the earlier one, only half of the video got uploaded for some reason so I had to re-upload this asap. :)
Kumusta Humans
Wala iyan sa paaralan. Makinig ako muna kasi dumbfounded ko lang nalaman ngayon.
I share in face book so all my relatives can see all ur good Job.
I need a trustable priestess
Si Lamitan kasi ehhhh...
☺🌸🍀.
Sabi ng lola ko may tinitirahan daw na gubat ang mga babaylan na walang sinuman ang nkakakita
Sana may story din po kyo about trans love story noong panahon ng mga datu!! Andaming nawalang history ng philipinas dahil sa mga mananakop
We have a lot of history on Harry Potter so the Babaylans be considered as wizards like Harry potter
*sigh... say it with me everyone. Dang colonizers!! 😂
Ḍākiṇīs
spaniards were threatened by our POWERFUL FILIPINAS. always pay respect to them
If the united nations had existed way back spain would be charge for human rights violation
I like your channel, but considering most of our blood lines we are Austronesian. We are actually pacific islanders, not southeast Asians. I did my own research on this and did my own DNA testing. probably in the 1950s, but before that we were considered pacific islanders because we are. Unfortunately we’ve had a bunch of people invade our homeland and start calling us stuff and making us feel bad about who we are so I’m happy you made the channel but I wish that and I see that it’s starting to become more relevant that we are pacific islanders and taking claim back to that name.
You are funny... I guess you are confused Fil Am that eating the idea of that BS. As far as I learned from my high school years, the Austronesian language and people are divided into 2, The Formosan (aboriginal Taiwanese) and Malayo-Polynesian but the Malayo-Polynesian is also divided into 2 sub-families, the Western Malayo-Polynesian are the Malay(Indonesians and Malaysian), Cebuano, Tagalog, and Malagasy while the Eastern Malayo-Polynesian are those people from Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Yes, we are linguistically connected to the Pacific Islanders but in cultural perspective?? No...we are more closer to other Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, and China. We are Asians.
s.e asia... filipinx lang naman ang nagsasabing pacific islander KAYO
Hi is it possible to meet a legit Babaylan?
Sana ma explain mo po in tagalog mga video mo kasi karamihan naman po ng nanonood ay mga pinoy then lagyan nalang po ng subtitle.
Kirby says Trans Lives Matter 😭 Thanks so much omg
babaylan cannot defeat the spaniards...
WEEE di nga
@@romwelbergado6686 yes it's facts, in fact 333 years tayong sinakop ng spaniards lol
@@dormamo6917 Di na bali, ang mahalaga ay ginagawa nila upang manatili ang tunay na paglilinlang natin.
Parang seers sa english.
nakuuu madami pa namang anti-transgender/homophobic sa Bohol. 😆
😔😔😔
This variation of Shiva at 7:29 from the drawing itself WHO’s variation is it interpreted from as in the ethno-linguistic group who made their own variation of the same character?
ᜀᜆ̟/ᜋᜄᜈ̟ᜇᜅ̟/ᜑᜉ̥ᜈ̟/ᜉ̥