• Dayo magbool buhok. Dayo pabunyág. Dayo magbohis (We dislike to cut hair. We dislike baptism. We dislike taxes)
    ᜧᜬᜳ᜵ᜫᜪᜳᜢᜪᜳᜱᜳ᜶. ᜧᜬᜳ᜵ᜩᜪᜳᜬ᜶. ᜧᜬᜳ᜵ᜫᜪᜳᜱᜲ᜶

Author:
  • Maliwanag, Ildefonso
Publisher:
  • [Mindoro, Philippines] : 20th century.
Extent:
  • 48 slats in 4 trays
Format:
Description:
  • Nos. P1-P48. Reverse of bamboo slats have English title. Contents have been transcribed and translated in Fletcher Gardner and Ildefonso Maliwanag. Indic writings of the Mindoro-Palawan axis, San Antonio, Tex., Witte memorial museum [1939-40].
Subject:
Edm rights:
  • Copyright Not Evaluated
View in catalog:
Curator's notes:

  • Ildefonso Maliwanag (20th century)

    Hanunó’o
    Mindoro, Philippines, 20th century, bamboo slats

    Mangyan is a general designation of several indigenous groups on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines, who live in relative seclusion from the coastal settlers. Some of them still use a Indic-derived script (of similar origin as the Batak one shown elsewhere in this exhibition), carved into materials such as bamboo. The texts shown here were likely written on request for Fletcher Gardner in 1938, who had first met the groups as an army surgeon during the US occupation in 1904.

    Princeton Mangyan Collection, Mangyan Set 1, slats 33, 34, 35

    For further reading

    Fansler, Lolita Delgado, Quintin V. Pastrana, Antoon Postma and Sylvia Mayuga. Bamboo whispers: poetry of the Mangyan. Manila: Bookmark, 2017.

    Gardner, Fletcher. “Three contemporary incised bamboo manuscripts from Hampangan Mangyan, Mindoro.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 59, no. 4 (1939): 496-502.

    Gardner, Fletcher, and Ildefonso Maliwanag. Indic writings of the Mindoro-Palawan axis. San Antonio: Witte Memorial Museum, 1939-40.

    Kueh, Joshua. “Now online: Mangyan Bamboo Collection from the Philippines at the Library of Congress.” 4 Corners of the World: International Collections at the Library of Congress (February 1, 2023). Accessed May 20, 2025. https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2023/02/now-online-mangyan-bamboo-collection-from-the-philippines-at-the-library-of-congress/

    Postma, Antoon. “The ambahan: a Mangyan poem of Mindoro.” Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society 23, no. 1 (1995): 44-61.

Exhibit category: