Philippine Folk Dances

The Philippines is rich in folk dance materials. The Filipinos being a musical people, singing and dancing form the greater part of their recreation. The people express their ideas through rhythmic action in folk dances. While most Philippine folk dances are ritual in character, there is a good variety of occupational, courtship, festival, and war dances which led color to the rich Filipino culture, customs, and traditions.

Singkil (Maranaw)

Singkil, a dance originating from Lanao del Sur, Mindanao is said to be a dance of muslim royalty. To the rhythmic clapping of bamboo poles, the dancers weave expertly through crisscrossed bamboos, the ladies dressed in elegant Muslim costumes waving great big fans, the men flipping brightly colored handkerchiefs right and left. The dancers wearing solemn faces and maintaining a dignified pose begin dancing at a slow pace which soon progresses to a faster tempo. The clashing bamboos and the whirling dancers form an unforgetable kaleidoscope of color and sound that is fascinating to the beholder.

Legend has it that singkil originated from the day the diwatas played a joke on Princess Gandingan as she was taking a walk in the woods. The diwatas made an earthquake that made the trees tremble and the rocks to roll and knock against each other. Nothing daunted. Princess Gandingan skipped nimbly from place to place and no tree or rock ever touched her tiny feet.

There are many versions of Singkil. When performed by ladies of royalty of Lanao, the dancer is usually accompanied by awaiting lady, who holds a beautifully decorated umbrella over the Princess’head wherever she goes. On the other hand when the dance is performed by natives, not of royal blood, the dancers, a boy and a girl have no attendants.

The dance has no definite number of steps or figures. Even the arm movements are improvised and executed according to the mood and skill of the dancers.
The dance is usually performed by girls only.

Kumakaret (Pangasinan)

This is a courtship dance of the kumakarets in barrio Dorungan, Pangasinan province. The Kumakaret is a person who makes wine, tuba or vinegar from sasa.

The dancers show their ability, skill and good balancing while dancing by performing the dance with the use of glasses half-filled with wine or tuba. The girl balances three glasses while dancing--- one on top of her head, one on each on the open palms of her hands. And on the top of her foot. The boy dances with the glass placed on his forehead, sometimes at the back of neck, on the top of one shoulder and also on the top of his foot.

He shows his skill, too, by taking the glass from the ground or floor with his teeth and drinking the contents without spilling even one drop of wine and without holding the glass with his hands.

Pandanguiado Buraweno (Visayan)

Pandanguiado is a popular festival dance in the province of Leyte and Samar. This particular dance originated in Burauen, Leyte and is usually performed by prominent and skillful dancers at big social functions and important gatherings.

According to the old residents of Pericohon, a sitio between LaPaz and Burauen, many, many years ago a certain Filipino general stationed in that plce invited some people from the town and barrios around to a Christmas eve celebration. In that gathering, a cuople from Burauen, hailed as notable dancers., were requested to give a special dance. It was an interesting and colorful dance that they danced with much spirit, altogether different from the dances the people from the locality were used to seeing. It was well liked by all and from that time on it became popular, not only in that place but also in other towns oof Leyte and Samar.

Katlo (Tagalog)

This sprightly dance from Bulacan, the Katlo, is usually performed during harvest season when palay is pounded. It is done to the rhythm of the pestles striking the mortars.

In the old days when there where no rice mills, on moonlight nights it was customary for young men to offer to help their lady friends to pound the palay. On this occasion the relationship might lead to romance between the ladies and young men in the bayuhan or rice-pounding feast.

The word Katlo is derived from the word tatlohan which means by threes.

Philippine Folk Songs

The Philippines has a rich folk song tradition, for songs mark every stage in the life of the Filipino, from the moment he is born to the time he dies and is buried. That Filipinos are a musical people had been noted by foreign visitors to the country. Like our aspects of our culture, our folk songs have been touched by foreign influences in the course of our history, resulting in a folk song tradition characterized by richness and variety and exhibiting blend of East and West.
Serenades

During the period of courtship, the serenade is standard practice, and some of the most beautiful love songs are sung to serenade the loved one. In Tagalog serenades, hyperbole is the main device used to win sympathy of the girl, so she will look at her window. In “Alaala Kita sa Aking Pagtulog, ” the lover says that when he sleeps,

Ang binabanig ko’y luhang umaagos            
Ang inuunan ko’y sama ng loob
In”Sa Pinto ng Langit,” the exaggeration is even more:
Sa lungkot ng buhay, sa gitna ng lagim
Malapit na akong bangkay na tanghalin
Kaya dungawin mo, ng magtamong aliw
Buksan mo ang pinto ang langit sa akin

Some serenaders are extremely polite and apologize for the lateness of the hour. A Bikol suitor is very humble and would be happy with a little:

Na minsan dati na
Ako mo pasakton
Dungawa man lamang
Mata mong magayon
Kung di manginguhang
Makapagdungaw ka ,
Alagad pagmata
Taling kilingan

Truly devoted lovers even express a willingness to die for the loved one

Duena nga pagraemak
Yetnag mot’kaasim ket imdengannak
Ta uray mo pakatayak
No isut”gustoem sia namungak
Se antuengque ipatec
Yo raddam cu gumafu sicuam

Lullabies and Children’s Songs

Like the lullabies of other peoples, Philippine lullabies tend to be soporific in tune and sometimes repetitious in text. In the majority of examples, however, the text tells us something about the folk –their family life and their workaday world. The singer is not always the mother but an older sibling or relative, perhaps even just a neighbor. In many lullabies we find lines like:


Tulog na, bunso ko
Ang ‘yong  Ina ay wala
Darating agad ang iyong tatay
May dala dalang suman at tinapay

The mother and father are away working at some occupation and the care of the child is itself to an older sibling or to relatives. In one Tagalog lullaby, the singer, apparently a teenaged older sister of the child, adds a bit of moralizing about love at the end:

Kung makabili ka man at bihis ng bihis
Marami mang damit ay siyempre mapupunit
Gayon din naman ang gawang umibig
Kung bago ng bago’y walang masasapit

In Bukidnon lullaby, the singer is probably just a neighbor:

Nga bata ng dili ako
Yawat na man maka dako manatad
man ako masugo

Children’s songs takes us to the happy and carefree world of the child—a world of fun and games, of jokes and laughter, with time spent mostly at outdoors, Climbing trees and picking fruits, catching fish in nearby stream, or just playing in the street on moonlight nights. In this world, even poverty wears a pleasant face. When the child sings “Bahay Kubo”, it is not a squalid squatter dwelling he describes but a neat little house set amidst a garden planted to all kinds of vegetables--- a truly idyllic scene which gives an impreession of serenity and abundance.

The child’s closeness to anture is expressed in songs in which he mimics the movements of certain animals like the crab (Pakitong-kitong) and talks to them (Cuckoo, Taringting Bird).

Wedding Songs

The longest Tagalog wedding ballad, Matrimonyo, is serious in tone and advices the newly weds from a religious point of view. They should treasure teir marriage and should take as models St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary and the pious Abraham and his wife Sarah. Some very popular wedding songs, however, are sad and give gloomy picture of married life for the bride. The burden of married life is placed on her. She has to do the adjusting to her husband. Her world now revolves around him. She has to give up her friends, forsake all her former pleasures, and concentrate on pleasing her husband, lest he displeased and beat her. The contrast between the single life and married life drawn in another song only confirms this gloomy picture of married life:

Buhay ng dalaga ay masaya sa lahat
Pag nag-asawa ka ay diyan na ang hirap
Makatagpo ka pa ng lalaking tamad
Para kang nagpasan ng krus na mabigat

A Bikol song also opens with a gloomy admonition to the bride:

Herac man simo tugng co
Sohay ca na qui Nanay mo
Iyo nang pagsosondon mo
An gobierno ni lagom mo

A Pangasinan wedding song is an exception to this gloomy mood of Tagalog and Bikol wedding songs. It is happy song that begins:

Abeten, abeten ko’y manugang ko
Sayawan, sayaway kindo-kindo
Pangipatnag ko met lad satad abay ko
Pangipatnag koy tuan panangaro

A Bukidnon wedding song,also sung by a parent, gives a cheerful picture of married life:

Taba yon sayo ko don
Ta tu gan a mag yo nom on
Ta mag sa bu wa on la ag

In a Gaddng song, the parents are more practical. They give their newly married children money to start life with and express hope that they may raise children who will be good citizens of the country.

Nowhere in the world can you find a group of people where the hospitality is as much as the Filipinos. It is here in the Philippines where everybody, regardless of color, race, origin, or any differences for that matter, people are treated equally and hospitably.

Filipinos are famous for being welcoming and warm to all of their visitors, expected or not. The home of Filipninos are always open to visitors. And if there are visitors, measures are made to make the stay of the said visitors worthy of remembering. Filipinos even go the extra mile just to give the visitors a worthwhile stay- even compromising their own comfort! That is a fact.

This hospitality does not ask for anything in return, appreciation is okay. Many people abuse this value of Filipinos so nowadays, times are a changing. But no matter what, its still in the roots and you can't take it out of the Filipinos.