‘Mamahi:’ Stars of Tawi-tawi
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:06:00 01/26/2008
Filed Under: Nature, Astronomy, Travel & Commuting, Science (general)
THE PHILIPPINE ATMOSPHERIC, GEOPHYSICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL SERVICES ADMINISTRAtion (Pagasa) is asking the public to help it compile local legends about celestial objects for educational purposes. The compilation will be submitted to the International Astronomical Union in 2009, which has been declared the International Year of Astronomy to mark the 400th year of the first astronomical observation through a telescope by Galileo.
“It will be an honor for us to show to the world how stars or celestial bodies shaped our culture or beliefs,” said Cynthia Celebre, chief of Pagasa’s astronomy research and development section.
Responding to Pagasa’s appeal, Talk of the Town is featuring a history professor’s study of how the Badjaos of Tawi-tawi use stars and constellations in their daily lives -- hunting, planting, fishing and seafaring.
Early Filipinos have a rich knowledge of the heavens. Certain indigenous groups in the country, mostly their elders, retain the knowledge, which may be lost unless it is recorded or passed on to the next generation.
Man’s fascination with celestial bodies, particularly stars, is partly due to his affinity with them. Scientists have established that without the life and death of stars, man will not be on Earth today. From stars that exploded long ago came elements like oxygen, calcium, iron and zinc found in the human body. -- Ed
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By Dante L. Ambrosio
BITUIN, BITUUN, BITUON -- this is how various groups in the country call a star. But to the Samas of Tawi-tawi, a star is mamahi. This I learned when I surveyed the islands’ astronomical lore starting in 1995, the year a solar eclipse was seen over the province.
Two Sama Dilauts, known as Badjaos, from the capital town of Bongao drew their version of the sky for me. They identified several asterisms or star groups which they use in their activities. I confirmed these later with other fishermen, farmers, seafarers and religious leaders they call imam.
Among these asterisms are Batik (Orion’s belt), Mupu (Pleiades), Bubu (Big Dipper), Paliyama (parts of Aquila), Mamahi Uttara (North Star), Saloka (Scorpius), Anakdatu and Sahapang (Alpha and Beta Centauri), Bunta (Southern Cross), Lakag or Maga (morning star), Mamahi Kagang and Mamahi Pagi. There are many more.
It is unfortunate that city-bred denizens like us have almost no chance to acquire the knowledge of the heavens which our forefathers mastered. While scientists and astronomers built upon the knowledge of the ancients, the educated among us are not even cognizant of our own astronomical lore.
Some might have heard of Orion but not Batik or Balatik, Pleiades but not the Tagalogs’ Mapolon or the Bikolanos’ Moroporo, Big Dipper but not Bubu or the Samarnon’s Lusong, and Southern Cross but not Bunta. Although on occasions they might have heard of Tatlong Maria (Orion’s belt), Supot ni Hudas (Pleiades) or Krus na Bituin (Southern Cross), these came to us only with the advent of Christianity.
In fostering science awareness, we could start and build on what we already have and what is, in fact, still being used out there in the field. Thus, my attempt to document our own astronomical lore.
What did our forefathers think about when they looked at the heavens? Why did they organize the stars into groups and named them after specific objects in their immediate milieu? What prompted them to believe that stars influence their lives? How come people still hang on to these beliefs?
Posing these questions means venturing into the realm of a people’s culture. It requires probing into the indigenous system of knowledge. A system which a group of people develops in the course of time in a continuing interaction with nature. It enabled the group to survive in the past and continues to inform its way of thinking and acting at present.
We often look down on this knowledge as a hodgepodge of superstitions which we regard as irrational and without scientific basis. Still we are astounded by the rich treasury of knowledge of indigenous peoples when we come to learn of it and which science, when it tries to, finds to have some solid basis and logic of its own. Just look at modern medicine as it engages the albularyos’ indigenous knowledge of herbal cure!
The Samas possess their own knowledge of the stars. Like other peoples of the world, they long ago divided them into groups, betraying again man’s propensity to classify and organize things to better grasp and understand them.
Star groups are named after objects which are familiar to a particular culture. Thus, in naming stars, a particular group of people puts its own mark—its own culture—in the sky complete with stories that also bear its identity.
It thus becomes “natural” for the stars of Tawi-tawi to display the characteristics of a culture nurtured by watery surroundings. Mamahi Kagang, Mamahi Pagi, Bunta, Sahapang, Bubu, and Anakdatu are all related to the sea by their nature, use and activity.
Kagang is a crab, pagi is a stingray while Bunta is a puffer fish. Sahapang is a three-pronged spear used to catch fish while bubu is a rectangular bamboo fish trap. Anakdatu is a fisherman poised to spear a puffer fish with his sahapang.
Besides fishing, the Samas plant in the uplands and hunt in the mountains. Thus, they have Saloka, a coconut tree, in the sky. They also have Batik for an asterism which is also a spear trap used in hunting wild pigs. It is the most prominent asterism in the Philippines and is called Balatik, Belatik, Bayatik and Blatik by various ethnic groups.
While people put their own mark on the stars by grouping and naming them, these stars in turn influence their lives. Used as markers, they help organize the activities of the people as they appear in the night or dawn sky.
The Samas consult Batik, Paliyama and Saloka in planting their crops. Their appearance and location at various times coincide with conditions necessary for each stage of kaingin farming.
With some variation, kaingin farming in the Philippines is done during the months of December to May. The land to be farmed is chosen and cleared from December to February. Between March and April, when the sun is at its hottest and there is enough wind to fan the flames, the cut trees and grasses are dried and burned. Planting is done in April and May when it starts to rain. Hardly could one plant with the onset of the rainy season.
Farmers in Tawi-tawi now use clock position to indicate the stars’ location in the sky. It is at 6 o’clock when a star is seen in the east or in the west and is at 12 o’clock when it is at the zenith.
Imam Ladia said that the clearing of the huma should start when Batik appears at 10 at nightfall. This is around December to January. Burning should start when it is already at 11:30 after sunset. This is from February to March. Planting is done when it starts to rain around April to May or before Batik appears ready to set in the west at nightfall. After this, one could no longer plant; the bird maya and other pests would be out to wreak havoc on the newly planted field. This also marks the onset of the rainy season.
While Batik is consulted at nightfall, Paliyama is used as a marker at dawn. Clearing and burning is done when Paliyama appears in the east at positions called sampangan (8-9 o’clock) and malambang musim (10-11 o’clock). This is from January to April. It is time to plant while it is at luttu Paliyama (at the zenith) when it starts to rain. This is around April to May.
Aside from Batik and Paliyama, Saloka is also used as a marker in planting coconuts. The Samas believe that a coconut tree bears fruit quickly when planted at a time when Saloka appears low on the eastern horizon at nightfall. It will bear fruit at a later date if planted when it is already at luttu or at the zenith after sunset.
When Samas see many stars inside the rectangular trap Bubu, they set down their own fish traps into the sea, believing that they will have a good catch. The appearance of many stars indicate good weather, which may be one reason for the good catch.
My Sama Dilaut informants said that the position of the stars, which form the rope used to pull up the bubu out of the sea, indicated the strength of the current. These stars form the handle of the Big Dipper. When they are in the east, the current is strong but when they are in the west, the current is weak or there is no current at all.
Several stars, together with the wind, are used in direction finding. Samas know that the morning star Lakag or Maga is in the east, Bubu and Mamahi Uttara are in the north, while Bunta is in the south.
The western direction is reckoned with stars Tunggal Bahangi and Mamahi Magrib. Unfortunately, I failed to identify these stars. The same goes with Mamahi Satan, the south star. Of course, the east-west direction is easily identifiable with the aid of the sun which is also a star. For the same directions, the Samas also observe Batik and Mupu which traverse the sky from east to the zenith to the west.
Together with stars, winds are also used to mark direction. Satan or salatan, the south wind, is associated with Bunta, the asterism named after a puffer fish. The heavenly fish releases the air from its puffy body once it ends its seasonal appearance in the night sky. That air is satan or salatan.
When Anakdatu, which follows Bunta, has come and gone, the north wind called uttara replaces the south wind. Another marker for uttara is the appearance of Mupu in the east at nightfall. It is also uttara that blows when the northern stars of Batik get dimmer. Its southern stars dim when it is satan’s turn to blow.
To take note of these subtle changes, one must be very knowledgeable about and sensitive to incremental changes in the environment. A characteristic which the Samas possess considering their continuing close relationship with the environment.
Samas are noted seafarers. They once manned the ships of the sultans of Sulu who traded across the seas. Their use of celestial navigation is thus legendary, albeit unresearched and unstudied.
Mamahi Uttara is a prominent navigational star. This is the north star which remains “steady” unlike other stars which changes position as they cross the sky from east to west, according to Imam Yasin. Using this as a guide, one may reach Cotabato and Zamboanga by sailing northeast, Sabah northwest, Celebes or Sulawesi and Balikpapan in Kalimantan southeast with some necessary adjustments along the way.
Bunta is used in crossing the Sulu Sea from Mapun near Palawan to the capital town of Bongao on the Tawi-tawi mainland. To reach Bongao, the pilot with an outstretched arm must keep Bunta one dangkal -- from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the middle finger -- to the left of the boat’s prow. If the prow veers to the left by a dangkal, it will reach Languyan instead which is at the northern end of Tawi-tawi. But if it veers to the right, the boat will land at Sibutu which is at the southern end of the archipelago.
Cardinal directions
One of the more experienced seafarers of Panglima Sugala, another Tawi-tawi municipality, is Aspalman Jalman. He uses five stars to mark the four cardinal directions—Maga for the east, Tunggal Bahangi and Mamahi Magrib for the west, Mamahi Uttara for the north, and Mamahi Satan for the south.
As long as one knows the position of Mamahi Uttara and Mamahi Satan and the relative position of one’s destination, one could readily lay down the path to be taken by the boat, according to Aspalman. This is easily said than done because one must expect the unexpected during a trip. Like when he drifted down to the Celebes Sea after his engine broke down between Sibutu and the Tawi-tawi mainland. On occasions like this, no star would be of help.
All these are but a part, a very small part, of Tawi-tawi’s astronomical lore. Indeed, there is much to be learned not only from the Samas but also from other groups in the country. Aware of this lore, we will not only be enjoying the sky when we look at it at night. We will also be reading -- and will be reminded of -- our own past and culture.
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(Dante Ambrosio Ph.D., is a professor at the Department of History of the University of the Philippines-Diliman.)
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