Deadly weapons, objects of beauty
The grand staircase of the Museo del Ejercito in Madrid is lined with lantakas (bronze cannons) captured in the various military expeditions to Mindanao from the 17th century to the 19th century. These objects are not only offensive weapons, they are also objects of beauty. Some of these lantakas are profusely decorated, others are dated and await a Filipino military historian to study them.
Lantakas, armor and all sorts of bladed weapons are also stored in museum bodegas in the United States, many of them captured during the American expeditions to Mindanao in the early 20th century or brought home as souvenirs. One wonders how the people of Mindanao fought their battles if all these weapons were brought to the United States. If you go to tourist shops today, you will still find a small painted shield called “Weapons of Moroland.” This gives you the names of the different types of knives and swords used in Mindanao.
Weapons from Mindanao are also found in ethnographic collections throughout Europe. In museums in Germany and Austria, there are collections of weapons from the Cordilleras and Mindanao. Among them are Kalinga head axes as well as kris and the “hairy kampilan” from Mindanao. From Dapitan, Rizal sent a cutlass to his friend A.B. Meyer in Dresden, together with other ethnographic items (these have survived bombing in World War II).
Rizal also sent artifacts to a museum in Berlin, including articles of clothing as well as his own salakot. Rabid nationalists scream for the repatriation of these items, but I think that we should be grateful that our artifacts are well-cared for abroad. If these were in our National Museum they might not have survived the war.
Body armor from Mindanao is among my favorites. It is very impressive, made of chain mail and carabao horn. It is supposed to provide protection in hand-to-hand combat. Juan Luna documented one in his 1885 painting “Blood Compact” that now hangs in Malacañang. “Blood Compact” was painted in Paris. Luna asked his friends to model for him. Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera posed as Legazpi and Jose Rizal posed as Sikatuna. I think Luna had actual props in his studio that made his work historically accurate in its details.
Recently I was surprised to see this kind of armor in Indonesian and Malaysian collections, though their chain mail is supplemented with rattan, leather, tree bark, wood, horn or brass. In Mindanao they used metal helmets in the form of those worn by the 16th-century conquistadores. Some helmets are probably antiques kept as trophies of war, but others are copies made much later. The 17th-century Jesuit Combes described Mindanao warriors thus:
“The Joloan who are called Ximbanaos, and are more ferocious and of greater determination, are armed from top to toe with helmet, bracelets, coat of mail, greaves with linings of elephant hide armor, so proof that nothing can make a dint on it except firearms, for the best sword or cutlass is turned. From the shoulders rise two irons to the height of the helmet and morion by which they protect the head from being cut off. They knot the flaps of their skirts on the breast or coat-of-mail, so that they can bend the knee to the ground according to their method of fighting, when the case demands it. They wear a plume of feathers above the forehead, such as seen on mules. They leave nothing unarmed, even to the eyes that are armed by fierceness—both because of the terrific appearance of their arms, and the fierceness which they affect.”
A Mindanao warrior in a chain mail and carabao horn armor with a gleaming helmet and cutlass must have been a terrifying sight. But if one sees a body armor from the safe confines of a museum, one notices that it’s quite small. This is supposed to cover the warrior down to the knees, but when I tried one on, it only reached down to my waist. It weighed 25 pounds making me wonder how the warriors could fight with such a heavy load on their shoulders. As late as 1904, this body armor was still in use, this according to Dr. E. A. Mearns who wrote about an expedition to Mindanao led by Gen. Leonard Wood:
“Datto Huahulama’s cotta in a remote part of the Tarace valley, Mindanao was reduced and taken from 12 [midnight] to 1.30 p.m., April 7, 1904, by a squadron of Cavalry commanded by Alonzo Gray, which I accompanied, and noted the following: As we entered the fort I found a suit of plated armor, composed of carabao horn and carabao leather. This was a splendid piece of workmanship; many were seen in the Lake Lanao region that were made entirely of leather, and helmets of carabao horn were not uncommon.”
Chain mail armor and the various types of blades used in Mindanao over the centuries like the kris, barong, kampilan, etc. are preserved in museum collections in Southeast Asia. There is a handful of published works on the kris that reveal our connections with the rest of Southeast Asia. For years I have been fascinated with Mindanao weapons especially the wavy kris that has drawn blood or a life. These weapons can be appreciated at different levels—ergonomically designed for deadly use, they are often decorated in such a way that they rise to the level of art. The peoples of Mindanao were not just great warriors but artisans as well.
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