Bugasong

bugasong
Bugasong | @nationalmuseum.wv

Bugasong

LIGO NA! It’s Friday! So, get up, and let’s honor our ancestors by taking a good bath. Did you know that bathing was a favorite activity of our grannies?

In his photobook Recuerdos de Filipinas, Felíx Laureano observed how people, regardless of age, bathe in the morning, at noontime, after a day’s work in the fields, and even at nighttime! They bathed in seas, rivers, springs, and creeks, valuing cleanliness and neatness of the body, and of course, feeling relaxed amidst the humid weather. In this photograph of women, men, and children bathing in the Bugasong River, it can be seen that the men wear pantaloons while the women cover themselves with tápis.

Visayan women wear patadyong drawn around the waist from the back. Filipinos use a small bucket called tabo, a cup or jar made from the hard shell of a coconut. Revisit old Panay in the exhibit “Bugasong to Barcelona: Felix Laureano, First Filipino Photographer” at gallery 5 of the National Museum PH Western Visayas.

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