The Milky Way and the Filipino Ethnic Beliefs

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The Milky Way and the Filipino Ethnic Beliefs If you look up at the sky during a moonless night, you might see a thin strip of light that is glowing faintly. This is the Milky Way. It is actually a galaxy that is made of millions upon millions of stars. Local communities located along the … Read more

Kabalen

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KABALEN • (kuh-buh-LEHN)townmate, fellow of the same homeland; a fellow KapampánganTagálog (Filipino): kababáyan The word “kabalén” (or commonly, “cabalen” in Spanish-based orthography) literally means “townmate” and is a term used by Kapampángans to refer to their fellow Kapampángans. It can also be used to endearingly address Kapampángans in general. It is equivalent to “kababáyan” in … Read more

Balen

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BANGSA vs. BALEN Bangsa (Tagalog: bansâ) – “country” relative to other countries or states Balén (Tagalog: báyan) – “town, nation” relative to one’s own community, such as one’s homeland or hometown. These words originate from the root word for “house” in their languages (Kpm: bale, Tgl: báhay) and the collective/locative suffix “-an”.

Timawa

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Timawa in the Visayas The word timáwa is most likely of Visayan origin and referred to the feudal Visayan privileged middle warrior class during the precolonial to early colonial periods. However, in the modern Visayan languages, the word “timáwa” has come to mean “poor” or “impoverished” due to the historical decline of the pre-colonial feudal … Read more

The Kingdom of Butuan

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The Kingdom of Butuan  Did you know? The Kingdom of Butuan’s first trade mission to China was in 1003. It is listed as 1001 in William Henry Scott’s research on Filipinos in China before 1500 because of a mistake in converting the Chinese date to the Gregorian calendar date. Professor Scott thanked Kaisa Para sa … Read more