Bigaon is an Asi word which denotes a positive or negative definition. Used as an adjective or noun, it may refer to a human person who is a flirt, a coquette or a vamp. The root word of bigaon is biga, a stemless plant of the arum family, colocasia esculenta. Biga or taro and its sisters, singapor, kinosoy and gyabon were the staple food of the Bantoanon tribe. Biga cannot be eaten raw. Biga irritates the throat when it is half-cooked.I find it appropriate to column my thoughts, BIGAON. In my view, bigaon means to tickle, titillate or excite a tingling or itching sensation as in eating an undercooked biga!
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Congratulations Lyndon Fadri for publishing your brainchild, Silak. It has a potential - a possible breeding ground for future writers in Bantoanon and English. The news magazine is only as good as its writers and supporters. Its survival depends on a common Bantoanon wish: "Kung waya silak, indi mabuyar ka payay." Translated loosely, if there's no sunshine, we cannot dry the rice grains. Silak then, becomes a hope. We must nurture that hope.
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In April this year, basketball, an American invention, lorded it over other spectator sports in Banton. In the elementary school grounds, there were sport contests held which attracted a few but spirited participants. The contests were bagoy, ra-it, surilap, tapas et nidog, and kurkor. Bagoy, a disappearing Bantoanon tribal game brought nostalgic memories of moonlit nights. The ra-it contest was precise for it required the dexterity of hand and feet to extract the fiber to fashion a textile called sagurang. Surilap reminded one of the nipa huts that litter the rocky hills - huts of Bantoanon grit and spine. Tapas et nidog and kurkor contests stood as symbols of the rite of passage to adulthood. At the foot of Taytay hill the participants, nonchalant of King Basketball and Ati-atihan beat a different drum: the Asi cultural drum.
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Culture is the ikat burial cloth, one of the treasures of the Philippine Museum - the oldest burial cloth found in Southeast Asia, courtesy of the "hanging coffins" of Toctocon cliffs in Guyangan. Why does an island, a teardrop in the heart of the Philippine archipelago mesmerize the imagination?
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Barangay Mainit had a town? In O.D. Corpuz' book, "The Roots of the Filipino Nation" (Vol. 1, p.377) a brief encounter with Muslim piracy in May 1754 is told: "Fifty-seven Muslim boats raided Mainit in Banton island; the corsairs burned the town, captured four small cannons and took sixty-seven captives." Why Mainit? Could there have been two pueblos in Banton during the 18th century?
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Kong Mahay Nak Adlaw ag imaw ra et tu-ig it eleksyon, medyo agnanay ka imo hiwas. Katong imo mga kilaya nak kag una ay ikaw inakupkopan sa karsada, ay it nabalihay, napayado, ag naliko nak pay ya-ag. Imo pati naaamuyan ag namamasran sa pagtiniponan,ingua't mga maghali nak ityang nititiir sa osa't osa. Kinang iba ra'y nabisaya ogaling osang kapogdot yang ag kong naguya ay hilaw. Mahirap pati mag-imbita.
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Kong imo malimutan ka titulo et osang tawo, ikaw abongoyan. Raya pati sa titulo, ay kinang gingsisiling nak Ex. Osang adlaw ako ay nalisor. Waya Ex-Teacher kag ako pangayan sa imbistasyon. Hamak yang kina! Ako ay natapnan!
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Pagkayu-ar. Abang yu-ar. Ako perming guing bobola-bola sa katunlan kaling bisayang kali. Maramong kaonan kag ako nabalintongan sa Bantoon et kag Abril. Kada ako maing-kor, ak napangabay na ako masimyatan ka osang tawong hakog sa taba. It katong una, ka taba et baktin ay nopay pagka-oagnum kong ka yamor ay tabo. Mahanlas pati ka pa-ig. Ag ka siling et iba, buko ka kayake kong waya ka nilolunlon et taba. Ako ay masyadong malas. Wayang gador ako nakakita et tawong hangos-hangos sa kaon et taba!
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It kag 1961, ako ag si Chit Fondevilla nee Ferrera (BHS '56) ay nagtudlo sa Banton High School. Bag-o magtuna ka klase, kaming ruha ni Conchit –boko pa sida Chit - ay guing sugo nak magpatukar sa bukir et amo principal, Manong Boy Fabella. Ka amo objeto ay sumaka sa mga bayay sa bukir ag kumbenyuhon ka mga maguyang nak paarayon sa high school ka inra mga anak. Maramong inra mga rason: waya't matanom et balinghoy;waya't mapugo et manok; waya't masug-ot o waya sinra ganga. Ay ilam kung narurumruman pa kali it katong mga nag-aray sa High School it kag 1961.
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Tatlong buyan yang ako nagtudlo dahil bina-oy ako it Romblon High School. Pay akoy napahuda kang Manong Boy. Maaring tuna et kato, guing tuna-an ka pagpirma et contrata tuig-tuig sa mga maestro ag maestra sa Banton High School.oooMaaring kong buko kag bagyong Wanda, waya niyuntar ka Romblon Academy sa Odiongan it kag 1953. Pay ato nalimangan nak sambiton sa ato mga pagsuyat ka mga pangayan ni Adolfo Festin, Benito Fabon, Lito Faigao, Perla Fabicon ag Nenita Fabella. Wayo yang ka nag-graduate it kato!(tatlong Odionganon?) An-um yang tan-a kong buko rotong nawalang si Felipa Fabicon. Si Lito ag Perla ay talagang sa Odiongan High School ka tugpa kasunor sa ako ag si Deliciosa Fabicon. Ogaling yang, katong amo Nanay ay inde gustong mapahuda sa ida hale nak si Tatay Tino Fabella.
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On a clear day at Chicago's Grant Park, the anxious sea of humanity waited for the volunteer bikers -about 1800 strong -to arrive. At 4Pm, they did. They hoisted their bikes as they reached the finish line. The spectators applauded, They raised their banners of welcome. They hugged. They shed tears. They laughed. They smiled. The hush of love filtered through the summer heat.
They biked their hearts out in six days of heat - over steep hills and miles of pavement. They came from Minneapolis, Minnesota to its final destination in Chicago, the city of "broad shoulders."They biked for a noble purpose - these unsung heroes of the road - to help the victims of Aids. To join, a volunteer biker had to solicit financial pledges of $2,500.00. Two thousand bikers made it. Eighteen hundred completed the trip.
Each day was measured by whiz of pedal on feet of steel. Each day was a symbol of true grit. They moved on because another day was another challenge, a significance of their birthright to help the sick and afflicted. Each day a statement of their passion to love their neighbor. Each day a longing that hope is in the human heart.
They forgot about themselves five hundred miles from home. They gave away love.
I hugged my niece, Maria Theresa Joy Ferrera, a Bantoanon, who, one summer day biked so that in her own sweet way AIDS victims will have something to smile while others sleep.
Volume 1 No 3