Article by Joy Rosal-Sumagaysay, first published in 1996 in the Souvenir Program of the Nuestra Sra. de la Candelaria.
Photo courtesy of Jun Rojas
The belfry, campanario, or belltower is a given fixture of every Catholic church. It houses the bells, which basically toll the hours, call the people to mass, and announce important events.
During the Spanish times, the belfry also served as watchtower against invaders. Such was the case of the Jaro belfry built around 1744. Made of bricks and limestone blocks, it was a three story tower 29 meters high. (more…)
This is the awesome chapel (capilla) window at Janiuay cemetery. The design is gothic-inspired as seen in its lancet arch. Although the Janiuay cemetery is only a shadow of its former self, this intricate stone tracery (artisans were “imported” from Manila) gives us an idea of how elaborate it must have been to be declared as the most beautiful in the Philippines during its time. (more…)
Ukay-ukay or UK or RILIP…that’s what we Ilonggos call the second-hand imported clothes, bags, shoes, bed sheets, and curtains that are sold at Iloilo’s public markets and plazas and street corners. Ukay literally means to make a mess and that’s what Ilonggos do as they dig into towering mounds of clothing for their best find. The term Ukay-ukay can also be shortened to UK thereby lending it a sosi or sosyal (classy) image. The term RILIP is derived from relief (relief goods) . It is said that the first ukay-ukays some years back were originally meant as aid sent from America for calamity victims in the Philippines. (more…)
A popular street cooler in Iloilo is the ice crumble (pronounced as ice scramble…we Ilonggos have a peculiar way of distorting words, hehe).
Ice crumble is basically shaved ice mixed with powdered skimmed milk, plenty of sugar, food color and flavoring. Using a giant egg beater, mixing is not done in a blender but a tin pail! Talk about Ilonggo ingenuity.
The ice crumble cart I feature above we found in Leganes plaza. The boy’s cool recipe impressed me for it had bits of real mango in it.
Meet Manang Egly. She did the embroidery on that bright red shawl I posted earlier. Manang Egly holds the honor of being a Panubok master. At the Panubok contest held in Tapaz, Capiz, I ordered a blouse used for the PanayBukidnon’s Binanog dance. It took her more than a month to finish. I didn’t mind the long wait. The rich and colorful embroidery was all done by hand. And her workmanship. Wow!
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Tonight, I happened to be browsing over my unfiled photos when I came across a set of pixes on the artistry of the Panay Bukidnon, an ethnic minority, proudly Ilonggo, residing in the highlands of Lambunao, Iloilo and Tapas, Capiz.
Upon the invitation of Dr. Alicia Magos, a cultural anthropologist recently retired from the University of the Philippines in the Visayas, I was invited to judge at a contest on the amazing hand embroideries of the Panay Bukidnon. (more…)
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You see dem all over Iloilo, usually at busy places such as this Sunday market at Leganes Plaza. With a barbeque stand of welded iron bars, a bag of uling (charcoal) and the inug-asal (the meat to be barbequed) , all is set for the manug-inasal or sometimes manug-asal. (more…)
Meet Martin Genodepa, Ilonggo visual artist who specializes in coral stone sculpture. Not to worry, environmentalists. Martin, who lives in the southern coastal town of Guimbal, does not extract corals from under the sea. Martin acquires coral stone blocks that have hardened off the shorelines of Guimbal to San Joaquin to as far as Antique. On that orange wall, a section of his lovely beach house (Inday Hami just loves it!) are two examples of his numerous works. (more…)
i wonder which tastes better– yellow monggo or green monggo?
Monggo. another staple of indigenous Ilonggo cooking. Some monggo dishes are:
Monggo with langka
Monggo with kalabasa and dahon sang camote
Monggo with ubad
Guinat-an nga monggo
