Birth & Infancy

1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5

Since the aim of this collection of ambahans is to present a cross-section of the Mangyan poetic verse with respect to the life-cycle of the Mangyans, the first ambahans, to be chronological, should pertain to the first chapters of human life. The first ambahan is a sample of the unlimited fantasy, the ingenuity, and the touching tenderness that the Mangyan poet employs in recording so delicate a subject as birth. Where could one ever read a poem wherein the aborted lifeless baby speaks to his bereaved parents?

Introduction to Ambahan
Origin of Ambahan
Ambahan and Its Uses
Birth and Infancy
Childhood
Adolescence
Courtship
Home
Problems
Sickness
Food and work
Traveling
Hospitality and Friendship
Marriage
Old Age
Death

1. Magkunkuno ti anak lunas

2. Anong suyong muyuan

3. Anong bansay kayasan

4. Kang di way sa bilugan

5. Ako kanmo nga amban

6. Ako kan bansay huywan

7. Pagka ngap ak nirwasan

8. Pag idnas sa salsagan

9. Ud binabaw sa pupwan

10. Ud linilang sa duyan

11. Ti lumilang bay aban

12. Uyayi bansanayan

13. Sud-an sa bagunbunan

14. Ako inaghon diman

15. Tinakip dagaynaan

16. Tinambon di linyawan

17. Dapat bay una kunman

18. Aba hulin lumbadan

19. Kanta nga aldaw masdan

20. Hinton di nguna aban

21. Girangon yi rug-usan

22. Ti may pa-oy linyawan

23. Kang hulin talisigan

Says the baby, lifeless born:

My beloved mother dear,

Father, oh, my father dear!

When still resting in your womb,

Closely united with you,

I was Father's favorite.

Taken from my safe abode

placed upon the bamboo floor,

no one put me on your lap,

no one rocked me in a crib.

What became my crib at last,

was a hammock strongly built:

as a bed, a burial hill!

Discarded I was, unloved

Covering me was the cold earth

and the weeping sky above.

But although it will be like this,

a happier day will come.

Maybe it'll be coming soon!

And what will be happening then?

The old people weeping, sad,

in a darkening, mourning sky:

I will finally leave behind!


©Copyright Mangyan Heritage Center 2008©