ABOUT THE BOOK

Matan-ayon (Ayon), mother to Nagmalitong Yawa (Mali), and wife of Labaw Donggon (Abaw), is already an elderly woman in this story. Her failure to perform her surondon, a mandatory ceremony that would have allowed her to interact with her ancestral spirit beings through the buruhisan rite, is the cause of her emaciated condition. The renowned ritualist Ginduluman suggests doing the ceremony as soon as possible to appease them.

After that, a large ritual is prepared. A sizable crowd, including the entire hamlet, attends the ceremony. Since Ayon is the heir to her mother’s skill, Mali is required to attend a ritual, which transfers power onto Ayon. But her husband, Humadapnon, would not allow her to be on the beach where the ritual will be held. Mali thinks Humadapnon is being jealous, only to learn later that he had gone to the shore courting other binukot (beautiful kept maidens). This hurts Mali so much.

Mali uses her power to transform a magical pillow that resembles her. She instructs her twin to sit on other men’s laps and gently informs them that she will soon pass away while feigning a terrible stomachache. She is already rather frustrated with her husband, so she seeks her grandma Laonsina for assistance in getting her to langit (sky). In the meantime, her actual body has already been lifted into the sky in a gold tayakan (big basket). Mali’s beautiful retaliation against her womanizing husband, who has grown envious of Mali’s actions, comes from the heavens.

ABOUT THE CHANTER

Federico Caballero was born in Barangay Masaroy, Calinog, Iloilo, and came from a long family line of epic chanters. He helped pioneer the first School of Living Traditions (SLT) in the Visayas in Barangay Garangan, Calinog, Iloilo, teaching epic chanting along with other Panay-Bukidnon arts through his wife’s and siblings’ assistance. He died on August 17, 2024, at the age of eighty-five, leaving a collection of thirteen titles in the Sugidanon (Epics) of Panay series published by the UP Press.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR AND RESEARCHER

Dr. Alicia P. Magos is professor emeritus from UP Visayas. Her work on the Sugidanon (Epics) of Panay spans more than three decades. Together with Federico Caballero, she spearheaded the first School of Living Traditions (SLT) at Barangay Garangan, Calinog, Iloilo, revitalizing the Panay Bukidnon’s epic chanting and their long-forgotten or abandoned needlework called panubok (from tubok, “to slip a needle inside a cloth”).

ABOUT THE RESEARCHER

Anna Razel Limoso-Ramirez is the project coordinator for the publication of Sugidanon (Epics) of Panay and the main translator of these epics in contemporary Kinaray-a and English. A graduate of UP Visayas both for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, she is an indefatigable field researcher and writer who has conducted numerous studies, produced video documentaries, and spoken in lectures about the Central Panay environment and communities, being one of the few researchers focused on Panay studies.