bayanihan
“BAYANIHAN” is a term that came to mind when I read about the rallies in Egypt, a people protesting the three-decade rule of President Hosni Mubarak and the reaction of the pro- Mubarak groups. The latest update I got at press time is about the clashes between the anti-Mubarak and the pro-Mubarak, reported to have resulted in the death of three people and the injury of 600, maybe more.
In Cairo, a pro-Mubarak group rushed into the anti-Mubarak rally on horseback and camels, using whips and sticks, trampling protestors. This, in a fight within a nation of one people, against the 81-year-old dictator who insists on sticking to his throne.
For me, the term “bayanihan” also comes with the thought of the anniversary of People Power a couple of weeks from now. It was the result of a bayanihan.
Bayanihan is what Filipinos are—related genetically and abstractly— families, relatives, neighbors, friends. If they can help it, they don’t hurt each other, not terribly.
In grade school, the word “bayanihan” was taught to us and I’d keep in mind the picture of happy men carrying a nipa hut. It was, at first, very strange to me as a city girl, then it became a part of my personal reflection on the culture of the Filipino.
The tradition in the towns of neighbors carrying a house to a new location may not have stayed through the years. You don’t see men now carrying a house using bamboo poles as a frame by which to lift the stilts from the ground. With this was the tradition of a get-together afterwards, as in a small fiesta, humbly hosted by the family whose house it was, as a way of thanking the helpful guys.
Gone is the picture of a house being carried across the street, right? But the bayanihan spirit has stayed here in the country and out in the world where the OFWs are. I saw it in People Power ’86 as it called the attention of peoples around the world. You might not look at it anymore in the same way we saw it 15 years ago, but the peaceful revolution happened and we
In Cairo, a pro-Mubarak group rushed into the anti-Mubarak rally on horseback and camels, using whips and sticks, trampling protestors. This, in a fight within a nation of one people, against the 81-year-old dictator who insists on sticking to his throne.
For me, the term “bayanihan” also comes with the thought of the anniversary of People Power a couple of weeks from now. It was the result of a bayanihan.
Bayanihan is what Filipinos are—related genetically and abstractly— families, relatives, neighbors, friends. If they can help it, they don’t hurt each other, not terribly.
In grade school, the word “bayanihan” was taught to us and I’d keep in mind the picture of happy men carrying a nipa hut. It was, at first, very strange to me as a city girl, then it became a part of my personal reflection on the culture of the Filipino.
The tradition in the towns of neighbors carrying a house to a new location may not have stayed through the years. You don’t see men now carrying a house using bamboo poles as a frame by which to lift the stilts from the ground. With this was the tradition of a get-together afterwards, as in a small fiesta, humbly hosted by the family whose house it was, as a way of thanking the helpful guys.
Gone is the picture of a house being carried across the street, right? But the bayanihan spirit has stayed here in the country and out in the world where the OFWs are. I saw it in People Power ’86 as it called the attention of peoples around the world. You might not look at it anymore in the same way we saw it 15 years ago, but the peaceful revolution happened and we