Comments on: Magellan induced a ‘current affair’

By: Sto. Nino Confradia Fiesta | The Filipino Australian

Sto. Nino Confradia Fiesta | The Filipino Australian — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:58:01 +0000

[...] amount of devotees from afar, a figure put at 3,000 by Mitchell Badelles in his blog article “Magellan induced a current affair” and also commented that ‘devotees literally packed the church to the walls and overflowed into [...]

By: Mitchell Badelles

Mitchell Badelles — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:28:25 +0000

A friend asked,”isn’t it sinulog or “go with the flow” because if sulog is water current then sinulog is go with the current?”

Bay Julius, I would say you’re also correct with your interpretation of the word Sinulog. My best analogy would be to think in tagalog, ‘parang sulog’, same as sinawali, parang sawali. Running along this kind of thinking, to ‘go with the current’ would be nagpasulog, or nagpa anod-anod. Keeping in mind that the dance is moving forward and backward imitating the water current, I guess Sinulog sounds better than anod-anod, and sinulog also rolls off the tongue easier.

By: Mitchell Badelles

Mitchell Badelles — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:21:01 +0000

Hi Michelle,
The majority of my youth was spent in Iligan City in Mindanao and in Cebu City in the Visayas. An influential part of it was spent with people who live in, not quite slums, but in poor areas where families live under someone else’s house, or a whole family in a one room payag/kubo/hut.
What i loved most was the humour and the way they made me feel like I was part of their family. Whatever meagre food there was, was shared among all, regardless of how many people there were.
I find similarities in this kind of humour, with Australian humour. The best example, as i showed in what i have written, is the word, ‘baptise’. I have often heard my lola say, “bunyagi ang bagonbilya” (water the bougainvillea plants). Bunyag to me means to christen, bless or shower with water.
For me, the best way to understand Australian humour is to live in the country. I spent some time in Bombala, NSW and love the South Coast.I experienced humour similar to what I experienced in the Philippines. For this, I am proud to be Australian and Filipino.
Bulahan ka!

By: Mitchell Badelles

Mitchell Badelles — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:55:03 +0000

Hi Vicente,

Salamat sa imong pag basa sa akong gisulat.
Where are you based? Please come to next year’s fiesta Sto Niño. I’m glad you found it interesting. I’d like to know what sparked your interest and most specially, how you found this to be absorbing. Was it the information, or the way it was written? I wrote this based on experience and what my grandparents have told me. The Cofradia Del Santo Nino has been celebrating this event for the last 20 years here in Blacktown. I would like to get feedback in the hope of always being able to improve how I write.

It seems you have an extensive library. More than mine anyway. I don’t know of an anonymous eyewitness that you mention here but please type the name “Hara Amihan” into your search engine and you will find at least 8 links, as I did. One of them is in Spanish.

Pit Senor!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:24:19 +0000

Ha ha Mitchell! You’re views are always tongue-in-cheek! :p

but you’re right about water!

By: The Filipino Australian Blogs » Blog Archive » Welcome to our community blogs

The Filipino Australian Blogs » Blog Archive » Welcome to our community blogs — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:38:20 +0000

[...] Badelles is an active community leader and an exponent of Philippine heritage including Philippine martial arts. He runs his own business under Cosmo Stellar, an environmental [...]

By: Vicente Calibo de Jesus

Vicente Calibo de Jesus — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:13:41 +0000

Very interesting article and absorbing read.

May I just ask where the name “Hara Amihan” is found? I have checked all the primary and secondary accounts of Magellan’s voyage–those by Antonio Pigafetta, Gines de Mafra, The Genoese Pilot, Francisco Albo, Martin Dayamonte, The Anonymous Portuguese, Sebastian Elcano, Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, Maximilianus Transylvanus, Antonio de Brito, The Leiden Narrative–and I don’t recall having come across this name.

Maybe there’s an anonymous eyewitness account that has this name?

VICENTE CALIBO DE JESUS