I finally got the balls to start this blog. So here it is.
There are several ways to read this blog. I would prefer that you do it my way, though.
1. Since this isn't an official Maranao website, always keep in mind that whatever I say here is my opinion, from MY point of view. There is no malicious intent to smear the Maranao culture (okay, maybe occasionally VERY LITTLE), but if it does happen, I'm sure it's with best interest at heart.
2. This blog will be entirely in English, and if I do say things in either Tagalog or Maranao (or any other Filipino dialect), I will be translating them to English. Mainly because the blog is for everyone online, whether or not the reader is Maranao.
3. I tend to mention taboo topics, which we call pamaliyan or mawag, so if you are sensitive to these, I advise you to resist the temptation to keep reading this blog. In fact, here's a sample:
SEX!
If your eyes hurt at the sight of that word, close your browser immediately, turn off your computer, and try to forget about this blog.
4. I'm a fluent Maranao speaker, but of course I slip up often. If you speak the language, feel free to correct me. However, I will still decide if your correction is right, so please explain or provide an argument.
5. I am kind of narcissistic, and I will tend to write about myself a lot. Expect it.
6. A lot of the things about Maranaos that are found online have something to do with the (proper) culture, some old traditions, our beautiful art and Moro politics. Although I might occasionally talk about these topics in this blog, for the most part, I will tend to talk about the daily mundane habits of Maranaos.
7. I will post a lot of pictures to entertain those of you who are visual readers. Under each photo is a link that acts as a caption as well. When this link is clicked, it will (hopefully) direct you to the source of the photo. For instance:
Original watercolor painting by Fe Seligman.
Please click the link to go to the source site.
I really liked this one. If I had money, I'd purchase it at once.
8. I will be updating this blog several times a week, depending on my mood swings, or the events in my life that beg for a rant about the Maranao lifestyle.
9. Comments are most welcome, hate mail or otherwise. Please try to include your name, as anonymous posts are nakaka-irita, mataan (really annoying). If you don't want to identify yourself, fine, write a nickname, a screen name, your neighbor's name, whatever. Just write a name.
10. Some of you might not be in the mood to comment. There is a little survey thingie at the end of each post that asks what you think about it.
11. I would appreciate any link to any website that mentions Maranaos. Anything to tell the world about us. I mean, everyone's doing it, man. We gotta get moving. So spread the wurrd!!
Enjoy!
11 comments:
Here's something I want to know about the Maranaos:
Where are the originally from?
What does the word Maranao mean?
Why/How are the Maranaos any different from the rest of the Kabayans?
Do the Maranaos have GLBT communities? Wait, are they THE GLBTs in Khalidiyya?
Much appreciated.
Oi, Hning! Nice to see you here. Please bring your blog's readers with you. :)
I think we come from you people.
"Ranao" means Lake. Maranao is what we call the people of the Lake, since, well, they live by the big Lake.
I started to write a blog on how to differentiate a Maranao from other Kabayans, but I'm having a bad blog day. Here's the first part:
http://the-maranao.blogspot.com/2009/04/id.html
I have no idea what GLBT stands for. For every 15 Kabayans in Khalidiyya, there is 1 Maranao. Approximate.
Thanks for reading.
No one is really sure where the Maranao came from. Some say it branched out from the Maguindanao tribe. Some says its from the Iranun. Some argues that they descended from the children of Sarip Kabungsuan.
But the story I like the most is that they are former pirates of the Southern Seas. I mean not all of them but certain group of Maranaos used to raid the entire China sea for slaves and selling it to the Sultan of Sulu, the Sultan of Brunei, etc.
In fact the satellite communities they establish as their lunching base for piracy in Sabah and Sulawesi still exist to this days. If you go to the place like Kota Belut, they speak Maranao with some variation but you can perfectly communicate in Maranao.
Akram:
I didn't know that about Sabah and Sulawesi! Interesting stuff!
I read and listen a lot to Darangen and as it says, people came from Maluku (Moluccas) within Sulawesi region. On arrival at the newfoundland, they split into groups from which we now have Solog, Maguindanao and Manado (northernmost part of Indonesia). Those landed at Manado moved further eastward and found the Ilian a Bembaran ( i.e. rolling mountainous and windy place (now Bukidnon plateu). Among them, perhaps the most exploring ones found their way at the now Cristina falls. They trekked through the other end of the river and found Ranao (Danau). If we can have a more scientific comparison of Maluku people and Meranaos, then this theory is most plausible.
'Igira pagdaren so ranon sa Ranao na di mipendarainon so adat sa Maluku a lomimbay sa Solog na pened sa Magindanao na samporna sa Manado na go bo makadanon sa Ranao...' goes like when the pride of Ranao gets to be related, then it ought to be remembered the origins in Maluku which passedby Solog (Sulu) and inhabited Magindanao then ruled over Manado...
Darangen speaks extensively on the political domains of Ranao.
i like this, i like this. :)
ei, you can also check www.ranaocouncil.com. there's this beautiful translation of the darangen by dr. nosca khalid (sort of like w.h.d. rouse's translation of homer's iliad and odyssey). it's really interesting.
one theory i know about where the meranaos originated is that we are actually iranons also. iranon doesn't really mean "iranaon" (person of the lake), but "iraranon" (people missed) because the ancestors of the iranon and the meranao are people from parts of southeast asia (malay region, indonesian archipelago, etc.), who were traders/travellers, so "iraranon siran o minibagak iran." something like that. it's cool really to study and read of our culture. i luuurve it! :)
miyamboway ka!!! :)
Thank you, dahlings. We will do this. :)
wow. we're making history here!!!
Hi! I'm a taga-ilog(Tagalog). I dunno how else to explain this so I'll just be straightforward. :-)
Would you, or anyone here, be soooo kind to please teach me how to speak Maranao?
How I will requite your kindness I have no idea. I guess I'll just try to be a really good student. :D
Warning: My Wernicke's area is rather small. But I have a treasury of willingess. Please help me learn the language.
Laya Manawari
kayelayaan@gmail.com
@Laya Manawari
Hmm, interesting! I'm sure we can work something out. Do you live in Lanao?
First, my apologies for having taken this long to reply to your reply. :-) 'had a quite busy week at work.
I'm glad your fine with my proposition. :-D You have no idea how much I want to learn Maranao. And to your question, nope, I don't live in Lanao. I stay in Cavite. There are a lot of Maranaos here, though. :)
I know some basic words but they're BASIC. And, it's so hard to achieve mastery when you don't get to practice sentence construction regularly. And, I'd be dead honest with you...I'm actually trying to impress a friend. LOL.
I hope I'm not asking too much...
Laya Manawari
kayelayaan@gmail.com
Post a Comment