I am half-blood Blaan and am proud of it. My Mother is a Blaan from Pomololok and my Father is one of those early settler's family of Gensan belonging to the Ilocano and Waray descendants.
My tribe's correct spelling is Blaan, NOT B'laan and definitely NOT Bilaan...the two most common words we read from publications and You Tube postings. To all my flanek Blaan, please let us start using the proper name of our tribe in every way we refer to our tribe so that we will not be mad when non-tribal folks are calling us differently just because they could not pronounce it properly. If we wanted other people to respect us, let us first show respect to our own identity...that is as basic as our tribal name. Think about yourself? Do you wanted your own name to be mis-spelled all the time? Well, just some thoughts to ponder upon.
My tribe's correct spelling is Blaan, NOT B'laan and definitely NOT Bilaan...the two most common words we read from publications and You Tube postings. To all my flanek Blaan, please let us start using the proper name of our tribe in every way we refer to our tribe so that we will not be mad when non-tribal folks are calling us differently just because they could not pronounce it properly. If we wanted other people to respect us, let us first show respect to our own identity...that is as basic as our tribal name. Think about yourself? Do you wanted your own name to be mis-spelled all the time? Well, just some thoughts to ponder upon.
 |
| My folks in Maligo, Polomolok, South Cotabato |
3 comments:
Greetings!
I am looking for someone from B'laan and I'm glad I found your blog. I am a composer and I have several questions about Lamgi (rice planting chant/song). Your assistance will be highly appreciated. Please send email to matttheworldnomad@gmail.com, so that I could contact you and ask you few questions about B'laan people.
Looking forward to your soonest reply.
Thank you
By the way, we call ourselves Blaan (please no apostrophe). Upland rice research is part of my work and MS thesis in Sarangani Province. What kind of info on Lamgi do you need?
"If we wanted other people to respect us, let us first show respect to our own identity...",
this should include the use of your own language to start with, unless Blaan are, just like any other Philippine peoples, another US made stuff.
Post a Comment