Honoring the dead and spirits of ancestors in Tabawan

The day of the Pagkamboan started early. Before the sun rose as the community was still sleeping, elders and religious leaders gathered for a meeting inside the luma maheya and decided to go to Bumbun ahead of the crowd to perform the little rituals on each grave, knowing they would be pulled here and there by people to say a prayer on the graves of relatives and family members. As the rays of the sun crept through the rows of roofs, the elders boarded a boat and headed to Bumbun.

By seven in the morning, families, groups of friends and their guests in small boats started to make their way to the graveyard island. Later, more boats appeared until a line of boats has formed like a procession on water. The shore of Bumbun would be covered with boats. Those who arrived late would have to hop from boat to boat to reach the shore.

The graves were marked by the sunduk, the grave marker of the Sama, made of wood or stone. There are two kinds of sunduk—the phallic ones, indicating the dead was male, and the flat ones, indicating the dead was female. The traditional ones are characterized by decorative carvings called ukkil or okir.

The graveyard was now busy with people. For Catholic Filipinos, the scene is reminiscent of the undas on 1 November. Many other cultures also hold similar celebrations and practices of honoring the dead, such as the Pitru Paksha practices of the Hindus in India and the Qing Ming Festival of the Chinese. In Sulawesi Island of Indonesia, the Torajan people hold the Ma’Nene every three years after rice harvest, when they bring out the corpses of dead family members, clean them and dress them up in new clothes.

Tabawan residents gathered sand and replenished the graves that have eroded through the year. Elders or imams performed the ceremonial pouring of water using a coconut shell over the sunduk and recited prayers or supplications. Some would leave items, such as cigarettes, favorites of the dead when they were still living, as offerings.

By late morning, residents returned to their homes and continued preparing food for offering and feasting. The food items, dishes and drinks went to the preparation of the dulang, which refers to the traditional circular food trays as well as the arrangement of food on the dulang, or modern receptacles in place of the dulang. Plastic or aluminum tubs or basins are now commonly used.

We dropped by the busy kitchen of Tang-ngah barangay captain Nuthamima Abdurajak Sarajan, who was cooking up a feast with the help of her sisters Sitti Jumliha Abdurajak and Nurbaria Abdurajak, constantly moving around kitchen and dissipating the steam that came out from the pots. They showed us the different stews and their wadjit, a sweet treat made of black glutinous rice.

By noon, residents began bringing their dulangs to the luma pagkamboan in their area. We passed by the luma pagkamboan in the barangay of Laud, which was beginning to be filled with dulangs. But the Tang-ngah luma pagkamboan has been the most popular one for residents. Soon, the house overflowed with dulangs, spilling into the letehan. More people still arrived bearing their dulangs. Those who resided far from the luma pagkamboan arrived by boats.

Surrounded by a sea of dulangs inside the luma pagkamboan, the elders and imams started the pagduwa-a, praying for thanksgiving and supplications to the ancestor spirits, both in the Central Sama, the language of their ancestors, and in Arabic, the language of their religion, and inviting them to partake of the feast or food offerings.

“Pagkamboan recognizes the interconnection, interdependence and harmonious relationship between the world of the living and the ancestral spirits and dead members of the community, who they invoke and talk to from time to time in the graveyard or in the ancestors’ house as if they are beings in a different dimension or parallel universe,” Jahuran explained.

He said, “This shared communal value provides social cohesion among the inhabitants of the island community.”

Though still practiced, the Pagkamboan is in danger of vanishing together with other traditions, many distinct to the island. The old, traditional structures are also experiencing disrepair. A heritage advocate, Jahuran authored an ordination identifying Tabawan’s intangible and tangible pusaka kamboan or cultural heritage and mandating their safeguarding. It was unanimously passed on 16 November 2020. The list included structures and sites, such as the langgal, the luma maheya, the Bohe Deya or forest well, the entosan (traditional log pressing mechanism), laitan (an island for sail stitching), Kuta Tabawan or Tabawan Fort, which some believe to have been built before the arrival of Islam, and Bumbun. Identified intangible cultural heritage elements are paghinang sunduk or the making of traditional wooded grave markers; pag-anom tepo Tabawan or the weaving of Tabawan mats; pagjamu, the communal spirit appeasement ritual; pagduwata, a healing ritual; igal Tabawan, or traditional dance with steps unique to Tabawan; tagunggu’an Tabawan or titik Tabawan, traditional ensemble music; panyam maka ja or the making of traditional ritual rice cakes; and the Pagkamboan.

After the pagduwa-a, residents retrieved their dulangs and brought them to their homes. The feasting began, where everyone is invited. We had the honor to partake of a meal with the village elders. Our hosts invited us to a second one in their home. There would be more invitations to eat as we wound our way through the community. A large family and their friends and neighbors partook of a feast laid out on the walkway beside their house, and anyone who passed by was invited to join in.

Here in Tabawan Island during pagkamboan, food is also an important part, bringing together people, even of different cultures, and it also connects the living and the departed, those who are away from home, the body and the spirit, from the past and the present and, hopefully, the future.