Tuesday, February 13, 2007
~ 2:13 PM ~
The Ateneo de Zamboanga University will host a National Conference on Tausug History and Culture. This conference will be held on February 21 and 22, 2007 at the Carlos Dominguez Conference Hall, Learning Resource Center (LRC) Building.
The event is part of a series of conferences aimed at promoting awareness, understanding and appreciation of the ethnolinguistic groups in Western Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago. The conference series is one of Ateneo's contributions towards the promotion of the integration of local history and culture into the regular instruction curriculum in Western Mindanao schools, colleges, and universities. This long-term work is, in turn, part of the greater efforts to promote peace through better inter-cultural understanding and appreciation.
In the past, Ateneo de Zamboanga University has hosted well-attended conferences on Western Mindanao in 1899 (May 10-11, 1999), on Chabacano Language (Nov. 11-12, 1999), on the Culture and History of Bajau (Feb. 26-27, 2001), on Subanon Culture and History (Feb. 18-19, 2002), and on Yakan Culture and History (Feb. 23-24, 2004). More than a hundred participants are expected to attend this year's Tausug Conference, composed mainly of educators, media personnel, church, government, and NGOs, students, researchers, and cultural promoters.
The Conference's main offering is a series of paper presentations by historians, anthropologists, folklore researchers, and Tausug resource persons. To be discussed are topics on Tausug: History (by Dr. Asiri J. Abubakar of UP-Diliman), Art (by Dr. Abraham P. Sakili of UP-Diliman), Language and Literature (by Dr. Calbi Asain of MSU-Jolo), Food (by Dr. Norama A. Abdulla of Jolo, Sulu), Customs and Beliefs (by Atty. Mehol Sadain), Gender and Kinship (by Dr. Carmen A. Abubakar of UP-Diliman), Politics and Governance (by Prof. Julkipli Wadi of UP-Diliman), Conflict (by Dr. Jamail A. Kamlian of MSU-IIT), Pangalay (by Ms. Ligaya Amilbangsa), Peace and Development (by Dr. Santanina T. Rasul), and Preservation of Intangible Heritage (by Dr. Jesus T. Peralta of the NCCA). The papers will be published in the Culture and Peace Studies, the Ateneo de Zamboanga University journal on peace and culture. The conference will also feature some special cultural presentations by local Tausug groups. In addition, some Tausug artifacts, attire, food, music, and dance are to be showcased and appreciated.
Taking the lead in organizing this conference is the Ateneo's Institute of Cultural Studies for Western Mindanao (ICSWM). Also, part of the organizing team are personnel from the Ateneo Peace Institute (API), Center for Performing and Visual Arts (CPVA), Scholarship's Office, President's Office, Project's Office, Campus Ministry, College of Liberal Arts, and some Ateneo friends.
For more information about the conference and pre-registration, please contact Mr. Ellery Ivan E. Apolinario at the ICSWM Office, ADZU, telephone number (062) 991-0871 local 4200 (email: icswm@central.adzu.edu.ph). For those who wish to provide financial assistance and/or donate printed materials and cultural artifacts, please contact Ms. Tricia Mae D. Manulong at (062) 991-0871 local 4201 (email: drapizatrir@central.adzu.edu.ph)
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Monday, February 12, 2007
~ 12:54 PM ~
As early as the fourth century B.C., the
Romans engaged in an annual young man's rite of passage to the god Lupercus.
The names of teenage women were placed
in a box and drawn at random by adolescent men.
Thus, a man was assigned a woman companion, for their mutual entertainment and pleasure (often sexual), for the duration of a year, after which another lottery was staged.
Determined to put an end to this 800-year-old practice,
the early Catholic Church fathers sought a "lovers" saint to help turn away from the deity Lupercus. They found a likely
candidate in Valentine, a bishop who had been martyred some 200 years earlier.
Traditionally, mid-February was a time for Romans to meet and court prospective mates. Young men offered women they admired and wished to court handwritten greetings of affection on February 14. The cards acquired St. Valentine's name.
As Christianity spread, so did the Valentine's Day card.
The earliest one was sent in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower
of London. It is now in the British Museum.
The first American publisher of Valentines was printer and artist Esther Howland. Her elaborate
lace cards of the 1870s cost from five to ten dollars, with some selling for as much as thirty-five dollars.
Since that time, the Valentine card business has flourished.
Except for Christmas, Catholics exchange more cards on Valentine's Day than at any other time of the year.
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I feel much better now.
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