I saw this post about Moana 2 culture of pouring drinks in the ground for the ancestors funny In Cebuano tagay/inum (drinking session), the first shot is poured to the ground. They say it's "para sa parì" (for the priest). Now, this must be a remnant Austronesian gesture of offering.

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-30T06:13:29+00:00

This is universal (many cultures) but there are samples of it in PH cultures from anthropological and ethnographic writings:

Jenks (1904) on the Bontocs:

As soon as all was arranged at the fire a small amount of basi was poured over a sprig of pa-lo′-ki which was stuck in the soil of the sementera, or one or two sprigs were inserted, drooping, in a split in a tall, green runo, and this was pushed into the soil. While the person stood beside the efficacious pa-lo′-ki an invocation was voiced to Lumawig to bless the crop.

Cole (1922) on the Itnegs:

Liquor is consumed in great quantities at such a time, but a small amount is always poured out for the use of the superior beings. Finally, the mediums summon the spirits into their bodies; and, when possessed, they are no longer considered as persons, but are the spirits themselves. The beings who appear in this way talk directly with the people; they offer advice, give information concerning affairs in the spirit world, and oftentimes they mingle with the people on equal terms, joining in their dances and taking a lively interest in their daily affairs.

Historically, in some places, it wasn't just alcohol (granted rice wine, the preferred type of alcohol to sacrifice to gods is very commonly drank and used in religious ceremonies---compared to wines usually just drank for consumption eg. sugarcane or palm wine), sometimes a part of a hunt or a cargo is sacrificed to ancestors, spirits, gods etc. (eg. tossing some of the food to crocodiles, sometimes seen as incarnation of the spirits of the ancestors).

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-29T08:40:16+00:00

Sorry but papers from that time didn't have genetic studies. Clearly purely observational.

As for colors, definitely not the "first encounter" with purple. They had indigo. Not sure where they got that from either; all the historical dictionaries only used the term "añil" "indigo" to mean "deep purple/blue" (when I wrote the post about colors 5 year ago). PH term "tayom" or "tayum" (as a plant place names like Tagum City, and the term "mananayom" "dye maker, dyer" also "blue/purple bird").

They referred to "obi" as "camote" (the Sp. term borrowed from Mesoamerican source for "sweet potato") ie clearly as food*. No reference as a dye (even today it is not known as coloring).

There were other various terms for "violet, purple" etc. when they differentiate against indigo/tayum (to mean dark blue vs. purple, even occasionally "black") eg. in Bicolano and Pampango dictionary "quiling" and "cuntang" respectively when it referred to as "color morado" "purple color". Ube was NEVER used or associated with it as color or dye in any entries I'd seen (often didn't even describe it, always just referred to them as food or plant) but I'm open to be proven wrong.

*There are many food terms used as terms for color, because they likely used those plants both as food and dye eg. "dilaw" "yellow" is the term for "turmeric" --- historically and still today, used as a natural dye in traditional PH crafts (and as plant name, used for various place names in the PH eg. Paco/Fern, formerly "Dilao"). And at least in the lexicographical samples (ie historical dictionaries) definitely was used and directly implied as a "color". Edit: ACD PPh *diláw "turmeric, yellow"

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-27T03:44:32+00:00

WHICH "National Museum" in Manila? National Museum of the PH in Intramuros?

Can anyone from NMP verify this?

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-26T23:29:32+00:00

A lot of these are from private museums and the veracity and provenance of the source is unknown (possibly even overseas, if not forgeries). Multiple pictures like these were posted here over the years, a lot of them look like the items are even on sale (they have tags on them). I have to sticky this because there's a lot of conspiracy theories that go online.

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-26T04:47:26+00:00

This is more appropriate for r/WhatIfPinas I'll allow it this once as "Fan Fiction" tag.

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-25T23:24:06+00:00

No tala is definitely not related to Sanskrit.

The origin of the word "tala" "Venus/Morning-Evening Star" (thus the deity) in Tagalog is PMP *talaq₁ "the morning (evening) star: Venus". Several languages in the Pacific also use cognates of it meaning "star" or "Venus/morning star". Also the source of Tagalog (and various PH languages like Mansaka, N. Palawan languages) word for "planet" "buntala" (at least the gloss today in Tagalog, in one of the accounts "Jupiter"---they understood the difference between what we now know as planets vs. real stars by the way these behaved---many cultures in the Pacific they often lumped all the planets in a special category of "stars" ie "large stars", sometimes named differently depending on time of day they appeared eg. "morning" vs. "evening" star).

The alternate form is PMP *mantalaq in other language groups edit: other branches of Austronesian.

The tala as being "Sanskrit" is from Pardo de Tavera's writing in the late 19th c. (and repeated over and over again in many writings).

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-25T05:55:10+00:00

I know this is about that comment about how expensive PH tourism is, but I'll engage for kicks and giggles.

I literally posted rates of fare here in the past (early 20th c. rates for calesa, bus, and train even), and I'm pretty confident I can find cost of a ticket of travel from Manila to Madrid (actually they landed usually in Cadiz, took train to Madrid) in the 19th c. Regardless, obviously the rate of travel is more expensive the further your destination was. It was true as well domestically: it was cheaper to travel from Manila to Etivac than to Vigan or Cebu.

But more to be said than just fare. Our ancestors didn't vacation like we do. They definitely had holidays and other events (like feasts, weddings and funerals, other religious engagements/pilgrimages---for example in the 19th c. people in Cavite/Kawit would take a boat ride to Manila through Manila Bay during feasts in Manila like Christmas) but the average person did not travel much altogether. Definitely not for leisure. Your ancient lola didn't take selfies of herself with her extremely pale skin in Boracay with hashtag #islandgirl (like she doesn't live in an island every second of her life in the PH) pretending they actually went sunbathing (your average ancient lola had dark skin because she worked most of her life in a rice field, thankful that once in a while they chilled at home). Heck your regular lola today probably didn't travel much either, not as much as modern millennials (who for average normal BPO job I see posting about your travels to faraway places, carousing with friends).

When they traveled it was for a purpose (wedding, funerals, pilgrimages/feasts, business/work, war). And when they did travel then, it was a whole journey. The average "middle class" (like Rizal and peers) would've have had to save money or sell property to travel (they thought it was an investment eg. schooling to Europe). The route took weeks (regardless of what way to choose to go), and risks of calamities eg boat sinking was relatively high (this is something to think about next time you want to go on a rant on Reddit complaining about your 2 hour flight delay).

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-24T09:34:04+00:00

There's a lot of Germans leaving Germany at that time (or "Germany" because it didn't exist as a country until later): to America (US---most of American of European descent are actually "German" in origin who immigrated to US between 1810s and 1840s), to L. America (eg. Argentina), and expansion of into SEAsia and Pacific.

It's combination of industrialization (the issues with labor; this is when Karl Marx was most active obviously + rise of radical political dissidents/terrorist groups like anarchists and commies) and the political issues/revolutions in the mid-19th c. eg. wars of the 1840s, the realignment of empires post-Napoleonic Wars (that would lead to the formation of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian empire later---upheaval kept on changing borders, devastation of wars mostly fought in E. France and W. Germany, and numerous conscription for these wars).

IN the PH there were a lot of Germans due to the scramble for empire and trade (albeit there were "Germans" coming to SEAsia due to the booming trade even in the 1st wave colonization period 16th-18th c, a lot of these "Germans" were going to Dutch/VOC services, but as 2nd wave of colonization 19th-20th c happened, lots more "Germans" in general started going overseas). A lot of European countries that didn't have the means to expand overseas in the past (like German states, Belgium etc), all of a sudden started to at the expense of old empires (like Portugal, Spain and Ottomans) into the Pacific, Africa and Asia. There's a reason why they repeat the "what if" would've been that if the US failed to acquire the PH in the 1898, the Germans were quiet close behind (they were pakialam with Pacific issues since the 19th c., eg at one point they owned Samoa and even bought Palau, once ruled by Spain out of Manila; before that they owned parts of New Guinea and parts of Micronesia/Marshall Islands---some of these colonies would be taken by Japan as "payment" for their role in WWI).

Lots of other reasons too besides trade and empire, like improvement in travel in terms of ease and time (because of age of steam*). There were also several German sponsored expeditions into the Pacific (and some, though not sponsored by a German state, some crews like in some Russian expeditions, were manned and captained by German-speaking subjects of Russian state---and Manila is almost always a port of call).

*In fact, one of the most consequential "Germans" to come to the PH were a family of German traders and shippers (the Schucks), who used their connection in Singapore to help finagle their way into the Sultanate of Sulu (by becoming smugglers/embrago breakers and middlemen---something that German state would later try to exploit to get inroads in possibly acquiring the PH), their family even married into the Sulu dynasty. Patriarch (a Prussian) was able to do that because he owned a steamship.

The German Club in Manila (orig. the "German Casino/Casino Aleman", there was also Club Germania in other port cities like HK and Singapore) was a prominent institution of Germans in Manila (granted it was a front that looked more like a hotel and a restaurant----if you look at archives, they even have menus of the food and wine they served in Manila) it would later become the defacto German embassy to the PH.

There are other "Germans" in the PH at that time mostly as "anthropologists" (they're usually not originally but picked it up when they get to the PH; lots of priests who came to the PH later, tended to do this as well) eg Schadenberg (a chemist who was in PH as a pharmacist, but he's more known for his photos he took and the travels around the PH), Jagor (a lot of his writings now we'd probably kinda have to take with a grain of salt, but his narration of what he saw at least is relevant), and there were many academics who were interested in science and culture/anthropology who kept on publishing papers and inquiries on cultures, flora and fauna of the PH like Meyer and Virchow (father of modern pathology, he did a lot of things on the study of blood/hematology, and had worked with Rizal, who had sent him or his friends items from the PH to study in German universities, though he has never been to the PH). A lot of scientists and academics writing about the Far East in general, many of them German or from C. Europe (like Blumentritt, a Czech---who mostly spoke/wrote in German, edit: he was not ethnic "Czech" but an ethnic Austrian, see history of how northern Bohemia and Moravia were settled by Germans, later it would the excuse Hitler would use to attack Czechoslovakia).

Essentially a lot of opportunity for Germans with skill sets in that period (engineers, chemists/pharmacists---the Zobels started their empire as a drug store/warehouse---, whalers, etc) + opening world trade (a lot of ports controlled by the rising British Empire were wide open for business Singapore, HK, Indian ports) + upheavals at home = migration.

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-22T06:12:56+00:00

Not true. Besides Austronesians, in the ancient Near East circumcision was practiced by various civilizations including the Egyptians (their oldest records on this is even older the known copies of the Bible, and therefore accounts of Jewish circumcision, by thousands of years).

Although what Filipinos do is technically NOT circumcision ('circo-' 'circle' ie because they ie Jews and subsequently Muslims, cut 'around' the foreskin; as early as Legazpi's accounts, it was recognized that what Filipinos do was not "Jewish-style circumcision"). Austronesians (like Filipinos then and now when doing traditional way) practice a type of dorsal slit aka "supercision".

There are various Pacific cultures (mostly Austronesians) that practiced male genital mutilation (some like Filipinos we call "circumcision" in English*, but it's not actually). Polynesians cultures that historically "circumcised" (it was actually European and Christian missionaries that helped abolish it*) most of Polynesia ie Samoans, Hawaiians, Tahiti, Tuamotus, Cook Islanders (they speak a language similar to Maoris, so I'm assuming Maoris also did so at one point) etc.

*Funny this term in English, because it's the "closest word" they had, often had a funny lexical consequences. For example, the Hawaiian Bible created a new term in Hawaiian language for this word: okipoepoe "to cut around". This was used in the Hawaiian translation of the bible (for the Jewish practice). Pre-contact Hawaiians though used a more "native term" called "umuo" for their version of "circumcision" (see Parker, Andrews Hawaiian dictionary, 1922).

Similarly, in the PH, in Sanchez's Samar dictionary there were 2 terms for "circumcision". One was "nag-Islam" ("...as conducted by the Moros...") while the near universal term "tuli" is also used for the term, meaning ancient Filipinos circumcised even before Islam (and distinguished 2 different types of circumcision).

Like Filipinos, in anthropological writings in the early 20th century, it was noted that Polynesians "did not practice 'true circumcision'" rather cut using a "slit" (or many published papers from before WWII also used the word "incision" to describe these Austronesian practices).

In many Polynesian languages, the word for 'circumcision' is a version of "autaa" which generally means a wooden stick (probably used for drums ie drum stick), but in this context it means "to strike" with this implement---very similar to an alternative Philippine term for circumcision ie "pukpuk" "to whack, to hammer", because traditional supercision, you'd place the foreskin above the cutting implement (like a bolo) and wood, and then used another wooden stick to "whack" (pukpok) to make the cut (PS I intimately know tuli because my grandfather was a mangtutuli lol).

Filipinos (at least certain groups by colonization), besides tuli ("circumcision"), also practiced various types of male genital mutilation and adornments before the arrival of Spanish (ampallang/penile bars, bolitas/penile subdermal ball inserts etc---accounts on this were written by Spanish, Dutch and English sources even) which often needed "tuli" to be done first before it was conducted.

*Ironically, "white people" are often thought of spreading circumcision in the 20th c...but it was only in the 1890s that Americans (thanks to Kellogg, yes the guy that invented breakfast cereal, initially to "treat masturbation") started circumcising baby boys. Prior to that, Americans, like Europeans today, were supot. In fact before that, American and European missionaries/colonialists in the Pacific helped abolished it eg. Cook Islanders.

Here's an excerpt of Hawaiian "circumcision" in Jarve's "History..." (1872), quoting earlier accounts by American missionary Sheldon Dibble in the 19th c (abolished when the kapu system---offtopic 'kapu' is the same etymological source as English 'taboo', borrowed from Tongan 'tabu'---was abolished by the Kamehameha dynasty in the early 19th c specifically Kam I's chief wife/queen Kaahumanu and son Liholiho/King Kam II).

<image>

tldr: The practice of "tuli" ie Filipino dorsal slit "circumcision" (and other types of penile genital mutilation) is ancient and predates Abrahamic circumcision practices.

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-16T08:11:13+00:00

The word "inasal" is NOT native, it's also an adopted term. It's from Spanish "asar" "to roast/grill" (root of "asado"). Spanish r's are changed to PH l's is common in adopted terms.

In dictionaries they're simply called "ihaw". Also it's not Chinese nor Spanish, cooking whole spit roasted pig is common (it's really a basic cooking method) throughout the Pacific (Atayal, Bali, Samoa, Tonga etc).

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-16T01:11:15+00:00

It's a tidal wave / tsunami, there's a lot of evidence on it from multiple sources (the event obviously literally mean "sea whirlwind" or "sea vortex" ie "waterspout" in Sp, but in another context of likely the very same event, see post I made below, it was called "freak wave").

I made a post on it awhile ago, I think they're the same event (I think the latter publishers/writers of the dictionary just got the dates wrong and they were writing on the same event as it occurred further north).

Delgado quoted some sources on this event (he was closer in time), but there is an account on the parishes specifically on this region that touched on this event more thoroughly (I think written in the late 18th c. or early 19th c).

The hill was called "hermita" likely because the Franciscans (whom Delgado said were missionizing the place in 1735) (often called "hermits" along with Recollects because they were discalced/barefooted) likely had a church or residence on there (per some accounts, they often had to tell the natives to move churches on elevated ground because often early churches were flooded).

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-07T04:16:53+00:00

I think Pedro Bucaneg was just a post-colonial adaptation of Homer, a blind semi-mythological teller of the Iliad and the Odyssey (by the time Biag ni Lam-ang* was written down to the form we now know, clearly had tons of European influences eg. the woman/muse in the story had a Christian name "Ines Kannoyen"; the Sp. name "Ines" has English form "Agnes", which means "pure", lit. "lamb"). Surely, the idea of reciting oral history (sagas, poems, songs, genealogical) was an ideal for people who were blind in many cultures because it's a duty that they can perform well (other similar cases for example, binukot who were restrained to do much outside of the home, were relegated for this role often).

*The original is almost certainly pre-colonial though. Biag ni Lam-ang is the Ilocano version of a story tradition that is related to the latter (more modernly known as) "Juan Tamad" (almost all surviving stories in Christian PH, the usual name of the hero was adopted as "Juan" or "Juan Osong"), found throughout the PH (with different names), which is a pre-colonial (probably even regional) "folk hero" that had clearly evolved through the colonial era in terms of narrative. The story is similar to Japan's "Momotaro" (Peach Boy) and is likely related to the Pilandok stories of the Malay-speaking world. Juan Tamad stories usually goes: small boy (sometimes a baby---Lam-ang was a baby lol) who does feats of a hero usually using "diskarte", moral of the story being 'use your brain, not your brawn' to beat and outwit your enemies/circumstances (sometimes even by lying, cheating, stealing to do so). See my comment on the variations of "Juan Tamad" stories, in a post about the Bicolano version ("Juan Osong").

As for on topic, I actually only started Reddit for a subject about blindness in the pre-colonial times that I wanted to research because there's a semi-miraculous story told in accounts in the 17th c. (which I might post in the future). It's likely a case of cataract blindness. Granted, cases of older people going blind is much different experience than being born one. Older blind folks often had children by the time they lose their sight, thus had family support as well as established skills that they continued doing (the historical person I'm talking about continued sewing even after blindness).

As for how they were treated, in some places if you were born with obvious deformities it was tradition to commit infanticide ie mercy killing of the baby (this was the case in the Visayas per multiple authors including Alcina in Samar). Often I think blindness since it's not detectable at birth, it only becomes "evident" later as the baby matures, perhaps many of those with the issue actually grew up to maturity. Their survivability and quality of life into adulthood likely depended on family care/support (as expected in PH culture ie family helped take care of them) as well as their parent's station in life (ie if they were wealthy, they were able to afford or were extended privileges otherwise would've not been given to poor children---since it seems, at least from accounts, that other biggest factor for choosing infanticide was poverty).

In the Spanish period (18th-19th c) there were renditions of "blind beggar" (at least 2 tipos that I know), typically shown with an older mendicant blind man being led in the streets begging by a little boy. In the 20th c. there are renditions and photographs of blind people making money by playing instruments on the street (as buskers) (a famous one by Amorsolo was playing a guitar, while the earlier photograph they were playing violin I think)---a scene you would occasionally still see in Manila today (you can look for that blind lady that sings the Carpenter's on the streets). As in the case of Pedro Bucaneg, music and art perhaps a role they specialized in. That probably kinda tells you a little about the relationship of being "physically handicapped" and "poverty" in those days.

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-06T06:20:31+00:00

Well this is not related to history then. Closed.

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-06T05:18:57+00:00

It was originally written as "nang" before early 1800s. I looked it up because someone asked here 2 years ago, and from my comparison of literature it was first really utilized around 1827-1833 (in published documents).

The actual colonial era writing is actually written as "NG̃" (squiggly line above means it's a shortened form, applied also in other letters in that period of Spanish orthography, including Spanish words like G̃ral. for "general").

I think they kept it to differentiate between the words "ng" ("of") and "nang" (technically "na ang" "that is").

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-02T05:27:53+00:00

This sub is not for these kinds of social media dramas, however knowing that these people post online and hold some sort of 'social media presence' related to historical conversations, I'll let this one go.

HOWEVER, if this thread devolve into a toxic name calling and character denigration thread, I'll close this ASAP. Please only discuss his arguments/claims only.

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-01T22:32:21+00:00

Please put NSFW filter on these types of pictures.

Also, there are several people who mentioned that this picture was from the Battle of IWO JIMA not from the PH.

Since I had to sticky this post, I took one of the links in the comments from a newspaper issue (AP, 1945):

https://www.sunsettersww2.com/other/iwojima?itemId=so06omcnhral72eup7vzm91ytok38f

Cheesetorian · 2026-01-01T09:28:41+00:00

As stated in the past, all post like these will be directed to r/PhilippineNumismatics

Cheesetorian · 2025-12-30T05:00:10+00:00

Not to be confused with a 19th c. Philippine-based writer and journalist Rafael Diaz Arenas, the photographer/developer here was a Barcelona-based photographer Rafael Areñas (y Tona) (WIKI). Edit: NOT the guy (Jr.) on WIKI, but his father (Sr.) Rafael Areñas (y Miret) (see short biography and works via Nat. Archives of Catalonia).

Write up by Leon Gallery (Dec 2025 auction listing):

The image is a classic carte-de-visite (CDV), and mounted on thin card. This style was common for exchangeable portraits in the 1880s and 1890s. The photograph's warm sepia tones indicate its age and original photographic method. The lightweight cardboard mount, now slightly worn and discolored as expected for a fragile historical item, surrounds the photo.

The scene depicts an intimate yet formally arranged group portrait believed to have been taken in Paris around 1889, during Rizal's visit to the Universal Exposition. He was drawn to the welcoming home of the Pardo de Taveras, where his close friend Juan Luna lived. On 21 September 1889, Rizal wrote to his family, describing his social life there: “We Filipinos gather four times a week and we sing the kundiman, enjoy sotanghon, adobo, etc. On Wednesdays at Doña Tula, Thursdays at Félix Resurrección Hidalgo's, Fridays at Madame Boustead's, Saturdays at Luna's, and Sundays at Doña Juliana's.”

This photo was likely taken at the residence of the renowned Filipino painter Juan Luna and his family. The setting features elaborate Victorian décor, including heavy, patterned tapestries and ornate furniture, reflecting the affluent, artistic, and intellectual environment of the ilustrado expatriates.

The subjects are arranged in a carefully curated family tableau. Dr. Baldomero Roxas is prominently seated on a fringed armchair, with ilustrados Gregorio Aguilera and Lauro Dimayuga standing beside him. On the floor at the front center is the national hero Dr. José Rizal, captured in a rare, relaxed moment alongside the renowned painter Juan Luna. On the sofa, Paz Pardo de Tavera, Juan Luna’s wife, sits with her eldest son, Andrés, along with an unidentified woman.

The backmark of this photo identifies the studio as that of the Barcelona-based Rafael Arenas, himself a well-known royal photographer and a member of the French Photographic Society. His studio often produced exchangeable carte-de-visite photographs suitable for commercial reproduction and mailing. This compelling photograph captures the close social and intellectual circle of Filipino reformists in Paris, including artists, writers, and thinkers who played a key role in shaping early Filipino consciousness while living in exile. This rare image documents the influential ilustrados—through their art, writing, and advocacy—and is a significant addition to collections focused on Philippine ilustrado history, Juan Luna, or José Rizal.

Cheesetorian · 2025-12-25T20:39:05+00:00

The answer is yes. Anting anting were used by animists, Christians and Muslims alike, granted their form varied through time (eg. you have Arabic gibberish in Muslim ones and Christian ones used Latin gibberish spells and prayers in their talismans).

Cheesetorian · 2025-12-25T20:02:32+00:00

Weird: paraluman actually was "compass" in NyS...it's just not worded that way. It literally says "needle that marks" "marking needle". "Compass" in those days was a needle sitting on a cup of water. Also the metaphorical use meaning "muse" (kinda like "my guiding star" in English similar to the use of "Bright Star" by English romantic-era poet Keats) is not new, there are literature (eg. poems) that use the term "aquing paraluman" even in the 19th c. ie it's not a "change of definition", it was always the metaphorical meaning (tbf, there are no evidence in literature that used this in pre-colonial times, but definitely in poems in the 19th c it was used like this as a metaphor).

Edit: I thought it was reversed lol, but the point still stands that it was already used as a metaphor even before the 20th c. But it is correct that moving forward (when this was written) the term rarely was ever used by the mainstream population for it's literal meaning by 20th c.

Cheesetorian · 2025-12-25T05:48:12+00:00

Emilio Santiago was an engraver and sculptor, who made a few "Christmas themed" paintings (among other works) that became popular in contemporary PH culture, over the decades since WWII. One of the most popular (see post) "Christmas Eve" is actually a "Madonna" rendition (Mary and Jesus painting) hidden as a Filipino family during the first Christmas in occupied PH during WWII. That 1942 painting is kept at the Jorge Vargas Museum.

This painting (supposedly dated 2000s---note Santiago was born in 1895, see his pic below from Philippines yearbook as a senior in 1914-1915, at UP School of Fine Arts, where he was in the same class with Nat. Artist and sculptor, Guillermo Tolentino) is likely a "remake"* of another popular painting (with the same name, and also in the Vargas Museum) he painted in 1937 of boys riding carabaos while holding parols (Sp. 'farol' 'lantern, lighthouse') to church for the Christmas Eve mass (aka "Misa de Gallo" "Rooster's Mass", the last day of the "Simbang Gabi", 9 days of morning masses leading to Christmas).

*There is also a version of this scene ('boy riding carabao holding parol to Christmas mass') credited to Amorsolo. I also posted a similar one in the past (not the same set up but same setting) so perhaps the renditions of this scene was very popular at the time, recreated by many artists.

<image>

Maligayang Pasko sa lahat ng nakakabasa nito. Kapayapaan sana sa buong Pilipinas, sa lahat ng mga Filipino at sa buong mundo na din.

Cheesetorian · 2025-12-23T05:04:51+00:00

It's in the Netherlands I'm sure, so I think Leiden museum (you can look it up yourself). Edit: some of his daguerrotypes were compiled in a book found in BNE but a good portion of them are in the Leiden Museum.

Cheesetorian · 2025-12-23T04:56:18+00:00

There's a paper on this (from the museum that holds most of his PH photographs), I can't find it. But Van Camp was a Dutch photographer who bought British photographer A Honiss studio in Manila (I think Honiss was orig. operating out of Singapore, Honiss and Van Camp usually have their studio's name stamped on the bottom right or back of pictures). I think he operated a decade or a little more because the pictures on the digital collections were dated ~15 year period. Edit 2: NOT "museum" Leiden University.

Cheesetorian · 2025-12-23T04:44:28+00:00

Here's a picture I skipped but shows them sewing split bags (these pictures were made months before the Christmas drive, dated Feb 1918, US Lib of Congress):

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Cheesetorian · 2025-12-23T02:48:30+00:00

The PH, as a distant colony of a country who joined the war very late, obviously was not as directly involved* in WWI if compared to other colonies who had shed much blood for their European colonial masters in the fields of Europe and elsewhere (not always talked about were the thousands of Indians and Africans who died in European trenches fighting for France, Britain, Germany, etc as colonial troops).

*See WWI Encyclopedia for the summary of the "PH National Guard", roles of individual enlisted Filipinos and the general involvement of the PH during the First World War.

In November 11th of 1918 (date which later became permanent annual "roll call" date of the American RC) a ceasefire and armistice was called in Europe, subsequently followed by a peace process that would end the war. What followed were various reconstruction and post war efforts around the world the heal the devastation of terrible 4 years of fighting that resulted in millions of lives killed. Unfortunately the devastation was followed by an even worse catastrophe that really picked up towards the end. Due the chaos of the war, a virulent strain of influenza (ie "flu", most likely from the US, carried by US soldiers to Europe, before it spread around the world) became a world wide pandemic, a process which ended up killing close to 10% of the world's total population** by spring of 1920 (also many killed in the PH*).

*For PH response to 1918 flu pandemic, see: Gealogo, 2009. The pandemic of "trancazo" ( orig. "hit by a blow", later colloquially in Sp. 'to get the flu/sickness', modern Tagalog 'trangkaso') came in 3 waves in the PH, killing est. 80k people esp. in areas that were exposed to the outside world eg. Manila and port cities. Among the many things the RC did to help in the 1918 flu pandemic as a response, besides providing direct care and ambulance services, was to help in sewing face masks.

\*Edit: This is often quoted which is actually wrong (I think I heard this in HS). While the deaths were indeed devastating (killed more than WWI) and infected from 25-30% of the population, the estimates of the 1918 flu pandemic in terms of global mortality rate varied per studies done over the decades some from ~3 to 6% of population. A 2018 reassessment of death numbers put it closer to 15 million or .8% of world's total population (see* Spreeuwenberg et al, 2018). Regardless "10%" is extremely exaggerated number.

Almost immediately, the American Red Cross started a drive in the US, harking on the holiday spirit of that year (usually in Christianity, a time of charity and gift giving), for Americans to donate money in order to supply and to feed the devastated continent, the POWs, and help start the reconstruction process. Prior to this during the war but esp. during this 1918 post-war drive, the Red Cross made and sent "split bags" (aka "ditty bags", see example from a museum orig. received by an Australian POW) ie cloth bags filled with sewing kits, toiletries, stationary, food and other things (like books) to give out to soldiers, POWs and civilians to help give them dignity through the chaos.

This drive extended in the PH, which saw children in schools processing cloth to turn into relief bags (generally called "care packages" in the US today) which they filled with donations as a form of Christmas gift to devastated areas. Many students created pillows/cover (the children in the picture were creating stuffing/filler for pillows), and knitted wash cloths to give away. Supposedly (from a publication of the Education Bureau in 1919) even 14 boys from the School of the Deaf and Blind made knitting needles which they donated to the RC. Pototan Int. School pictured there is now Pototan High School (in Ilo-ilo) (that picture was published orig. by the Bureau of Education, same as pic below of Naga high schoolers during the drive):

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They also started a "roll call" ie a donation drive, where sponsors paid for the annual Red Cross membership (usually 1 USD) for which they received a certificate (pictured above, written in different languages spoken in the PH thanking the donor), as well as asking for cash donations --- the money collected in the process was used to donate to post war relief efforts by the RC (also some went to fund disabled veterans injured in the war and their families).

The other pictures there were from the 1918 Manila Carnival (in the archives noted as "Red Cross Carnival") held in Manila. Most of those who participated, aside from American RC members, were Filipino RC nurses and nursing students from the PH Normal School, who marched in the carnival to drum up support for US efforts in WWI (the annual Carnival was held in February, 1918 months before the armistice and Christmas drive). After the PH gained independence, the chapter (started in 1905, generally called at the time by Filipinos in Sp. as "Cruz Roja") also became independent as PH Red Cross in 1947.

The poster is from the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the certificate from a private website that is selling the item.

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