AMBAHAN
Poetry etched on Bamboo
It is a traditional form of poetry by the Hanunó'o Mangyan people of Mindoro, Philippines. This poetic literary form is composed of seven-syllable lines that is used to convey messages through metaphors and images, engraved on the skin of the bamboo, using a stylus or knives. It is usually sung or chanted with the accompaniment of guitars, fiddles, flutes, or jew’s harps and its messages can be of courtship, passing on advice, asking for a place to stay, saying goodbye to a dear friend, and so on.
The ambahan is also evidence of Filipinos having a mode of reading and writing, even before the arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippines. It also supports the observation made by Jesuit historian Pedro Chirino in 1604 (in ‘Relacion de las Islas filipinas’) that ‘there is hardly a man, much less a woman, who does not read and write’ in the country.
Example of Ambahan (From the book ‘Marino’ Hanunuo Mangyan Music and Chanted Poetry):
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