Sunday, October 10, 2010

New CFBS video/footnotes

Karen Pennrich created this "Honoring Our Ancestors" video in honor of her sister, Aurelia Melgar, who passed away during the Babaylan Conference. Thank you, Karen.

I should mention, however, that Apu Mendung Sabal is a contemporary babaylan and she is not one of the women on the Spanish texts. I mentioned her in my talk because it was a privilege to have met her at the Kapwa conference in 08. She passed away shortly after the conference. She lived long enough to receive recognition as a National Treasure; she was also able to record her Tiboli chants and songs and taught them to Grace Nono and other culture bearers.

Re my mention of Mila Guerrero, historian from UP -- I met her in CA more than 15yrs ago during a conference and she told me this anecdote about babaylans being fed to crocodile. At that time, I hadn't realized the symbolic meaning of this detail (see link to March 14, 2010 below).

The opening ritual offering of Virgil Apostol is excerpted from the "Honoring Our Ancestors" (see March 14, 2010) event at Unity Church in Berkeley in Feb 2010. This event was organized by Lizae Reyes and the CFBS volunteers.

This video short honors Aurelia Melgar. Aurelia, Karen's sister, passed away during the Babaylan conference and so Karen was not able to attend the conference. We taped the video interview in March. Aurelia retired from Sonoma State University's Disability Services Office. She mentored many students of color and students with disabilities many of whom lovingly remembered her during her memorial service. Karen continues her sister's legacy as adviser of the Fil Am Students at SSU and as a board member of the FANHS Sonoma County Chapter.

Thank you, Karen!

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