TREKKING TO THE MUSEUM

We went to visit the Cebu Cathedral Museum which houses a great deal of old church artifacts coming from the different old stone churches of the Cebu province.it was unplanned so I didn’t expect anything which always works for me. There is a 50-peso entrance collected by the nuns who also happened to be the tour guides. It’s amazing seeing old sculptures done by Filipinos from the 17th century onwards. There was also a collection of images of Sto.Nino sculptures of different styles. Th museum itself used to be a convent housing the clergy of Cebu for centuries. For sure there were a lot of stories to tell about convent-turned-museum and the antique collection of old statues that it shelters. I was hoping somebody could tell us stories but the gentle nun was limited to a very short introduction of the altar on the ground floor. It was still a blast though because nobody else was there. I could've been running all over the place and nobody would've noticed. TSK TSK....





After roaming around and marveling at the grandiose of the church centuries back, we were invited to listen to a lecture sponsored by HAMILING BINILIN (HAMBIN, a group active in cultural heritage advocacy in Cebu,) with the History Dept. and Cebuano Studies Center of the University of San Carlos. Of the hundreds of possible topics, the lecture tackled the topic ‘Sexual Practices of the Visayas and Southeast Asia at Spanish Contact’. It was odd, I thought at first. The lecture was attended by members of the academe from the different universities of Cebu which was also weird because I have never surrounded myself with the likes, not to mention to listen with them about our ancestor’s sexual practices. From the lecture, I learned that we once were more promiscuous than Europe and all of America until the Spaniards came and whipped anyone who was wearing a penis ring. Yes, we invented the penis ring – well, not just Filipinos but people around South East Asia. In addition, said tools were used because our lolas’ lolas demanded them from our lolos. They wanted to be satisfied. The installing of the penis rings were said to be a manifestation that a boy had become a man so that any man who didn’t have it was mocked. If you ain't got it, you're so out. And the ladies took great pride of that shiny brass or gold hanging on their men’s well, tool. Later on, Islam introduced tuli to replace the metal as rights of passage to manhood.

It surpised me that our ancestors were so much ahead of their time. They practiced pre-marital sex with men. When they get married they become a one-woman man. On top of it, divorcing a man was pretty easy too. If a man went for battle and had not returned in 6 month’s time, the ladies could pick another and get hitched again. They were not the dalagang Filipna that we knew. Virginity wasn’t a treasure – it’s not even something they take pride of. They were said to have holy priests or shamans who did the breaking of the hymen. In short, if you ain't broken it yet, you're out. It’s the equivalent of tuli for women. Later on, getting an earring became the new tuli for the ladies which has no historical basis because I have always heard from my neighbors telling smaller girls “Wala pa man kay tuli”, referring of course to a hole for earrings on both earlobes. The amazing stories went on and it was fun. It was also ponted out that while specialty shops today secretly do their trade of sex gadgets and all, our hot lolos and lolas were out in the open letting 'em all hang out.


It was the Spaniards who curbed the trend so that the sexual practices were gradually shunned by our ancestors. What was so natural for lolo and lola now felt so dirty. I can't be so graphic here so I will spare how they install the rings, let alone the men killing their covetous wives with it during intercourse. Sigh....

After the lecture, we were showed with three short films – the winners of the SINULOG 2008 SHORT FILM FESTIVAL. It was great because I could never have seen those in any part of Cebu since they aren’t distributed commercially. Besides, its not something the pirates will take interest of. The films were in Cebuano. The filmmakers showed great promise which is good because it’s one venue Cebuano filmmakers can show what they’ve got.

The small group who attended the lecture were told that another one will take place on March 15 by a professor from UP-Cebu who also attended the event. I wasn’t able to write down the name and the topic but im pretty sure it will be something worth attending. I am hoping I could go if time permits. We went home right away because we didn’t know anyone at the event and a merienda was prepared. We also reckoned we weren't part of the budget. Still, it was fun and it’s a rare occasion to attend something educational like that.

It felt like I’m a student all over again. I wanna go back to school----again. Study something. Just about anything. Now, im thinkin’. Hmmmm....