One of the things I love about being around kids is that I learn or relearn things along with them. These past few days were about rediscovering our Filipino heritage.
It started Tuesday night when I helped our 11-year-old review for his second-quarter exams in Araling Panlipunan. As we read about the Spanish occupation and its oppressive system of government, my son and I found a shared pride in our ancestors’ bravery and sense of nationhood.
But the story does not end there. Yesterday, we watched a DVD on the art and history of escrima.
Our DVD list for the long Eid’l Fitr weekend includes a few episodes of Human Weapon, an American TV series featuring the world’s most powerful martial arts. In the show, Jason Chambers (a mixed martial arts expert) and his wrestler friend immerse themselves in the native martial arts of the countries they visit. The show culminates in a match between either of the stars and one of the featured country’s top fighters.
Although I found it funny when they mispronounced and misspelled some Visayan words (like “labai” should have been labay, which means “throw”), the show was actually very good. I was particularly impressed with the research and training they underwent as they prepared to fight one of Cebu’s top escrimadors.
Of course, the first stop was the famous Doce Pares school in Cebu. But they also went to Negros Occidental to learn Kali and to Fort Bonifacio in Manila to learn the military’s bolo techniques, both of which use variations of escrima moves. Although they did not include the other schools, like the ones in Batangas, I learned a lot from the show.
We often associate escrima with sticks (usually rattan or kamagong). Unlike most kinds of stick fighting, however, escrima involves using the stick as an extension of the hand, making the moves effective even in open-handed combat.
Like the martial arts in other cultures that experienced foreign occupation, escrima was preserved by our ancestors through dances, rituals and farming. From the battle against Magellan to today’s fight against terrorism, escrima has been proven to be a deadly art.
But, it is also a popular sport.
In the TV show, the culminating fight used a point system but it was a bit more traditional than today’s tournaments. Held in a cockfighting arena, the match involved no body protection and metal rods with thin padding were used. The show ended with Chambers losing by technical knockout. One of his fingers was also so swollen that it looked like he might also lose a fingernail.
Our son found the show totally awesome, particularly since it showed that his chosen co-curricular activity in school (arnis) had such a rich history. As soon as the show ended, he grabbed his sticks and practiced a few moves. And he did this with so much pride.
