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PAMATI


PAMATI (Cebuano-Visayan for “listen” [v.] and “feeling” [n.]) is an intergenerational, intersectional, transnational, intercultural and interfaith gathering of a small group of Philippine Elders—ritualists, healers, storytellers, musicians, dancers, martial artists, peacemakers and community leaders—and an equally small group of Philippine and Philippine descended younger generation scholars, artists, religious, holistic healing practitioners, peace advocates, sustainable agriculture advocates, gender activists, environment and social justice workers who are interested in reclaiming Philippine ancestral ways. PAMATI promotes mutual listening that privileges the voices of Elders, the socially-marginalized and the practitioners of indigenous spiritual traditions who are often not heard in society. PAMATI seeks to contribute to dialogue and the bridging of alienation between older and younger generations, the unschooled and the professionals, the indigenous and settler, rural and urban, homeland and diaspora, World Religions and Indigenous Traditions, and the various classes, genders, ethnicities, races, forms of education, and religious and political persuasions. PAMATI is also a venue for Philippine Elders to directly transmit specific embodied knowledges (that they are allowed to share with others) including the indigenous understandings of these knowledges to younger generation Filipinos and Filipino descendants. Related to this, the ethics, protocols, and appropriate methodologies of transmitting of ancestral knowledges across ethnicities and social locations are taken up in PAMATI.

PAMATI first took place in July 2015 in Balay Agusan, Bunawan, Agusan del Sur, immediately following the center’s rebuilding after its 2012 destruction by super typhoon Pablo. PAMATI 2015 began with the building of a Tinandasan (traditional house) by Manobo master house-builders. It then proceeded as prayer, storytelling and chant circles; a visit to the sacred lake Kanimbaylan in the Agusan marsh, and to the Agusan del Sur State College of Agriculture and Technology. PAMATI 2015 was co-convened by the Tao Foundation for Culture and Arts, the Center for Babaylan Studies, GINHAWA, and the Institute of Spirituality in Asia.

Two years after PAMATI 2015, PAMATI 2017 was mounted, this time, in Luzon due to terrorist attacks and the declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao. PAMATI 2017 in the new venue of Sakahang Lilok in Tanay, Rizal, proceeded as prayer, chant and storytelling circles and the transmission of the embodied knowledges of gongs, chants, dances, martial arts, hilot and plant medicines. The participants also visited a lagoon in Rizal and the sacred mountains of Banahaw in Quezon and Makiling in Laguna. In the latter they engaged with students and teachers of the Philippine High School for the Arts. PAMATI 2017 was co-convened by the Tao Foundation, the Center for Babaylan Studies, GINHAWA, the Institute of Spirituality in Asia, and Jung Circle Center.

PAMATI 2017 HIGHLIGHTS

By Habi Collective



PAMATI 2015 HIGHLIGHTS

By Habi Collective



BUILDING A MANUBU TINANDASAN

By Habi Collective

For more information,
please email us at
taofoundationforcultureandarts@gmail.com



Tao Foundation for Culture and Arts, 2019. All rights reserved.