TIGSIK OF THE BIKOLS

Raffi Banzuela



HERE’S TO THE NATIONS


The spirits of today are as immemorial as the grapes of the ancients. Yet from Bacchus to the Bible and the big business of distilling and bottling and zymurgy, the juice of the grape has always been a juice of life and literature.

Banquet halls and even modest drinking tables have been mute witnesses to how wine and men have sired literature—Anacreon, Edgar Allan Poe, and the country writer who reaped literary honors in the big city by his bottles of beer and brandy.

Literature and wine or the simple folksy practice of offering a toast or a tradition that can never be without the spirit.

TIGSIK!

Tigsik, in matter and motif, is a toast. The toast, as the Encyclopedia Brittanica defines it, “is a genre of oral literature, more definitely, folk speech, which is as old as folk narratives and folk songs and such other genre as proverbs, riddles, beliefs, and superstitions.”

The toast is essentially a convivial expression voiced as a drinking salutation. And Tigsik is all that and even a little more.

Where the toast had its original form, approximate place, and period of genesis remains to be a vatful of surprises. But unquestionably, as scholars ascribe, it is a part of a vast floating body of folk traditions and practices which early in the 19th century started to attract the attention of scholars and other truth seekers.

In 1856 Max Muller, a German-born scholar, translated from Sanskrit the Sacred Books of the East and therefrom postulatd a pan-Aryan theory of origins popularly known as “the school of solar mytho-logy” which one of his followers George W. Cox explained as “ . . . all folk narratives, epics, and ballads . . . originate in early man’s poetic rendering of the conflict between the sun and night.”

Another German scholar, Theodor Benfrey, in his introduction to the Indian story collection Panchatantra (1859) claimed that “India, the seat of an ancient high civilization which spread to Europe, had wonder tales, along with language and mythology, diffused from India to Europe in  ancient times and again in historical times along well-travelled trade routes.”

Folklorists Emmanuel Cosquin of France and William Alexander Clouston of Scotland support Benfrey’s “story migration from India eastward” theory.

But it is being claimed now by other scholars that the primacy of India as the fountain of world folk literature has gradually been whittled away in the past century by the emergence of other dispersal points notably Egypt and Greece and by the burgeoning belief that no sweeping generalization could account for folklore origins, the toast included.

FROM TOAST TO TIGSIK

As in most folk literatures which are orally transmitted, changes in text and tune are inevitable. The toast could have evolved into Tigsik or Tigsik developed the toast into a higher form. Who knows? But isn’t Tigsik now distinguishable by “the interests of human carriers of tradition, their world view and belief systems, their cultural inheritance and acculturative experiences?” Tigsik is now a unique art form, an aesthetic product of the Bikol society that mirrors its values offering a projective screen that illuminates its fantasies. Thus, it may not be an error to call Tigsik indigenously Bikol.

The ASEAN Traditional Cultural Media, an antho-logy of folk literature among South East Asian nations, defines Tigsik as “a type of Bikol  verbal joust . . . called cansing or cansingan in the old days. It is a dramatic activity in versified language which involves a series of toasts. Tigsik means ‘toast or to offer a drink’ in honor of somebody or a compliment to somebody or something. The host usually starts the tigsikan.”

Prof. Maria Lilia F. Realubit in her A Study of the Popular Drama, Theses Abstracts IV, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines, 1965, offers her view: “Tigsik is a poetic formulation where the popular toasts known as kansing or abatayo in the ancient past, and later called tigsik were recited during banquets or drinking sprees . . . often in three- or four-line verses, the tigsik were short and witty on-the-spot composition of local poets.”

Tigsik is observed in either of two forms: The hilarious/satirical and the puzzle.

When Tigsik aims for the jocular or satirical, Prof. Realubit points out, the host-judge opens thus in any of the following lines:

           May you live long and prosperous . . .

           May you capture the loveliest maiden of Libod . . .

          May your first born be a boy . . .

If it were cerebral or a poser, she wrote, the traditional opening would be:

          Anom na sawa madâra sa limang bobon,
          Pâno na an agihan kan lambang saro
          Dai magdoot sa manarôsaro?

          (Six pythons to drink in five wells,
          How can they pass pray tell
          Each not touching each other’s scales?)

She describes Tigsik: In a joust, the host acts as self-appointed judge who takes upon himself the merry task of drowning with glasses of wine whoever correctly answers or fails to answer a puzzle as other guests and kibitzers cheer alongside the halls.

In Camarines Norte, a modification has been introduced and accepted. Puzzles or verses are being taken from the corido or metrical romances. The Bible, pasyon, and Tronco del Mundo also serve as sources of Tigsik topics.

TIGSIK AS TRADITION

The ASEAN anthology classifies Tigsik as a folk, cultural, and traditional media. It is a folk medium because it is continuously created not by a select few but by the ordinary members of a given cultural community. It is cultural because it is used to express the world-view as well as the values and norms of a group through literary and theatrical genres using artistic criteria acceptable to a particular group. And it is a traditional medium because it is a communication form which have been practiced, evolved, and popularized by the majority over long periods of time—even for centuries; it has acquired that permanence and legitimacy which characterize traditional media.

Locally, Tigsik bears close kinship with tapat, sompongan, and bahon. These are all under the general genre of folk drama and these are all elaborate debates in rhymed verses without fixed stanzaic rhyme or pattern. In her studies, Prof. Realubit notes that tapat, for one, is also a verbal joust held after the reenactment of the pasyon. She submits the idea that tapat could even be Tigsik’s precursor when she said in an anthology of Bikol writings published by the University of Nueva Caceres (mimeographed, 1972) that “the formal toast between hosts and guests begun to mean a reenactment of Christ’s request to His apostles: ‘Drink this in commemoration of Me’.” That should be putting soul to the spirit.

Nationally, Tigsik may have shades of similarities with panyo palaran, a Hiligaynon verbal game held nightly after prayers during a wake. In this game, men and women engage in poetic exchanges.

Ambahan, a short monoriming heptasyllabic poem of the Hanunoo Mangyan of Mindoro, plainly chanted without instrumental accompaniment could be a Tigsik derivative. Tigsik can be delivered in sing-song fashion. Still similarly, ambahan expresses in allegorical or metaphorical language certain situations, ideas or feelings. And ambahan is likewise a verbal joust.

THE ASEAN STRAINS

Tigsik shares similar elements with the Malaysian and Singaporean pantun and the Thai bunton. The Philippine has tanaga. But the latter is rather more of popular than folk literature. Duplo or balagtasan can be mentioned. No equivalent can be found in Indonesia.

Tanaga is a highly metaphorical poem in four mono-riming heptasyllabic lines in Tagalog usually expressing an insight into reality, a virtue or a value.

The similarity with Tigsik extends only to motif, the matter is another thing, for tanaga is never in the form of a toast nor a joust; it is also not oral but written. Tanaga, more appropriately, is a blend between belles letters and popular literature. Thus:

          Ang sugat ay kung tinanggap
          Di daramdamin ang antak
          Ang aayaw at di mayag
          Galos lamang magnanalak.

          (If one accepts the wound
          He will not feel its pain
          He who refuses to accept it
          Thinks that a scratch is a sore.)

The Malaysian or Singaporean pantun is usually a quatrain which communicates messages to audiences, related to the specific occasion or situation in which it is performed; like the pantun exchanges in marriage proposals will contain expressions of one’s desire to ask for the hand of his fair lady.

Pantuns can be classified under six categories, among them, love, didactic, religious, ceremonial, comic, and ethical. The first half of a pantun called pambayang maskud provides or sets the rhythmic scheme of the next half which contains the message or actual objective of the pantun.

Like Tigsik, pantun is an oral competition of wit and/or humor between two persons or two groups wherein innermost feelings and thoughts are conveyed.

When the pantun is sung and accompanied with musical instruments it becomes berbalas pantun. Berbalas pantun is sung to a popular tune similar to those of dondang sayang of Malaca or dikir barat of Kelantan. Merito B. Espinas, Ph.D., Bikolista, suggests that Tigsik have also been carried through a tune as in the English limerick. 

Although the pantun is normally and more appropriately a quatrain, there are some which consist of six, eight, or even twelve lines. In any case, the first half of the verse (the first two, three, four, or six, as the case may be), is allusive of the second half which contains the message or the actual objective of the pantun.

While the composition of the pantun does not necessarily require any academic skill, native wit and humor are necessary requirements.

Traditionally, a pantun is employed for marriage proposals. Bikol has a more definitive equivalent in the form of astalo, a song-debate between elders who arrange the marriage between their children. Pantuns traded in competition among youthful contestants contain messages of current affairs and issues.

The pantun is native to Malaya and thus its composition is closely related to the life and environment of the Malays. It frequently depicts their thoughts and values.

In the Malay society the pantun serves social, ritual, and entertainment functions. Competitions are even aired over radio broadcasting stations.

BEYOND ASEAN

Prof. Realubit claims that Tigsik and other folk drama are reminiscent of the interludes which were presented between courses in the banquets of the English Lords.

Beauwolf comes to mind. When this epic hero of the Geats came to help Hrothgar, king of a Danish tribe, the latter rejoiced for in Beauwolf he hoped to see the end of the monster Grendel. Hrothgar’s queeen, Wealtheow, observing the customs of the court, bears the ceremonial goblet first to the king and then to each and every guest, and addresses appropriate words of salutation to each.

           She greeted the Geats’ lord:
           God she thanked therefor,
           Wise in her word-craft,
           that her wish had thriven
           That she could trust some jarlman
           for help ‘gainst horrors given.
           He took the cup from Wealtheow,
           a warsman fierce-to-smite;
           And then he offered answer,
            eager for the fight.

Who could have brought the practice to our shores? Magellan? Captain Cook? Limahong? The early Arab traders? How about George W. Cox’s solar mythology school of thought?

Except for the medium, epic, Queen Wealtheow’s offering was never farther from that of the local host-judge except that Beauwolf had no one to verbally joust with . . . Grendel was a man-eating beast.

The limerick possesses some elements of Tigsik, especially motif. It is a verse usually epigramatic and frequently risque, consisting of five lines (two of three foot, two of two foot, and one of three foot with an AAABB rhyme). It is a light verse first found in 1820 and popularized by Edward Lear in his Book of Nonsense (1846).

Dr. Espinas claims that a limerick can be sung. But can Tigsik be sung? Perhaps yes. But a NO answer will be nicer. To put Tigsik into tune would be claiming ignorance over another old Bikol tradition, harakbotan.

Harakbotan is a Bikol oral tradition fast fading into the shadows of forgetting. It was still popular in Bacon, Sorsogon up to the 30’s and even later into the 50’s. The karaoke has efficiently consigned it to oblivion in the area. As it were practiced, it was part of formal and informal social events, a source of entertainment. It was a part of happy occasions or even when residents were merely getting together to while away time in some place where they usually gather or at some sari-sari store yard at dusk, after a day’s work.

Anna Kristina V. Banzuela in her study Harakbotan: An Indigenous Bikol Oral Tradition (Bicol University College of Education, 2005) wrote that harak-botan can be performed during courtship, feasts, fiestas, or whatever similar occasion, except during wakes. Wakes are considered solemn and held with much deference to the deceased and the bereaved family thus a raucous atmosphere will be frowned upon.

“Harakbotan is a group performance with anyone in the crowd rendering an opening song on any theme. Anyone could start a harakbotan through a komposo (from compose), a ‘spontaneous, on-the-spot composition of verse rendered to a tune’ . . . usually accompanied by a guitarist in the group. It becomes a contest as the audience, as well as the participants themselves can freely express approbation or rejection of the performance of a certain participant,” the study bares.

Banzuela observed: “As in tigsik, harakbotan performers would dish out their best in response to the challenge of another performer. As a rule, a particular subject may be agreed upon to limit the context of the songs to be composed on the spot. Spontaneity, wit, sense, rhyme, and melody would be noticed by the audience. If, for instance, the subject is ‘best wishes’ for a newly wed couple, then the songs will revolve around ‘best wishes.’ Or, it could be about the beauty of the bride or the ‘luck’ of the groom.”

Like Tigsik, harakbotan is a contest. The performers are appraised through the volume of the applause: the louder it is, the more guaranteed the performer that he will be part of succeeding rounds. Those who are faintly cheered drop out of the contest. As the session goes on, only the loudly applauded over can continue singing, until only two are left to contend.
What sets harakbotan apart from Tigsik is its rendition into a song with instrumental accompaniment. Of course, the absence, too, of wine as a requisite motif in Tigsik.

Again, the limerick. It is not a verbal joust, humorous, may be. Say:

            There was an Old Man of Whitehaven,
             Who danced quadrille with a raven;
             But they said–It’s absurd, to encourage this bird!
             So they smacked that Old Man of Whitehaven.

One distinct feature of Tigsik is the competition. Except for this, the clerihew, a verse form usually of two couplets of different lengths, can be considered for composition. Invented by E. Clerihew Bently (1875-1956), this verse is a vehicle for short humorous, pseudo-biographies:

           Sir Christopher Wren
           Said, “I’m going to dine with some men.
           If anybody calls,
           Say I am designing St. Paul’s.”

As an old saw goes, the knife is only as good as the hand that wields it; Tigsik can degenerate into a trivial, mean, halting or irregular doggerel.

An eclogue can come near Tigsik. But an eclogue is more conversational than competitive. Eclogues are short, pastoral poems in which shepherds converse with one another.

The Tigsik can be ribald if not outright vulgar told only out of earshot of the womenfolk and the minors. If it were so, it can come out like a goliardic verse. A goliardic verse, usually Latin, written by the Goliards or wandering scholars of the Middle Ages was natually ribald. Leigh Hunt has a translation of one such verse:

           I desire to end my days in a tavern drinking,
           May some christian hold for me the glass when I am drinking
           That the cherubim may cry, when they see me sinking,
           God be merciful to the soul of this gentleman’s way of thinking.

SAVE THE TIGSIK

By all accounts, Tigsik is something unique and indigenous. Its closest look-alike are the Hanunoo Mangyan’s ambahan and the Malaysian pantun.

Tigsik is a light verse, a quatrain which observes the elements of euphony and rime and spontaneity. It is a poetic rendering that places premium on stimulation, interest, discovery, and empathy. A poetaster may find complying with the demands of a rime scheme as easy and even as pleasurable as gulping a glassfull of tuba or lambanog or gin but a serious versifier can employ prosody, seek out cadence in his lines, infuse rich imagery and texture in his thoughts, be didactic in essence but smooth in form like some whiskey that gives Tigsik a prime reason to sparkle. He can end up with verses that can travel and last far and wide in the true spirit of an oral tradition that Tigsik is.

Tigsik’s place in world literature can be as prominent as any of the different genres of folk literature: It depends on our tradition bearers. If any item of folk literature ceases to exist within the memory of man, then it is completely lost.
SAMPLE TIGSIK

On October 21, 2010 I was invited by the Department of Education Regional Office Number V to give a lecture on creative writing for teachers and students of the Special Program for the Arts. The event was hosted by the Camarines Sur National High School. In my lecture I included Tigsik and gave a sample of  how it is done. The theme treated is the controversial proposal of adding a year each in the elementary and secondary curricula. It is known as the DepEd’s  K+12 program. The model is hereunder presented.

DUEÑO (HOST)
      
Anom na sawa madarâ sa limang bobon
Pâno na an agihan kan lambang saro
Dai magdoot sa manarôsaro?
Programang K+12 satuyang tigsikon!

(Six pythons to drink in five wells
How can they pass, pray tell
Each not touching each other’s scales?
Here’s a toast to Program K+12!)

PARATIGSIK 1: 

Tinigsik ko an sinabi mong programa
Mar’hayon iyan para sa banwa
Helinga an mga aki maloyahon magkuwenta
Kaya mga Intsik an nagpapadalagan sa ekonomiya.

(Here’s a toast to that program you said
That is very good for the neighborhood
Look at the children how hard up they are even in counting
That is why the Chinese hold sway over the economy.)

PARATIGSIK 2:  

Tinigsik ko an saimong rason
Ababaw pa sa pabuko-bukong bobon
Tios na an banwa papasakitan pa
Sistema an pakarhayon bako tawo an kastigohon.

(I toast to your reason
It is shallower than na ankle-deep well
The people are in pain why punish them more
Fix the system, don’t punish the people.)

PARATIGSIK 1:
     
Tigsik ko an pigsasabi mong kastigo
Gari habo mo maheling an totoo
An mga aki bako handa sa saindang futuro
Kulang an aram pag-abot sa kolehiyo.

(I toast to what you call punishment
Don’t close your eyes to the truth
The children are not prepared for their future
They go to college empty-headed.)

PARATIGSIK 2:
      
Tinigsik ko iyan na paglaog sa kolehiyo
An bako toltol na sistema iyo an nagpapaluya
Dugang na duwang taon dai ki garantiya
Na an satuyang mga aki orog mag-orag pa.

(I toast to tertiary education
It is the system that weakens it
An additional two years is not a guarantee
For our children to perform better.)

PARATIGSIK 1:     
  
Tinigsik ko an sabi mong sistema
An dugang na duwang taon an mapakarhay saiya
Sa ibang nasyones ini mga probado na
Mar’hay baga an mga resulta.

(I toast to what you call system
The additional two years will fix it up
In other nations it has been proven
The results are beneficient.) 

PARATIGSIK 2:
      
Tinigsik ko an sabi mong mga resulta
Dara iyan bako kan dugang na duwang taon sa esk’wela
Bunga sinda kan mar’hay na sistema
An pagmakolog kan gobyerno bulaos, may ranga.

(I toast to what you call results
They have nothing to do with two years more in school
A good system will bring them on
With fullhearted, foremost government support.)

PARATIGSIK 1:   
   
Tinigsik ko an sabi mong gobyerno
An satuya baga igwa man ki pagmangno
Nagmamaliogot na an bilog na karahayan itao
Ugaring iyo ngani iyan may mga tawong arog saimo.

(I toast to what you call government
Ours is very much concerned too
It is doing everything to give the best
The problem is there are people like you.)

PARATIGSIK 2:    
  
Tinigsik ko an sabi mong gobyerno
Iyan an problemado bako kaming mga nagrereparo
Sa dai mapurupundong pag-abuso,
Siisay mabayad kan matrikula sa haloy na pag-eskuwela?

(I toast to what you call government
That’s what is problematic not us critics
To abuses contemptuous of limits,
For longer school years who pays the costs?)

DUEÑO (HOST)

Tinigsik ko an saindong mga tigsik
Kamo oragon magbayabay kan boot sabihon
May premyong beer na sarong kahon
An maka-oyon kan mga miron.

(I toast to your toasts
You are both good in your thoughts
The prize, a case of beer,
Will go to the audience’s choice.)

N.B.
References used are in hard copy