In honor of our filipino legacy with the delano manongs and ALL manongs and manangs that have worked on the farms, we carve this labor day 2013 to remember them with our labor of love. we thank you manongs and your families.
at the bangka-yard day 8: The women showed up – we welcome you and thankful for your presence and coming on your days off especially this labor day weekend. One male carver to share the way of adzing with the magandas, the beautiful ones. But where are our strong men? what will take them to heed to the call of the waters? A wonderful surprise visit from a kalinga (with relations to bibak) woman who adzes naturally as easy as weaving a single-backstrap loom, sweat pores down her forehead under the clear blue sunny sky, a booming smile greets us. Some of us tried our best to adze, a new activity with unfamiliar motions for our ‘americanized’ limbs. Some of us with limited physical abilities gently rasped the inner sides of the bangka and/or worked on the unfinished paddles. yes, you are welcome to come and help out. the youngest, the bunso, says the other ‘b’ word again and again despite the friendly warning that it is not a boat, it is a canoe, a bangka; for cebuanos it is called a baruto – it is a vessel that connects, bridges The day flew by fast, the smiling women continue to chatter and giggle by the bangka, cleaning up fast, sharpen the tools and put them away safely, water the bangka, until next time we meet again, balik sa dagat, return to the sea we will.
meanwhile, local news headlines – Poet Laureate Herrera will read a poem commissioned for the event, “Bay Bridge Inauguration Poem, Labor Day 2013, for all bridge dreamers, bridge builders & bridge crossers.”
back with the newly recruited land crew at the campsite: the following morning, after a night of feasting and bangka stories shared at the creekside campsite with more giggles and happy tummies, bunso awakens with newly trained tongue and calls it a canoe.
