Piñato - Buray's Native Delicacy - and Memories of Childhood

I found this photo of piñato in one of my computer folders while looking for an old PowerPoint file. This reminded me of my grandmother and of my childhood. I still remember how, as a child, I would look forward to those times when my paternal grandmother visited us in San Roque. She lived in Hinabangan, Samar; we, in San Roque, Northern Samar. It took her several hours to travel, but she never arrived empty-handed. She always brought a basket full of sweets from Buray and Catbalogan.

Piñato from Buray, Samar.

I grew up associating her -- my apoy (grandmother) -- with desserts and with happy times. It was also through her that I became familiar with Buray, the place where she always bought piñato. Even now, though I'm no longer that little girl waiting for her grandmother's visit, I still think of Buray as the source of that delicious piñato. The fact that it's a barangay (village) in Paranas, Samar, comes second to the memories it holds for me.

The idea that the piñato makers of Buray have sustained their livelihood through the years is comforting. These days, I don't have to travel to Buray just to buy their famous piñato. They're now available in various outlets in Tacloban City and Ormoc, Leyte.

Maupay kay ginpadayon nira. Waray nira puoha.
(It's wonderful that they kept it going. They didn't let it disappear.)

Waray Sentences and Phrases and Greetings in Waray

How do you say, "Good morning" or "Good afternoon" in Waray? Good morning is Maupay nga aga; Good afternoon, Maupay nga kulop. You'll notice that most of my entries have two or three suggestions in Waray. The first suggestion is the usual way of saying the English sentence in the Waray language. The second or the last suggestion -- the one that comes after the slash (/) -- is how we say it using the Ninorte-Samarnon Waray.

In case you might need a list of Waray words or Waray adjectives, this site has also an online Waray dictionary.

Aim high.	Pangandoy hin hataas./ Pangandoy sin hataas.
A merry Christmas and a bountiful New Year!	Malipayon nga Pasko ug mabungahon nga Bag-o nga Tuig!
A prosperous New Year to everyone!	Mauswagon nga Bag-o nga Tuig ha kada usa!/ Mauswagon nga Bag-o nga Tuig sa tagsa-tagsa!
Don't worry.	Ayaw kabaraka.
Good afternoon.	Maupay nga kulop.
Good afternoon to all of you.	Maupay nga kulop ha iyo ngatanan./ Maupay nga kulop sa iyo ngatanan.
Good afternoon to you, too.	Maupay gihap nga kulop ha imo./ Maupay liwat nga kulop sa im.
Good day.	Maupay nga adlaw.
Good day to all of you.	Maupay nga adlaw ha iyo ngatanan./ Maupay nga adlaw sa iyo ngatanan.
Good evening.	Maupay nga gab-i.
Good evening everyone.	Maupay nga gab-i ha kada usa. or Maupay nga gab-i ha kada tagsa./
	Maupay nga gab-i sa tagsa-tagsa.
Good evening to all of you.	Maupay nga gab-i ha iyo ngatanan./ Maupay nga gab-i sa iyo ngatanan.
Good evening to you, too.	Maupay gihap nga gab-i ha imo./ Maupay liwat nga gab-i sa im.
Good morning.	Maupay nga aga.
Good morning to all of you.	Maupay nga aga ha iyo ngatanan./ Maupay nga aga sa iyo ngatanan.
Good morning to you, too.	Maupay gihap nga gab-i ha imo./ Maupay liwat nga gab-i sa im.
Good night.	Maupay nga pagkaturog.
Happy birthday.	Malipayon nga pagsalin-urog han imo adlaw nga natawhan./
	Malipayon nga pagsalin-urog sa imo adlaw nga natawhan.
Happy Easter.	Malipayon nga Pasko ha Pagkabanhaw./ Malipayon nga Pasko sa Pagkabanhaw.
Happy Hearts' Day.	Malipayon nga pagsalin-urog sa adlaw sa mga kasing-kasing.
Happy New Year.	Malipayon nga Bag-o nga Tuig or Maupay nga Bag-o nga Tuig.
Merry Christmas.	Malipayon nga Pasko or Maupay nga Pasko.
Stand up.	Tindog./ Tugbos. (N.Samar)
Take care.	Paghinay.
Thank you.	Salamat.
Thank you very much.	Damo nga salamat ha imo./ Damo nga salamat sa im.
Thank you very much to all of you.	Damo nga salamat ha iyo ngatanan./ Damo nga salamat sa iyo ngatanan.
Welcome home.	Maupay nga pag-abot.
You're welcome.	Waray sapayan.

Waray Songs On Life and Love

Aside from their songs that are naughty and nonsense, the Warays have also their own share of songs that speak about life and about love. They have a profound effect on my being as a Waray, for they bring poignant memories of my hometown and of my childhood.

In the 1980's while my high school contemporaries were singing Madonna's Material Girl and Papa Don't Preach, I was busy learning Waray songs from Mana Saning and from Mana Jenny, leaders of San Roque Parish Church Choir. Nanay Remy, my mother, likewise taught me songs from her native town of Borongan, Eastern Samar. Aside from these three women, I also learned some songs from the older women of Kalye San Francisco in San Roque, Northern Samar. I sat with them while they drank tuba (coconut wine) and sang Waray songs.

My repertoire of songs grew as I met friends from Laoang and from Catubig. We sang a lot and we always made it a point to sing songs in Waray. Probably we were thinking that it was our only way of connecting with our roots -- we had to leave our families and our hometowns to pursue college education in the city. In school, I was a member of a performing arts group. We did community immersions and we gathered and performed songs indigenous to the islands of Samar and Leyte.

Before I become totally engulfed by forgetfulness, let me share the lyrics of these songs so that my fellow Warays can make use of them or can sing them. Like the women of San Roque and the other Waray speakers who unselfishly shared these songs to me, I am likewise sharing them to you now. Only virtually, though. To my fellow Warays searching for or googling -- yes, google is also a verb, :-) -- "lyrics of Waray songs", this post is for you. Except for Balud, the songs below cannot be found on the World Wide Web as of this writing.

To those who don't speak Waray, I have not prepared any English translation for these texts. Since I'm a blogger and not a poet, I'll leave the job to them: the Waray poets.

AN KINABUHI SAN TAWO

An kinabuhi san tawo
Sugad sin usa nga binhi
Kon upayon gud pagmangno
Matudok ini, madamo
Ug niyan ini dumako
Sugad san aton tanom
Kay minangnoan san gugma
Gugma para sa aton.

Kay inin aton kinabuhi
Kinabuhi usa la
Sugad sin usa ka binhi
Sa gugma kita ginpili
Kay kinabuhi nga langitnon
Bulawan an panahon
Aton gud talinguhaon
An pag-ukoy nga surundon
Aton gud talinguhaon
An pag-ukoy nga surundon.

BALUD

Mga balud nagpapasibo ha kadagatan
Kakuri gud madakpan inin balud
Ha baras napulilid kon diri hira nag-iisog
Hay, Intoy kamakuri mo pagdad-on
Baga-baga ka gud la hinin balud
Kon nasisina nalakat ka
Mag-uusahan ako ha tabi.

Kay ano nga ginbayaan mo ako
Waray na balud inin lawud ko
Hain na an mga haplas mo
Nailiw na an baras ngan bato.

Bisan la danay di nagkakaasya
Sugad han langit ug tuna
Kon an gugma nga marig-on ug masarig
Di mapapara hinin balud.

Kay ano nga ginbayaan mo ako
Waray na balud inin lawud ko
Hain na an mga haplas mo
Nailiw na an baras ngan bato.

Balik na kamahidlaw na ha imo
Waray na balud inin lawud
Hain na an mga haplas mo
Nailiw na an kasing-kasing ko.

BUTA

An kadam-an san nagmamata

Hingyap pa an pagkaturog

Kay mas matam-is an pagwaydong

Sa luyo san mga limbong

An saksi san kamatuoran

Napiyong la san kasugaran

Nag-aantos la nga gintatamakan

An katungod san kadam-an.

Buta kita san kinahanglan

San iba buta kita sa luha

Kay waray pulos an lamrag

San aton mga mata

Kon sa kasing-kasing magpabilin kita nga buta.

Kon kita an magsasaksi

Sa ngaran san at kabugtoan

Nano an imo pag-ugop

Kan kanay ka ba mahisakop

An saksi san kamatuoran

Napiyong la san kasugaran

Nag-aantos la nga gintatamakan

An katungod san katawhan.

DUNGGA AN HUNI SAN KALAW

Dungga an huni san kalaw
Kon tikatunod na an adlaw
Tugob sin kasakit ug kabutlaw
Nagtitikadulom, nagtitikamingaw.

Kundi adto na an kabitun-an
Namimiruk-pirok didto sa hitas-an
Sidlit na liwat matahum nga bulan
An lamrag murayaw, may kahimayaan.

What's Your Google PageRank as of May 4, 2012?

There has been a Google PageRank update very recently. It started several hours ago, according to some webmasters. I'm happy with the outcome of this update. I temporarily lost my PageRank (PR) when I registered Warayblogger as a domain name in January this year. Now I'm back to having that green thing in the PR toolbar again.

Did you know that the individual posts of a site are ranked individually? I checked my blog posts and saw a gray PR in some of my pages and a green PR in the other posts. My latest write-up, Waray Songs - The Naughty and the Nonsense is gray (0/10) while some others are green (1/10).

Online Writing Idea # 1: Write About Your Hometown is green:

Whale Skeleton in Silago, Southern Leyte -- the First on Leyte Island is likewise green.

Do you want to see your Google PageRank? For quick results, use Check Your Page Rank's domain evaluation tool. There's no need to type an "anti-bot" code because the site does not require one -- that's what I like about this tool. Once you give your site's URL, you will see the number of Yahoo, Google, and Bing.com links for your site. It also determines the domain age of the site. However, you must ignore the Alexa Rank given by this tool because it's not accurate (as of this writing at least). Download the Alexa Toolbar to your computer or go directly to www.alexa.com if you want to get the current Alexa Traffic Rank of your site.

To check the Google PR of individual pages or posts, I recommend PRChecker.info. You may not feel very convenient with this tool -- you will have to hit two buttons plus type an "anti-bot" code before getting any information from the site -- but it's worth it. Did you notice that long URL in the photo above? That's the URL of one of my blog posts. Try this in the former tool and you will have an N/A result. It only accepts the URL of your homepage. So far, I haven't come across any site that performs what PRChecker.info does.

If your site is not ranked yet, remember what other webmasters and bloggers have been saying: the Google PR may be important, but it's not the "be-all and end-all" of online writing. Let's do what makes us happy. Let's keep writing and keep the fire burning. There's another PR update coming, anyway.

Waray Songs -- The Naughty and The Nonsense

"The Waray people were musically-inclined. They sang every day and stopped singing only when they were sick or when they were asleep." I read this in William Henry Scott's book titled Barangay: 16th Century Philippines.

Apparently, the modern-day Warays are very similar to their ancestors in that respect. Musically inclined, that is. Proof of this is the popular and the folk songs composed by the Waray people, many of which were sung and recorded by artists like Balinsasayaw Singers, Ms. Cielo Tibe, and Mabuhay Singers.

Aside from the love songs and the ones that made their way to the mainstream music scene are some other songs which up to this day remain undocumented. Go around Samar and Leyte and you will notice a lot of singing. You will likewise hear two types of Waray songs -- the naughty and the nonsense. Below are some of the songs with their lyrics. {This is Rated SPG (Strong Parental Guidance). You may read at your own risk.}


Inggids
May ako inggids nga bag-o pero daan
Halipot an leog tandos la an kupsan
Akon pangutan-an kon sin-o an ngaran
Si Mr. Tanduay nga adto sa tindahan.

Ismayling

Ismayling pakpak
Ulunan taplak
Higdaan katre
Sa adlaw gab-i

Tukba na sudlot
An kan Inday pugtot
Isul-isol ngadi
Kay mahuro-hagkot.

Karantahon

Si Loloy matawa-tawa
Bisan halipot may karantahon
Diri buwas, kundi yana.
Taron nga lahing.

Katsapa
May katsapa nga dinapa sa bangalog
Nga nagtatabag sin kosta nga hininog
May man tango pero lunod di natukob
Dakpa iton kay im sangod.

Misay

Misay, misay, misay

Misay nga mambanon
Sinaka kagab-i
An suga ginparong
Dayon ko la buhat
Ngan panginanoon
Salbahis nga misay
Kinupkop la dayon.

Hala la, hala la
Kupkop la, kupkop la.
Basi ka takasan
San akon mantika.
Hala la, hala la
Kupkop la, kupkop la.
Basi ka takasan
San akon mantika.


Pinya
Ako magtatanom sin lemon
Sa iyo libong bayai
An im asawa kay kita
An magpipinya.

Ako magtanom sin lemon
Nga waray dahon
Natudok in maagahon
Naghahanap sin kamatayon.

Nanggamot iton niyan
Nananaringsing san im tiyan
Tiunay ka Inday
Sa kasing-kasing.


Pitaka ug Batuta
Sindo babaye, may pitaka
Sindo lalaki, may batuta
Nakakita ak sin pitaka
Ginbatuta.


Tanaman
Kahawan, kahawan
Kan Inday tanaman
Haglapad an dahon
Kaupay sirungan
Sindo an nalabay
Nga may kabilinggan
Nadiskanso anay
Kan Inday higdaan.

Pirikoykoy, pirikoykoy
Pirikoriyang, pirikoriyang
Sa kahoy
Sindo an nalabay
Nga may kabilinggan
Nadiskanso anay
Kan Inday higdaan.


Tipatay
Kinikila an tipatay
Nalaylay an pamitay
Nasulod, naguwa
Nasulod, naguwa
Napakanhi ka la
Paghimo sin bata.

Ada pa man ngay-an
Ada pa man ngay-an
Nagbinitay-bitay
Nasulod, naguwa
Nasulod, naguwa
Napakanhi ka la
Paghimo sin bata.

Tugon

An tugon ko sa im pinalangga

Ayaw pagpalabti an nabutnga

Kon may iba ka na nga ginpapalangga

Patabuk-tabuki gad la.

These songs are either senseless or replete with double meanings and are usually sung in informal gatherings or drinking sprees. The good thing is that you forget to dwell on the nonsensical and sometimes vulgar text and learn to enjoy the songs because of their melodies.