#aeta peoples
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a too-common misconception about the origins of filipinos is that we are all descended from the aeta. we are not. “aeta” refers to a specific ethnic group native to certain places in luzon such as zambales and pampanga, but is also commonly used as an umbrella term for several related ethnic groups across the philippine archipelago. they are identified by physical characteristics such as dark skin and very curly hair (leading to a false belief that they are descendants of black africans) as opposed to those of majority of the country who have lighter skin and hair that is either straight or of looser curl patterns (also falsely believed to be markers of the so-called malay race.)
the aeta are an ethnic minority; as of 2010, there were a documented <100,000 out of millions of filipino citizens identifying as such. it is clear majority of filipinos are not of aeta descent. so where does this myth that all filipinos “descend” from the aeta come from?
generations of miseducation has led the average filipino to believe that, out of the hundreds of ethnic groups native to the philippines, it is the aeta in particular who are the original people who came to the philippines prior to the advent of the austronesian expansion. in other words, filipinos view the aeta as a pure people who are remnants of the old world.
this is not true because:
DNA evidence from the luzon aeta, mamanwa ata, batak, & other similar peoples indicate ancestry from BOTH the earliest settlers of what is now the philippines (commonly referred to colloquially and in the literature as negritos but also sometimes as basal australasians and first sundaland peoples) and later migrants associated with the austronesian expansion.
all other native populations in the philippines save for igorot peoples also show admixture from both negrito/basal australasian/first sundaland peoples and later migrants, most significantly the austronesian speakers. what’s notable is the varying degrees of admixture among aetas and non-aetas.
two graphic charts showing the peopling of the philippines and genetic admixture in modern populations. taken from the study, “Multiple migrations to the Philippines during the last 50,000 years” (2021) by Maximillian Larena et al.
i think what has happened is that “aeta” has become synonymous with the earliest inhabitants of the philippines, the real name for these ancient peoples being unknown to us moderns. it is only the flawed tendency to view indigenous peoples as unchanging relics of the past that has led to the biggest mistake filipinos make when discussing our origins: that is, the constant misuse of the term “aeta” to mean “pureblooded original people” when in reality aeta peoples are also descended from later migrants. when people say filipinos are descended from the aeta, they really mean to say filipinos are descended from the first settlers.
aeta peoples are our contemporaries; they are not our living progenitors but their own people with their own languages, ancestral lands, cultures, and histories.
#philippines#indigenous peoples#pseudoscience#southeast asia#genetics#aeta peoples#sundaland#basal australasian#first sundaland peoples#austronesian#x
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The Aeta were the first people to settle the Philippines about 30,000 years ago. They live primarily on northern Luzon. They possess incredible knowledge of medicinal and other useful plants.
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Hyacinth from the short film Black Rainbow is a mood
Hyacinth and her little brother Itan ride on a wagon driven by a carabao across the mountains somewhere in rural Zambales. Hyacinth looks nonchalantly at Itan who takes a good long look at the surroundings. Both of them are Sambal — one of several Aeta (black people indigenous to the Philippines) groups living and protecting their ancestral lands in central Luzon.
to elaborate:
she was asked in class for a color of the rainbow and she answered “black” and even defended her answer
what does she want to be when she grows up? “a goddess”
literally the most accessible physical help to learning the computer that her little brother can get, and she gladly takes it on, with a stick
demands that her brother make his prayer to Apo Namalyari a bit more specific
I'm not Aeta ok but as an annoying older sister I understand
honestly if you saw this short you will love both of them
I hope she and her people doing ok in real life, at least in little ways because the fight for these mountains never stopped with granting titles
#short film#black rainbow#sambal aeta#zambales#filipino film#aeta#indigenous#land back#indigenous people
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The Second Blade: Diplata - Extinct Bolo
Continuing the countdown to the launch of the Gubat Banwa Kickstarter coming up on the 10th of October- 6 days to go!
Gubat Banwa is a tactical war-drama TTRPG set in the Sword Isles, a fantasy setting inspired by Southeast Asian cultures and folklore.
To promote its launch, I'll be posting some of the weapons I've been drawing for the game every day until the campaign kicks off in earnest. These were meant to be Swordtember entries, pardon the lateness I suppose.
2/7 blades so far, let me introduce you to the DIPLATA.
The diplata is a short-to-mid-length blade with a distinct handle, with most specimens sporting a horn-like protrusion facing the same side as the edge.
The blade shape itself I feel is something common across most toolblades in the Philippines, not much longer than one's forearm with a more-or-less rounded out tip- though the diplata seems a bit wider than most.
I would say the most unique features definitely lie in the shape of the hilt, and the circular guard. Most Philippine blades don't have anything in the form of hand protection, so a wide guard like this stands out.
This one was a little difficult to find photo references for, as apparently they're quite rare. Some blade scholars call it an "extinct" blade, meaning those who traditionally forge authentic ones supposedly aren't around anymore.
(Photo from Victor Balaguer's museum near Barcelona; Diplata on the blades hanging on the wall, the two next to the rightmost blade)
"Traditional" blades refer to those made by the same people to whose culture a blade belongs. To illustrate in the simplest terms, a katana made by a traditional Japanese swordsmith would count as a traditional blade. A messer made by a traditional German blacksmith would count as a traditional blade. I'm sure there's more internal nuance there, but that's the quickest reference point I could come up with.
Take note however that the Philippines is composed of many, many different cultures who all happen to exist in the same archipelago with varying levels of overlap- there is no singular, unifying blade culture, so categorizations like "Traditional" and "Modern" (often referring to modern reproductions) aren't always as exact as convenience may demand.
In particular, material exchange between cultures makes a mess of this categorization, not just because the blades themselves could get traded (or stolen or lost) and physically make their way to other places beyond the imaginary borders of their "homelands", but because the smiths themselves (or their knowledge and techniques) may travel around.
Smiths in different places may also see blades from different cultures that they might feel like imitating or emulating in some way- that's how certain Philippine blades obtained D-guards- but that's a story for another time.
The diplata is oft-attributed to the Aeta peoples, specifically those who come from Mt. Pinatubo in Zambales. Not much confusion as to whose culture these blades belong.
It is a little disheartening that most of the refs I could find were photos from foreign museums and loose images in books and blade forums.
I will not speculate here as to how these blades ended up in these places, but it isn't hard to guess.
(Image from a Spanish museum)
(Image from Philippines, Early Collections, Museum of Ethnologie Vienna)
(Image from The Philippine Journal of Science Volume 81)
I'm not a hardcore blade scholar, but even I recognize how inseparable blades are from the myriad cultures of the Philippines. I'm forever thankful to the random communities of blade enthusiasts who dedicate a not-insignificant portion of their time (and wallets) to supporting local artisan blacksmiths to grow their collections, and keeping track and tracing which blades came from which places and peoples.
Our blade cultures are alive and still developing, but they could still use a little help sometimes, just so we don't lose them.
(Photo from the collection of Zel Umali)
In any case- while it's not exactly a scholarly work in the academic sense- part of Gubat Banwa's violence is pushing a fantasy setting of our own making, as seen by our own eyes, as told on our own terms.
This is no foreign museum; This time, SEAsian cultures take center stage.
The Gubat Banwa Kickstarter launches in 6 days! Check it out here:
It would be a huge help to this very small team from the global south if you could help us get the word out! We straight up can't afford to advertise on the same scale as bigger players in the field, so we're relying heavily on word of mouth.
You can find out more about the game on its itch page.
#gubat banwa#gamedev#ttrpg#ttrpgs#indie ttrpg#indie ttrpgs#tabletop rpgs#rpgs#rpg#southeast asia#southeastasia#dnd#kickstarter#swords#philippine blade#weapon design#dagger#philippine history#philippine culture#filipino artists#artists on tumblr#kathang langit#help us get the word out!#fantasy#fantasy worldbuilding#swordtember#bolo#itak#diplata
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Do you know if akechi actually says that matukis reality is a fairytale kingdom or something like that or is that just something people started saying.
Also about your akechi featherman theory in p3d ken says that in featherman red is a heroic colour and blue is a villainous colour which feels like a direct reference to akechis two outfits.
Never to my knowledge. It's a line from Our Light:
甘い甘いおとぎの国 君と会えた歪んだ世界 偽りの幸せでもいいと告げる口 君がそっと塞ぐ
amai amai otogi no kuni, kimi to aeta yuganda sekai itsuwari no shiawase de mo ii to tsugeru kuchi, kimi ga sotto fusagu
You silenced me when I told you it would be fine: the fake happiness of that sweet, sweet fairyland, of that distorted world where I could meet you.
But that line is in the singer's first-person perspective, the boku ("I") of the song—who we usually read as Joker, but who I increasingly suspect really may be Maruki, with Joker as the second person (goddammit).
One thing's for sure, though: it is absolutely not Akechi. If you read the song as being from Joker's perspective, then it's him saying it to Akechi.
otogi no kuni, BTW, is probably more correctly translated as "fairyland" or, to retain the metaphor, "dreamland"—it's a pair with おとぎ話 otogibanashi, "fairy story; fairytale".
Also, that is a fascinating detail, wow! I wonder if there's a Red Oni, Blue Oni thing going on here, too. Joker and Akechi are both calm and collected in the real world and, uh, not so much rly in the Metaverse—they each contain both the red and blue oni.
In practical terms, for most of the game, Joker is the passionate, defiant red oni, and Akechi is the intellectual, collected blue oni. But note well:
It's worth noting that while blue types appear tremendously calm and composed, sometimes, this is just the surface, and scratching that façade may show that they are, if anything, wound far too tight beneath their calm and unemotional appearance. Villainous Blue Oni tend to be willing to sacrifice anything (and often anyone) for their goals, mostly only when their villainous goals are laden with true purpose....
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More OC stuff, this time focusing on Nova and their band during the "prologue." Descriptions and thoughts and stuff under the cut!
Color variations for the outfit Nova wears during their first lead performance! They bring a particularly unique energy to a diverse group that started out primarily doing jazz; Kagura is something they learned growing up (or sumn like it) and incorporated some motifs into the performance. The ribbon colors in the first two are like the real thing, while the third is more Nowhere-specific. Will see if this idea remains viable in the future
First concepts of the band's founders/lead singers at the time of the prologue; their names are Sola and Lupin. Starting out, I at least wanted to make the leaders black, seeing as they're where jazz came from, and as such Sola is coded African-American. I considered making all of them black with each member having different roots from around the world, but would it be fair to cram them all into one group? Regardless, Lupin is coded Aeta and Nova might be mixed. I'll mess with their designs a bit more before deciding for certain. Also I recently had the idea of making Sola someone else with ancient lineage, making her taller than the rest.
The kid with the long hair is Mars, she's a skilled pianist who also helps out backstage a lot. She's an amiable and talkative kid who befriends Nova pretty quickly after they're first roped in. She's also Sola's daughter, which I guess would make Lupin her stepfather?? i'll think about it
The way I'd describe Nova gender-wise is transfem nb teetering a fine line between tomboy and femboy, while Mars is genderfluid but generally fem-leaning. Nova had probably already been questioning herself at this point, while Mars hadn't started until meeting different kinds of people, and they find opportunities to talk about it when they're alone together. I'm aiming to strike a huge visual contrast between the before and after
One other thing about the band that's not really alluded to in these images is that they're not actually from Metronome. They're kind of meant to represent what life is like outside the controlling city environment, and provide a feeling of hope to the people they meet. (At the same time they've evaded the Nowhere's jaws of despair time and time again, and it's never been easy.) As such, they probably have to have special permission to enter the city, but once they play their first gig at a somewhat dive-y place, word spreads FAST. They make the rounds again during the main story, but had to jump thru more hoops than last time,, they might even get caught in the crossfires of destruction towards the end
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Philippinès Y0u D0n't Sèe 0n Ț..V
Indigenous Aeta (Agta) woman & her child in the Philippines 🇵🇭 The 0ldest community of the Philippines.
AETA PEOPLE: 0NE 0F THE FÌRST AFRICÀN NATIVES 0F ASIA AND THE 0RIGINAL INHABITANTS 0F PHILIPPINÈS.
The Aetas, Agta or Ayta are the original Blàck ràce (Africans) that live in scattered, isolated mountainous northern part of The Philippines on the island of Luzon before the Austronesian (Malays and Asian groups) migrations. Historians and anthropologists debate precisely when and how they migràted there, the consensus being that they crossed from the island of Borneo between 20 and 30 thousand years ago, using a land bridge that was partially covered by water around 5,000 years ago - the remaining part of which is now the island of Palawan.
Whatever the migration path was, they are without doubt among the first - if not the first - inhabitànts of The Philippinès. They are considered to be Nègritos, who are dark to very dark bròwn-skinned and tend to have features such as a small stature, small frame, curly to kinky afro-like textured hair with a higher frequency of naturally lighter hair color (blondism) relative to the general population, small nose, and dark brown eyes.
Guys let's get our YouTube channel (YT: Historical Africa) to 200k subscribers. Kindly click on the link to subscribe. 🙏 https://youtube.com/c/HistoricalAfrica
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I was tagged by @adinferix! Thank you :))))
RULES: When you get this you have to put 5 songs you actually listen to, then tag 10 people!
Well, let's do this!
Monstrance Clock . Ghost
Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars) . Stan Getz, João Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto & Antônio Carlos Jobim
Living In A Haze . Milky Chance
Paper Machete . Queens of the Stone Age
Rock the Casbah . The Clash
TAGGING: @ghu-leh, @popiaswife, @parva-atra-aetas, @mac-and-thefox, @gravehags, @imyourrockbaby, @conjuring-ghouls, @writingjourney, @da-rulah (you can absolutely ignore this, don't feel pressured to do it, and if you don't like to be tagged in these, just let me know!)
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Far Cry OC Tournament Round 1A
Esther Seed v Orayani Ragadio v Wesley Beltran
Voting and little about our contestants under the cut!
Esther Seed (@vampireninjabunnies-blog)
About: Esther was born on March 20th 1994, in a very small rural community outside of Atlanta, Georgia to the local pastor David Shea and his wife Mary. She's the youngest of three, her sister Sarah is ten years older and Michael is four years older. She didn't fit in very well as a child due to being skipped ahead several grades. Her parents did the best they could to make her childhood a happy one and for the most part succeeded despite their deep poverty. She graduated from Harvard University at eighteen with her Ph.D in Psychiatry, focusing on childhood and religious trauma. Esther participated in competitive archery while in University and was champion three years in a row. She met John Seed in a nightclub not long after, and they dated for a year before she moved to Montana. During that year she'd worked as a social worker but quit from burnout when the systems flaws kept her from saving a child in an abusive home. She and John married and lived very happily for around two years despite her passive aggressive conflict with Joseph. Until one night after an argument with Joseph went too far. She and John attempted to leave Eden's Gate and Hope County but Joseph ran them off the road into the river. Now three years later the Reaping is in full swing, John and the rest of the county believe she's dead. And she's trapped in a bunker by Joseph with her children working to escape. Esther is 5"0, 98lbs, long copper red hair, big brown doe eyes. Fair skinned and covered in freckles with an hourglass figure. A fairly small, delicate woman. She has two tattoos given to her by John. The Seven virtues in latin under her right breast and a small bumblebee with John's initials on her pelvis. Later in her story she has the word PRIDE carved into her left shoulder blade by Joseph.
Does your OC have anything to share?: "Esther is an accomplished archer and equestrian. She is quite good at mounted archery and being as petite as she is she favours stealth and ambushes if she has to fight."
Orayani Ragadio (@broken-balance-baby)
About: She's from the post-canon au of Far Cry 3 where Jason becomes a merc! Filipino Aeta girl, she's also a starting journalist and meets Jason and his team in the middle of a warzone in Southern Philippines. she's very sweet, polite and always optimistic, she also doesn't seem very smart because of that but she is. she knows how to handle a bow and arrow and Jason teaches her how to use guns in their story.
Anything else we should know?: "she's very small! like say about 5'1 or so. so it's possible she could use her size to her advantage LOL"
Wesley Beltran (@stacispratt)
About: wes beltran considers himself a generally calm person, and this is true until his friends are in danger. staci and joey are his only family in hope county, and he'd do anything for them. after the seeds take them from him, his singular goal is to rescue them at any cost. at first, he agrees to help the resistance, because the more people fighting the cult the better, but the second any task doesn't directly help him get joey back from john (his first goal), he'll ditch it. he doesn't want to waste time, he wants to get right to joey, and also get his hands bloody punishing the people who have hurt her. after he gets accustomed to his brand new bloodlust, he prefers to use knives/blades/shovels to kill cultists over guns. it's more personal and painful for them. this is especially so with john seed! killing him from a distance with a gun would take all the reward out of killing john. also, it turns out that john seed's obsession with him scratches a very particular, desperate, life-long need inside wes to find someone who loves him more than anything, and his priorities after he rescues joey starts to blur into something that includes soaking up john's obsessive love forever and ever so he can (maybe, possibly) finally feel so full of love he'll never starve for it again! that's not to say john and wes don't beat the shit out of each other, because they do, most notably at wes's confession where wes beats john over the head with a metal pipe to rescue joey, and at wes's atonement, where john tattoos wes and then wes hunts john down until john gets the upper hand and steals him away to his bunker where, you guessed it, they beat the shit out of each other again. when marshal burke dies, wes blames the resistance. staci suffers near-death torment at the hands of jacob seed, and wes can't reconcile this with the idea that the resistance cares at all, because he's so sucked up in the well-being of his own two best friends. eventually, consumed with his mutual obsession for john seed, wes joins the cult and becomes john's right hand man and favorite chosen. he doesn't particularly take pleasure in torturing or killing innocents, but his loyalty to john has cemented itself and he'd do anything for him, just as he'd do anything for joey & staci. plus they still get to make each other bleed without politics also boomer is his bestie :)
Anything else we should know?: corruption arc through obsessive love babey.
#far cry oc tournament#polls#far cry 5#far cry 3#Esther Seed#Orayani Ragadio#Wesley Beltran#hey contestants if you could dm me if any of the art you gave me is commison work and who its by that'd be awesome-#i should have asked earlier sorry#dw about this if youve already given it to me btw#anyway wow iim excited#sorry its late I got hit with that ol reliable depression#one day poll for the first round#more time will be given next round
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Watch "ALAMAT - 'ABKD' (Official M/V)" on YouTube
youtube
Alamat delivered a song talking self-confidence, with the about colorism. They also featured Aetas in the MV.
Noteworthy how they're always styled incorporating Filipino textiles in their wardrobe. They also had Norman King as their indigenous peoples consultant. He is the first Aeta to finish from the University of the Philippines Diliman. It's a top school. He was featured on an ad for his achievement. He accepted his diploma in his indigenous attire during his graduation.
MV opens to this scene. It blatantly expresses how fair skin is favored over darker skin. You can see this deeply entrenched in the culture with the bombardment of whitening products and services available and in the ads.
Then you have this scene showing crab mentality. It's a cultural phenomenon where if someone is successful, people around them would do everything to pull them down, just like what crabs in a bucket would do.
Then here comes the part where they have their moment, while the Giliwalo (because they were still eight at the time) cheer them on. I love this part.
Sign says baluga and ayta, with the former crossed out. It's a slur used against them. It's a derogatory word for someone with dark skin.
The protagonist in the MV in front of the billboard from earlier, now showing her with the words that says "The world is yours".
Giliwalo with the Aeta cast from the MV.
#alamat#ppop rise#ppop#alamat alas#alamat jao#alamat mo#alamat rji#alamat taneo#alamat tomas#alamat abkd#colourism in Philippine culture#Youtube
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instagram
#JustinJones is a #mixed American activist/politician. Hes a member of the Tennessee House of Reps for District 52, representing Nashville. He served from January 2023 until April 6, 2023, when he was expelled for participating in a gun control protest inside the capitol that Republicans said was "disorderly." On April 10, the Nashville Metropolitan Council voted unanimously to reinstate him to serve as an interim pending a special election to fill his seat.
He was born on August 25, 1995, in Oakland, CA to a #Filipina mother & #Black father. Hes the grandson of Black, working-class grandparents from the South Side of Chicago & Filipino immigrants of #Ibanag & #Aeta ancestry. Growing up, his family taught him the importance of community, the environment & spirituality.
In high school, he served as his city’s Youth Commissioner & organized for the #civilrights of students & policies that ensured #racialequity, environmental protections & inclusivity. He was on the front lines in Oakland following the murder of #TrayvonMartin & to repeal nationwide Stand Your Ground laws.
His activism has brought him from #Oakland to #Ferguson, from #StandingRock to a 62 day sit-in outside the TN State House.
He attended #Fisk in 2013, where he received the John R. Lewis Scholarship for Social Activism. He was involved on campus, in community groups & spent all 4 yrs organizing campaigns for healthcare expansion in TN, the repeal of restrictive voter ID laws & community accountability in cases of #policebrutality. He served on the Board of Directors of the TN Healthcare Campaign & for Medicaid expansion.
In 2015, he helped coordinate a lawsuit/served as a plaintiff against the State of TN for its voter ID laws that targeted students. During Summer of 2020, he served as a strategist & organized the People Plaza’s 62-day sit-in outside the TN Capitol calling out the Governor to advance #racialjustice policies.
Hes been arrested for nonviolent protests & recipient of awards from the TN Human Rights Commission, ACLU of TN, TN Alliance for Progress, Fisk University Alumni Association, the Vanderbilt Organization of Black Graduate Students & the Nashville NAACP.
#aapi month#aapiheritagemonth#stop aapi hate#aapihm#aapi representation#aapinh#aapinh heritage month#asian american#pacific islander#native hawaiian#blasian#justin jones#Instagram
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“Only recently, my team and I shot a film (“Bihinang”) and included a community of Aetas in the production. They all played important roles in the film; some of them as actors while others, as crew members and workers,” he recalled.
“During the more than two months we were with them, we got exposed to the reality that the Aetas are hardly considered part of this place we call ‘our country.’ We were shocked to discover that they neither have no right to own nor live on their land, the one we now call ‘ancestral domain.’ They are being driven away from the places they were born and grew up in by powerful people, and they are incapable of fighting back.”
When it was time to hand them their salaries for the work they did on the film, Diaz said, he and his staff were surprised to discover that the Aetas — in this day and age — still could not present or have not been issued any official ID. The ethnic villagers have remained practically undocumented in their own “country.”
“To think that they live in an area that is close to a community with barangay and municipal halls that are technologically advanced. They can’t even get themselves listed in that location,” he said.
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Aeta Woman
The Aeta (pronounced as “eye-ta,”), Agta or Ayta are a pygmy indigenous people who live in scattered, isolated mountainous parts of Luzon, Philippines. The Aetas are considered to be the earliest inhabitants of the Philippines, preceding the Austronesian migrations.
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Saw this audio getting popular ✨️🏃♀️ I also wanted to showcase how so many people(mostly white people) would think that Filipinos don't count as "Asian" and would call us "Hispanic"/"Pacific Islander". Just because we have been colonized by Spain doesn't mean we are suddenly "hispanic". We have our own culture, languages and customs in different regions of the country way before the Spaniards came. No, we dont speak Spanish, we speak Tagalog, Bisaya, etc so on and so forth. We have over 120-187 languages(not including dialects). Contrary to popular belief, we don't have "Spanish lineage", we have more ancestry/heritage from Chinese, Indians, and other Southeast Asian countries, it is stated that the most Spanish lineage we had is only 0.5 which is teeny weeny. We are as Asian as we could get ✨️
The ethnic groups showed in the video:
Aeta(their ancestry came from the Aborigines of Australia)
Kalinga Tribes in the Cordillera
Maguindanaoan Muslim
T'boli
Maranao
Bisaya
#filipino#filipina#filipina artist#filipino artist#instagram reels#instagram#filipino culture#filipiniana
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a new guy to use all the weird fucked up pseudocatholic biblically accurate angel imagery on it since nation went out to pasture. meet AETAS, she/they, they’re a 6′8 recently awakened state with ;;;)))) secrets ;;;;;;;)))) and a sword
1. moss grew on them during the statue times which is pretty sexy of them if i do say so myself. wonder what those face grooves could be ;;;;;)
2. due to the aforementioned 6′8 they make excellent cover when hiding from people you share a backstory with
3. cecile (pronounced Sicily) and cecilie (pronounced Sessily) aka unstoppable force meets immovable object
4. mars has a library card, a gun license, a horse license, AND a cart license thus making him the most responsible adult of the group
5. mars’ brother Fucking Died in the very first session and we all had to make a lot of jokes about it lest we lose our marbles
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“Before they were Perlas ng Silanganan they were Hija del sol de Oriente. They might as well look it.”
Physical Appearance (General) Headcanons for HWS Philippines
CW: mentions of body injury
☼ ☼ ☼
Skin Color: Moreno. Neutral undertone. Beautifully sun-kissed and proudly brown, after long hours under the sun, whether it be from toiling in the fields or wading in the waters.
Historically, mestizo/a* is used to refer to Filipinos of mixed Spanish blood. These days, it generally applies to anyone that appear foreign, if only by way of their fair skin.
*Not speaking as a linguist (but someone who is has discussed the use of the X on a public FB post, but links to it won't open right). Assigning gender to a letter is not a thing in the conscience of mainland Filipinos (using a diaspora term there). While the vocabulary in a handful of PH languages does borrow from Spanish, I don't think the gendered spelling rule took real root as a linguistic concept. I'll dare say the strictest imposition of the gender binary remains to be religious motivations.
While I'm aware that fair-skinned Southeast Asians exist, fair-skinned Piri does not match up to how I view him spending the vast majority of his time outdoors & only wearing clothes that fully cover his limbs for formal occasions. No way is he going be white as non-existent-in-this-tropical-climate snow after 1500+ years in the fields and the seas and the wars in-between.
I, the artist behind all this terrible lore you all must suffer, may pass off as mestiza but the Philippines’ story encompasses many, not just the (mestizo) educated middle-class folks like me. I think that’s a fair (haha, ironic) enough representation.
If it means anything, Piri will rather eat papaya, not soak in it.
(As a Filipina born, raised, and very much still based in the Philippines, the change to the feminine version was common when discussing feminism and other issues dealt with by women, but otherwise, we never had a strict adherence to gendered nouns. Nonetheless, @ diaspora kids if someone told you that Filipinx is like Filipino but Winx, that meant you’re all diwatas.)
☼ ☼ ☼
Hair Color: I hate rendering pure black hair so there will always be a subtle brownish or blueish undertone. In Piri's case, I use a warm and very dark shade of brown as the base color. Like the grains of Balatinaw black rice grown in the Cordillera terraces, or the liberica beans cultivated in the Batangueño lowlands.
I almost wanted to jump the bandwagon with the lighter hair shade, if only because another Piri artist I followed shared that Aetas* carry the blondism trait, but I’ve grown very attached to and content with how I color Piri’s hair.
*Talk of representation of indigenous peoples sincerely deserves its own post and even I am overwhelmed by it, which is why I'd rather take it very, very slowly. My overgeneralizing answer to this is that it's not impossible to gain mastery over presenting a just storytelling.
I live in the metro so you are bound to bump into Filipinos with bleached hair (I, myself, did so if only to nab my dream pink mane), but even they are rare still. You're more likely to encounter those who opted for brown highlights instead.
While I have joked that Piri disappears from the chapters because he has been at the salon getting his hair bleached, I personally wish that that last-minute change in detail never occurred. Upgrades to color palettes are all a natural part of the art glowup, but tossing that in the middle of a story arc ended up selling so weird to me. The ahoge is a surprise because it isn't in the Dec. 2020 teaser sketch, and I figure it's an allusion to the American influence - or maybe it's that Himaruya quirk of giving characters ahoges, idk, IDK!!
I used to joke that the ahoge represents Palawan. I’m gonna zip my mouth on my current stance.
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Hairstyle: Side-swept hair with a fluffy & layered fringe.
It’s a trending hairstyle you’ll find with guys around here, albeit with an undercut instead of the unswept hair being combed down (in Piri’s case as I draw it). For formal occasions, all he has to do is slather the hair gel onto the fringe.
Piri was long past his 90s/early 2000s kachupoy phase.
I struggle with describing hairstyles through words (this is why I vibed with comics as a medium). I have recreated IndoPhil in my Sims 4 game there as closely as possible to how I imagine and the hairstyles I have given them are exactly what I have in mind.
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Eye Color: Dark brown that becomes a fiery amber under direct sunlight. Glimmering like precious gold beneath the rich earth.
Any "color changes" are just reflections from light sources (ex. for scenes/illustrations where I let his eyes go gold, it’s playing on how dark brown eyes under direct sunlight can appear amber). I’d demonstrate with my own but I rather not burn my own eyes out for the aesthetic, so I have pulled out these images from a Google search instead.
Other headcanon colors I’ve seen (pearl, ube) are cute! I use pearl eyes for the diwata!Piri I've drawn (not sirena!Piri, because his shiny golden tail is already a huge, enamoring de...tail 🥁).
Nonetheless, I’m also content with the eye color I started with.
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Height: I imagined him around 5’5” since the beginning, so I’m keeping the canon number. To quote one of my favorite nonfiction reads, the Philippines is not a small country.
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Physique: Now I vehemently deny Himaruya’s canon for this. Maybe it’s on me growing up in an urban city littered with gym boys, but trust me when I say that Piri is absolutely THAT bakla who will use a photo revealing his well-built upper body as a Twitter profile picture.
I declare myself a twunk Piri artist. A reference I will cite is the model for the UP Oblation statue, Anastacio Caedo (R in 2nd pic).
Piri did not earn his canon (modified) navy uniform nor go through a history book’s worth of revolutions, only to come out of it all a twink. He’s also a Gemini. He’s full of physical adrenaline and that all has to go somewhere (chatting it away will not be enough).
He is of a swimmer build (think of the boys of Free!), with lean, softly-defined muscles, wider - if not broader - upper body (shoulders, biceps, back), narrow waistline, and fairly plump thighs. He also has what one will describe as a cute butt.
Piri is definitely not as beefy as Indo nor as chiseled as Thai (and hopefully I’ll sketch out the other SEAnigang too to explain this better). Admittedly, I also think it is ten times sexier to best know how sculpted Piri is by feeling his body (abang Indo, take notes!!). So yes, I have given my country abs, because if Hima won't I will he dasurvs it.
As a fun extra comparison, both Piri and Indo are the heavy eaters (in more ways than one, too) of the SEAnigang. Both will happily finish the leftovers from barkada eat-outs. Piri remains slim because he has higher metabolism.
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Scars: He has a couple from bullet wounds across his collarbone. There is a nasty, large burn scar on his right side. His back has clearly taken multiple hits, and they have left quite the damage to the tattoos that have come before.
To me, nations can take hits and physically heal up just fine (the rate of recovery honestly varied). Some things simply leave a lasting mark.
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This post originally included a face reference I used for drawing Piri, but I scrapped it after further background research. 😬
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