Babaylan: Feminist Articulations and Expressions

Description

Babaylans were central and essential personages in the group of islands that came to be called Felipinas by Spanish conquistadors. They were leaders, prophets, wisdom-keepers, philosopher-teachers, intercessor-mediators and healers. The babaylan was usually a woman. Whence in the throes of tribulation, the community would summon her in order that she could exercise her powers of healing and wisdom in order that wholeness may once again be restored. With the onset of Spanish colonization, the babaylans suffered subjugation, as all the inhabitants of the islands. The babaylan mores and ethos were in jeopardy of annihilation. But the babaylans would never have that. They participated and led in the struggle to overthrow the Hispanic yoke of oppression in order that they and their people can have their lives and their lands back. Today, we celebrate the indomitable spirit of our babaylan foremothers by humbly appropriating that vestige of their spirit in our actions, reflections, articulations and expressions. This second volume of Union Theological Seminary’s Babaylan Journal is a compilation of twelve women’s offerings and contributions in the effort to reclaim our people’s rightful heritage