#sulud

Centuries ago a tribe in the mountains of Tapaz, in the then town of Capiz had a rather strange practice that bordered on the mystical; they kept the most beautiful female offspring in their families hidden from sunlight until the day of her betrothal. For the entire time that she remained in the darkness of a room in their hut, food and drink was brought to her and the tribes-folk believed that this gave her the magical powers of a babaylan. Whenever the farms were being readied for planting in the uplands, the young sunlight-deprived lass is taken out to dance and chant in the fields under the moonlight, to ensure an abundant harvest. As would be expected, Binukot women are very good epic chanters having the longest recorded epic in the country of over thirty hours. In no time, the entire tribe became known for this practice of hiding their beautiful females from sunlight, locally known as 'bukot', and hence, the word 'binukot' which means 'to hide' or to 'keep'.... read more...