By Joel B. Belinan
Last November 27, 28 and 29, our 17th Maharlika Sunrise Festival went on air.
Instead of the usual festivities held on one area, this one was online, via YouTube, thanks to Covid-19. Cheaper maybe in terms of financial requirements but the absence of human to human inter-action made it really different.
The Maharlika Sunrise Festival was started in 2004 by the Maharlika Artists and Writers Federation (MAWF) of which I am a member. It’s a multi-faceted roving festival, which might be the first of its kind. It was the initiative of our leaders in the Ang Katipunan ng Mga Samahang Maharlika (Ang KaSaMa), a federation of progressive and neo-humanist movements in various regions in the country, as MAWF is its arts and cultural arm. Aimed to promote our advocacy to return our country’s pre-colonial name Maharlika (a Sanskrit term) meaning small but great in sprit, the Sunrise Fests also serve as venues for our budding artists and writers.
Sanskrit is the mother of all languages so Maharlika, in a way is not also a foreign term. In fact, most of the languages or dialects in this country are considered direct “descendants” of Sanskrit. To some scholars, Sanskrit is the language of the sages and scholars of the past.
The 4th staging of the Maharlika Sunrise Festival was held here in Baguio City on November 4, 5 and 6, 2008, courtesy of my friend and now MAWF president Sonny Bugnosen and the late Art Mina who were the organizers. We had the opening ceremony at the Baguio Museum with then Congressman Mauricio G. Domogan as guest of honor and speaker. Ang KaSaMa leaders that time, the late Dennis Teves who was the president then with PLt. Col. Ipil Duenas and National Coordinator Deo Palma were amazed at Domogan’s speech as it was not only poetic but also in Igorot. The art exhibit from the work of our MAWF artists from Mindanao to Luzon were also displayed at the museum for the whole first week of November, 2008.
The main activities were held at the old skating rink at Burnham Park. Installation exhibits were also done at its surroundings. At that time it was not yet enclosed and really served as a skating rink. For three consecutive nights concerts were held there including the sunrise watch and spiritual chanting every morning. The sunrise watch and spiritual chanting is the heart and soul of any Sunrise Fest. The second one I personally attended was the 5th staging at the Clark Field in Pampanga in 2009, and the third was the 16th which was held at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City last year. In all those festivities the human to human interaction was very important and it never came to my mind that a day would come when it would be virtual or online.
Watching this year’s Sunrise Fest however made me think again and again as it really amazed me how technology had turned our world into what it is now. Honestly, when the idea of an online festival was brought out during one of our Ang KaSaMa zoom meetings in July this year, I just agreed with the other officials without much thought if it would work. During that zoom meeting I was also elected as the Ang KaSaMa president while Sonny Bugnosen as the MAWF president. Now this online fest during our watch. Last Friday when I first opened the link provided by the Information Technology expert of MAWF, Chinmaya Relleta, I immediately became at ease with what I saw. It was very professionally done with multi-awarded actor Raymond Bagatsing as host together with our coordinator, Deo Palma. It was like watching a live coverage of a festival but less delays and kinks. As said by Deo Palma, our sacrifices in collating performance videos (messages, musical performances, cultural or virtual art shows, martial arts exhibitions and online talks about historical and anthropological findings on our pre-colonial history) paid off. At least 250 videos had been submitted by writers, artists, historians, anthropologists and well-wishers and all had to be edited to enhance their aesthetics. The work forced Chinmaya to go sleepless for a number of nights, not to mention having had to deal with crashed computer hard drives, among other problems that comes with digital technology.
We express our heartfelt gratitude to all the artists who participated by performing or submitting of videos without any expectations of material gain.
We also thank the following personalities for gracing the event: National Commission Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Commissioner Gary Cayat for being the special guest speaker during the first day; AG Villanueva of the Environmental Management Bureau-DENR Region 3 for his Online Yoga Class; Edgar Banasan (the Bamboo man) for his IP Chant (invocation); Joey Ayala for his version of our National Anthem; Usec. John Teope for his opening remarks during the opening program; Commissioner Fe Mangahas of the National Historical Commission for being the keynote speaker; Prof. Grace Odal Devora, PhD, UP Manila, for The Babaylan Ritual Performance; Ms. Jomelyn Abuan of the Rodriguez Rizal Tourism Office for her message; Acharya Ratmananda Avt. for his spiritual and encouraging message during the sunrise watch; Didi Ananda Kripa Avtk for sending her message of solidarity all the way from Iceland; Prof. Consolacion Alaras, PhD, for rendering the Pambansang Panalangin; Ms. Jennifer Cruz of the PENRO Rizal Province for her message; Bro. Yogesh & Dada Dharmavedananda Avt. for presenting a model cooperative– the Prout Coco Cooperative in Oroquieta, Cagayan De Oro City; Dr. Katrin De Guia, Psychologist, Anthropologist-UP Baguio for her talks on Kapwa Psychology, Kapwa Ko Mahal k;, Aziz Monk Olamit Rasteem of MNLF DSLSRU for his greetings; and Ac. Dhyaneshananda Avt of Prout Central Committee who gave a lecture on PROUT all the way from Copenhagen, Denmark.
We invite everyone to watch the online Maharlika Sunrise Festival through the links below:
LINKS TO THE 3 DAYS EVENT FIRST DAY 1st Day Part 1 https://youtu.be/xZvKMH1cH2Y 1st Day Part 2 https://youtu.be/ef_gkGv-pLU 1st Day Part 3 https://youtu.be/JDqwiNnsCTY SECOND DAY 2nd Day Part 1 https://youtu.be/A4inxyxIC5Q 2nd Day Part 2 https://youtu.be/O3OyY9p2eZU 2nd Day Part 3 https://youtu.be/R2LmBKEaDQY 2nd Day Part 4 https://youtu.be/NpA5OGZy3O0.**
