Suddenly, this word is being nudged into our consciousness and we’ve forgotten what it’s all about. What, honestly and truly, is nationalism?. Okay, the easy answer. It’s love of country. It’s a return to the values of yesteryear when the notion of nation drew us close together, particularly the war years. Fear and loathing of the Japanese invader and occupant. The tramp of his hobnailed boot, the terrors of Fort Santiago. Bataan and Corregidor. The Death March. Filipinos dying by the multitudes. The sword of Dai Nippon plunged ruthlessly into their entrails.
That is the only time I personally remember, outside of the Philippine revolution against Spain and the insurgency against the United States, that many Filipinos were ready and willing to die for this entity called Bayan kong Pilipinas. The Filipino nation. Pilipinas kong mahal. Hundreds of thousands did perish if not a couple of millions. Then and only then did love of country surge into the Filipino soul like molten lava. La patria was the revered fatherland. And a brace of Filipino heroes at the end of the 19th century gave their lives – willingly, courageously, indomitably.
Then the patriotic songs – Bayang Magiliw, Bayan Ko, Pilipinas Kong Mahal.
Lupang Hinirang
Bayang magiliw
Perlas ng Silanganan,
Alab ng puso,
Sa dibdib mo'y buhay.
Lupang hinirang,
Duyan ka nang magiting,
Sa manlulupig,
Di ka pasisiil.
Sa dagat at bundok,
Sa simoy at sa langit mong bughaw,
May dilag ang tula at awit
Sa paglayang minamahal,
Ang kislap ng watawat mo'y
Tagumpay na nagniningning,
Ang bituin at araw niya
Kailanpama'y di magdidilim.
Lupa ng araw, ng luwalhati't pag sinta,
Buhay ay langit sa piling mo;
Aming ligaya, na pag may mang-aapi
Ang mamatay nang dahil sa'yo.
Bayan Ko
Ang bayan kong Pilipinas
Lupain ng ginto't bulaklak
Pag-ibig ang sa kanyang palad
Nag-alay ng ganda't dilag.
At sa kanyang yumi at ganda
Dayuhan ay nahalina
Bayan ko, binihag ka
Nasadlak sa dusa.
Ibon mang may layang lumipad
Kulungin mo at umiiyak
Bayan pa kayang sakdal dilag
Ang di magnasang makaalpas!
Pilipinas kong minumutya
Pugad ng luha ko’t dalita
Aking adhika,
Makita kang sakdal laya!
Pilipinas Kong Mahal
Ang bayan ko'y tanging ikaw
Pilipinas kong mahal
Ang puso ko at buhay man
Sa iyo'y ibibigay
Tungkulin ko'y gagampanan
Na laging kang paglingkuran
Ang laya mo'y babantayan
Pilipinas kong hirang
Ako ay Pilipino
Ako ay Pilipino
Ang dugo'y maharlika
Likas sa aking puso
Adhikaing kay ganda
Sa Pilipinas na aking bayan
Lantay na Perlas ng Silanganan
Wari'y natipon ang kayamanan
ng Maykapal
Bigay sa 'king talino
Sa mabuti lang laan
Sa aki'y katutubo
Ang maging mapagmahal
Ako ay Pilipino, ako ay Pilipino
Isang bansa, 'sang diwa
ang minimithi ko
Sa bayan ko't bandila
Laan buhay ko't diwa
Ako ay Pilipino
Pilipinong totoo
Ako ay Pilipino, ako ay Pilipino
Taas noo kahit kanino
Ang Pilipino ay ako.
Ako ay Pilipino, ako ay Pilipino
Taas noo kahit kanino
Ang Pilipino ay ako.
Isang bansa, isang diwa
Tayo’y mga Pilipino
Tubo sa silangan
Nagkaisa, nagkabuklod
Diwa’y tinaguyod
Bisig natin ay pag isahin
Sa lahat ng mithiin
Tayo’y mga Pilipino
Sa lupang pinagpala
Ating bansa, ating diwa
Langit ang adhika
Luzon, Visayas at Mindanao
Pilipinas ang tanglaw
(Ulitin ang simula)
Luzon, Visayas at Mindanao
Pilipinas ang tanglaw
Another symbol of our pride as Filipinos is the Panatang Makabayan. Do you still remember it? It was always recited during flag ceremonies when we were still in elementary and high school. In case you don't know,…
Panatang Makabayan
Original version
Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas
Ito ang aking lupang sinilangan
Ito ang tahanan ng aking lahi
Ako'y kanyang kinukupkop at tinutulungan
Upang maging malakas, maligaya at kapakipakinabang
Bilang ganti, diringgin ko ang payo ng aking mga magulang
Susundin ko ang mga tuntunin ng aking paaralan
Tutuparin ko ang mga tungkulin ng isang mamamayang makabayan at masunurin sa batas
Paglilingkuran ko ang aking bayan nang walang pag-iimbot at ng buong katapatan
Sisikapin kong maging isang tunay na Pilipino sa isip, sa salita, at sa gawa.
Current version
Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas,
Aking lupang sinilangan,
Tahanan ng aking lahi;
Kinukupkop ako at tinutulungang
Maging malakas, masipag at marangal.
Dahil mahal ko ang Pilipinas,
Diringgin ko ang payo
ng aking magulang,
Susundin ko ang tuntunin ng paaralan,
Tutuparin ko ang tungkulin
Ng mamamayang makabayan:
Naglilingkod, nag-aaral at nagdarasal
Nang buong katapatan.
Iaalay ko ang aking buhay,
pangarap, pagsisikap
sa bansang Pilipinas.
Revised Version
Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas,
aking lupang sinilangan,
tahanan ng aking lahi;
kinukupkop ako at tinutulungan
maging malakas, masipag at marangal.
Dahil mahal ko ang Pilipinas,
diringgin ko ang payo
ng aking mga magulang,
Susundin ko ang tuntunin ng paaralan,
Tutuparin ko ang mga tungkulin
Ng mamamayang makabayan:
Naglilingkod, nag-aaral at nananalangin
Nang buong katapatan.
Iaalay ko ang aking buhay,
pangarap, pagsisikap
sa bansang Pilipinas.
"Ang Pasko ay Sumapit", yan kasi ang unang kinakanta namin pag nangangaroling kami noong childhood days ko
As far as I can remember, I joined my neighborhood friends when I was 7 years old and formed our own group of kid carolers. With our creative ingenuity, we equipped ourselves with makeshift instruments, including tambourines made of pipit na tension strung on a piece of wire and drums made from cans or biscuit tins, as we proudly sang the traditional song "Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit" out of our lungs even out of tune.
The "batang yagit" sporting short pants, T-shirts or sandos and rubber slippers hopping from one house to another every night, and the same houses all throughout the Yuletide Season until January 7; singing Jingle Bells, Silent Night, White Christmas, Pasko Na Sinta Ko, Joy to the World, Pasko Na Naman, Star ng Pasko and, Sa May Bahay". After rendering 3 or 4 songs, with the traditional chant of "Namamasko Po", we wait expectantly for the homeowners to reward us with coin, ranging from 0.50 centavos to 2.00 pesos. Afterward, we thank the generous homeowners by singing "Thank you, thank you, ang babait ninyo".
Some homeowners request non-Christmas songs. There was a drunk homeowner who asked us to sing "Lupang Hinirang," "Bahay Kubo," "My Way," "Maybe this Time," "Lead Me Lord," "Tanging Yaman," "May Bukas Pa," and "Kung Tayo'y Magkakalayo." Despite the odds, we sang it with pride and were awarded 5.00 pesos—not bad.
Some stingy homeowners don't entertain carolers which we named "bahay patawad" and others refused to give us coins or drive us away from their house by simply uttering the traditional words "patawad", we return them a song "Thank you, thank you, ang babarat ninyo. Thank you" and start running away from their door.
After 3 hours of caroling, I still remember the feeling of delight when my friends and I would split our “earnings” each night.
I wonder if there are any Filipinos in the Philippines that has not experienced the Christmas caroling tradition? Iniisip ko kung ang mga batang mayayaman na kasing edad ko nuon from plush subdivisions ay nagkakaroling rin.
Ikaw, naranasan mo bang mag-karoling?
Bro, Ikaw ang Star ng Pasko and Christmas in our Hearts ❤️
Family is Love
Family is Forever
Thank You Ang Babait Ninyo
Thank You For The Love
Magmahalan Tayo Ngayong Pasko
Isang Pamilya Tayo Ngayong Pasko
Magkasama Tayo sa Kwento ng Pasko
Ikaw ang Liwanag at Ligaya
Isang Puso Ngayong Pasko
Andito Tayo Para sa Isa't Isa
Love Together, Hope Together
Atin ang Pasko, Kapatid
Sama-Samang Ihatid Ang Ibang Saya ng Pasko
Feel na Feel ang Paskong Kapatid
Hatid-Saya ang Paskong Kapatid
Makakarating Ngayong Pasko
Tayo ang Ligaya ng Isa't Isa
Pasko ang Pinakamagandang Kwento
Sa Araw ng Pasko
Pasko sa Pinas
"Ang Pasko ay Sumapit, Christmas in Our Hearts, Star ng Pasko, Thank You Ang Babait Ninyo yan po ang mga gusto ko pong awiting Pamasko"
"Star ng Pasko, Kumukutikutitap, Kampana ng Simbahan... all Christmas songs po..."
the Catholic hymns May Bukas Pa, Tanging Yaman, Sa 'yo Lamang. Kinakanta namin ito sa pagdiriwang ng banal na misa sa simbahan, kasi hindi na alam ng mga bata kantahin. Nakakahiya!
Today? The songs still rouse us, sometimes. The memories still rouse us, sometimes. The myth of nationalism and nationhood still rouse us, sometimes. But even when it was supposed to resurge like a great redeeming flood, and set out hearts pounding like triphammers – like EDSA I and EDSA II – it just wasn’t there anymore. When we toppled the dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the pretender Joseph Estrada, it was not because of nationalism. We swept these two dastards out of power because we hated their guts. We didn’t bring out the flags. We pealed no nationalistic bells. There was no notion of nation streaking to the heights like starshells.
We look at our leaders, our politicians. We don’t see nationalism writ on their faces. What we see is pork barrel. What we see is the pigoty. What we see is power hoisted to the pedestal of Bacchus, Mars and the tinkle-twinkle thunder of a Thor turned traitor.
And so we must explain what nationalism is about all over again. we must go back to its beginnings, pull out its roots, and tell our countrymen to gather at campfires all over the country. So we can recharge as Filipinos, recharge as a nation. The battles we will have to fight right ahead will need the torches of nationalism to light the way. We had rainbows at both EDSAS, but they had no nationalistic booster rockets. And so we lost our way again. With nationalism both as a guiding flare and ideological rocket, the fights ahead will be daunting. But God willing, we shall overcome.
So we start with the basics. Hang on. This will take some time.
It’s a strange, macabre twist of our history that the first deadly lance flung to defend – that is the perception – our archipelago from foreign invasion as that of Lapu-Lapu into the heart of the Spanish conquistador Ferdinand Magellan. At the time, the archipelago was not a nation. It was a sun-drenched splinter of thousands of islands. What they had in common was a tribal culture, hundreds if not thousands of independent fiefdoms engaged in all kinds of trade, primitive agriculture, fishery, handicraft, and widespread piracy.
Strange again, and macabre again. Magellan’s conquest of the Philippines, coupled with the advent of the Roman Catholic cross, eventually transformed, through colonization, this archipelago into a nation. The sword and the cross made sure the archipelago came into the imperial possession of Spain, named Las Islas Filipinas after King Philip.
A nation we may have been through imperial decree. But Filipinos we were not.
We became Filipinos only through colonial exploitation. We became Filipinos because we learned to protest, to resist and to fight, to band together in fear and in hate of the brutal conqueror. We became Filipinos because the few learned among us, Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario Mabini, Emilio Aguinaldo, the Luna brothers et al, gave flesh and bone to the word indio. We became Filipinos because we created La Liga Filipina, the Katipunan and waged the revolution against Spain. We became Filipinos because we fashioned our own national flag, splattered it with indio blood. We earned through our heroism the admiration of our colonized peers in Asia. We proclaimed the first republic in the continent. We showed everybody what patriotism was. What courage was.
Thus was a nation born. Thus was nationalism born.
But we have to go far back in history to get the kind of grip we Filipinos need on this modern phenomenon of nation and nationalism. Long before, after Anno Domini set in, there was the universal church in the West. The Roman Catholic Church had absolute dominion. Obeisance to the Pope and the Vatica was writ on every Western tablet. Then the dynasties came. There were the Normans, the Pantagenets, the Stuarts and the Tudors in England. There were the Romanov dynasty in Russia, the Hohenzollerns in Germany, the Bourbons in France, the House of Savoy in Italy.
As they spread through conquest and accumulation of riches and property, the dynasties started to weaken the hold of the universal Church. Out of these dynasties emerged the kingdoms, the monarchical states. As these states became more centralized, more powerful and extensive, the bedrock of the nation started to come into being. The Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, after the 80 Years War and the 30 Years War, recognized the territorial sovereignty of the states.
Thus the nation-state was born. Thus began the meltdown of empires. Thus began, as the great Arab historian Ibn Khaldun said, "the mutual affection and willingness of a people to fight and die for each other."
Listen to this. Nationalism was generally expressed by the leaders, the intellectual elite, the writers, the professionals, the middle class, the studentry and the youth. Only much later on did the masses get into the picture with not too much emotion. It was in France and England where nationalism initially took deep and unshakeable root. This was the France which shook the world with its "liberte, egalite, fraternite" revolution of 1789. This was the England where Oliver Cromwell held kings by their pantaloons and drove the fear of God into their thrones.
The best definition of nation was articulated by Ernest Renan of the Sorbonne in 1882: "A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle, two things which are in reality...one. One is the common heritage of a people of a rich heritage of memories, the other is the actual agreemment, the desire to live together, the will to continue to make a reality of the heritage they have received in common."
Now take heed. It was only in the 20th century when the principles of nation and nationalism reached Asia. And upon reaching Asia, (whose colonial chains were then being broken) spread into so many explosions of nation-consciousness. This was certainly a reaction against the abuses and excesses of Western colonialism, as it was a reiteration of Asia’s earlier glory as the origin of the world’s great religions and great civilizations.
Unlike the Philippines, much of Asia could look back thousands of years and hoist the glitter of a myriad cultures, a myriad achievements in war and literature, philosophy and industry, architecture and the arts, science and technology. This also probably explains why many countries in Asia – again not the Philippines – took to nationalism like long-concealed thunderbolts of energy to make up for lost time. To survive, to make themselves again proud in and of their new nationhood, they had to study, learn and master the science and technology of the West.
That was the only way they could subjugate poverty. Restore dignity to their peoples. The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. That first step bolted like a screaming bullet out of the starting block. They have been sprinting like mad ever since. We Filipinos remain stuck in a stupor and lethargy we must annihilate.
We move or we die. We embrace the flag, and swift like a stampede across the vast plains of nationalism or we die.
We were born Filipinos. Now we must learn to be Filipinos. We must immerse ourselves into a changed and dynamic culture. For culture is never permanently fixed, never frozen. Like the Japanese, like the Koreans, like the Malaysians, we must care, we must hustle, we must be proud. we must learn. We must work hard. Science and technology were never the monopoly of anybody, any nation, any civilization. We have to grab them.
The permanent care-givers of the world we are not. Neither are we the muchachos and the muchachas, the utos and the utusans. And certainly, we are not the yukis of Asia – Japayukis, or Chekwayukis or whatnot.
The Filipino can? Yes, the Filipino can. If he wakes up and embraces the noblest sentiment of them all – nationalism.