Trixie Cruz-Angeles: The Manunggul Jar

By Rose Beatrix C. Angeles (Trixie Cruz-Angeles)

Sylvia Morningstar says that we, the Filipino people, are older than our conquerors. I believe it. My favorite artifact -- emphasis on the ART -- is the Manunggul Jar. Its a Neolithic Age, nearly complete burial jar found in the Tabon Cave Complex in Palawan back in 1964.

Robert Fox describes it as follows:

"The burial jar with a cover featuring a ship-of-the-dead is perhaps unrivalled in Southeast Asia; the work of an artist and master potter. This vessel provides a clear example of a cultural link between the archaeological past and the ethnographic present. The boatman is steering rather than padding the "ship." The mast of the boat was not recovered. Both figures appear to be wearing a band tied over the crown of the head and under the jaw; a pattern still encountered in burial practices among the indigenous peoples in Southern Philippines. The manner in which the hands of the front figure are folded across the chest is also a widespread practice in the Islands when arranging the corpse.

"The carved prow and eye motif of the spirit boat is still found on the traditional watercraft of the Sulu Archipelago, Borneo and Malaysia. Similarities in the execution of the ears, eyes, nose, and mouth of the figures may be seen today in the woodcarving of Taiwan, the Philippines, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia."

Considered one of the most important archeological finds, it is the centerpiece of the National Museum's pre-history collection and has fascinated me for years.

It shows the dead as he is transported into the afterlife, a concept similar to that of the Greek Charon ferrying souls over the river Acheron. But unlike Charon who is described by Virgil as a "sordid god"... "fouled with grease" our Manunggul boatman does not indicate any such negativity. On the contrary, he looks not much different from his recently deceased passenger.

Which brings me to the reason I love this jar. Some Philippine traditions describe patterns of behavior among the dying. It is a persistent belief that in the throes of death, loved ones who had gone ahead return to assist the dying in their transition to the afterlife. Thus, some of the dying tell stories of seeing long gone friends or relatives, smiling at them at their bedside. The belief reflects not only our absolute faith in the rule of life, that is, that death is merely a Great Change, but that, as Richard Bach said, friends are always bound to see each other again.

I take strange comfort in the jar because it tells me, that I, and my countrymen have believed for centuries in the indestructibility of the soul. And that even in the end, social creatures that we are, we will always find friends or family to help us out.

My daughter died more than ten years ago today of a rare genetic disorder. She was three days shy of two months old. During the wake, I kept getting images in my mind of my father holding her hand. Papa died in 1994.

(Source: Trixie Cruz-Angeles )
To know more about Trixie Cruz Angeles, check out: I AM TRIXIE CRUZ