Reflective Essay Maguindanao Pearls

Introduction

Maguindanao Pearls is a Philippine folktale that was written by Isidro L. Reztizos. The story talks about how Sinag-Tala was accused of stealing Lakambini’s pearls even though she hadn’t. And because of a false statement that Lakambini created, Sinag-Tala died.

Body

 Basketry is made from a variety of fibrous or pliable materials—anything that will bend and form a shape. Examples include pine, stra, willow, oak, wisteria, forsythia, vines, stems, animal hair, hide, grasses, thread, and fine wooden splints. The design utilized in producing products have been pass down from generation to generation by tribals elders. They also have a celebration called the Festival." Our indigenous people have a lively culture and tradition that is an important component of our Filipino heritage. The setting of the story was in Old Maynila, according to Wikipedia, Manila became the seat of the colonial government of Spain when it gained sovereignty over the Philippine Islands in 1565. The IPs and the Omar clan have been at battle for a long time over who owns large swaths of land in the town. Before the 57IB returned the evacuees to their homes in military trucks, they went through a brief routine. During the program, the local administration of South Upi asked all parties involved to pledge their support for maintaining peace and security in the area and preventing future clashes that would result in human displacement. During the same program, the affected families discussed their ideas and feelings regarding the long-running disagreement. 

The pearl was mention in the story, The Arabs believed that these pearls resulted from the gods' tears  that fall into the water and ending up in being an oysters. The goddess of love, Aphrodite, was said to shed pearls in place of tears by the Greeks. Natural pearls were employed in religious rites and dream interpretation by the indigenous people. Sinag-Tala believed that a woman's beauty was determined by whether or not she wore pearls.. Sinag-Tala believed that woman is beautiful. When she saw the pearls’ of Lakabini, her eyes glowed with wonder, and her lips slightly paled with desire.

In the story, Sinag-Tala was ordered to dip her hands into the boiling pot and take out the white stones. Her hands should remain unblistered and unburnt so that the judges declare her innocent because for them, it is a sign from the gods that she’s innocent. Sinag-Tala was called ‘Trial by ordeal’. Trial by ordeal was an ancient judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to a painful, or at least an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience. In some cases, the accused was considered innocent if they escaped injury or if their injuries healed.There are 8 types of ordeals; combat, fire, cross, ingestion, poison, boiling oil, turf, and lastly water. The water has 3 types, namely; cold water, witch-hunts and lastly hot water which were required to do by Sinag-Tala. The test was one of life or death and the proof of innocence was survival. 

There are two type of water of ordeals, Hot water and Cold water in a similar situation to the one who looked at, the accused must dip his hand into a hot boiling water retrieve a stone in the desired water experience. Days later, the hand was bound and examined to see if it was healing or festering. A witch was dragged to the nearest body of water, stripped to their underwear, bound, and tossed into the water to see if she would float or drown. Witches who refused to be baptized would have their bodies rejected by the water, causing them to flow. If a lady sinks, on the other hand, her innocence is proven.