Tboli people

A Tboli sculpture, on display in the Tboli museum near Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, Philippines.

A Tboli rural residence.

The T'boli people<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> (Template:IPA) are an Austronesian indigenous people of South Cotabato in southern Mindanao in the Philippines.

Ethnology

T'bolis currently reside on the mountain slopes on either side of the upper Alah Valley and the coastal area of Maitum, Maasim and Kiamba in the province of Sarangani. In former times, the Tbolis also resided in the upper floor of the Alah Valley. After World War II and the arrival of settlers from other parts of the Philippines, they have been gradually pushed to the mountain slopes, and have been almost expelled from the fertile valley floor.

Like their immediate neighbouring ethnic groups, the Úbûs, Blàan, Blit, Tàú-Segél, and the Tasaday, they have historically been described as pagans or animists, as opposed to Muslim peoples or Christian settlers. In political contexts, however, the Cebuano term "Lumad" ("native") has become an umbrella term for the various polytheistic peoples of Mindanao.

In ethnographic and linguistic literature on Mindanao, their name is variously spelt Tboli, T'boli, Tböli, Tagabili, Tagabilil, Tagabulul and Tau Bilil. Their endonym is Tboli. In the literature, their whereabouts and identity are somewhat imprecise: some publications present the Tboli and the Tagabili as distinct peoples, whereas some locate the Tbolis in the vicinity of Lake Buluan in the Cotabato Basin or in Agusan del Norte.

Tbolis speak their native language of the same name. However, over the decades, Tbolis can speak and understand Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Tagalog and to some extent, Ilocano, alongside their own native language. These languages were brought and introduced by these settlers from Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, Negros, Panay, Tagalog-speaking regions, Central Luzon and Ilocandia, upon their arrival into Tboli homelands during the early 20th century.

They are considered to be an indigenous people in Philippine law.

Music

Template:Main The Tboli have a musical heritage consisting of various types of agung ensembles, which are composed of large hanging, suspended or held, bossed/knobbed gongs that act as drone without any accompanying melodic instrument.

Other instruments include the hegelung.<ref name=Philip>Template:Cite web</ref>

Tboli religion

Tnalak cloth of Tboli dream weavers have patterns inspired by dreams and blessed by Fu Dalu, the Tboli god of abacá<ref name="tla">Template:Cite web</ref>

The Tboli have a tradition of a highly complex polytheistic religion. However, more recent variants of their religion have been influenced by Islam and Christianity. Nevertheless, some continue to preserve religious practices from traditions thousands of years old, while others have involved with syncretic beliefs combining their traditional religious elements with Christianity or Islam.

Immortals

• Bulon La Mogoaw: one of two supreme deities; married to Kadaw La Sambad; lives in the seventh layer of the universe<ref name="auto1">Casal, G. (1978). The T'boli Creation Myth and Religion. T'boli Art: in its Socio-Cultural Context, pp. 122-123.</ref>
• Kadaw La Sambad: the second supreme deities; married to Bulon La Mogoaw; lives in the seventh layer of the universe<ref name="auto1"/>
• Cumucul: son of the supreme deities; has a cohort of fire, a sword, and shield; married to Boi’Kafil<ref name="auto1"/>
• Boi’Kafil: daughter of the supreme deities; married to Cumucul<ref name="auto1"/>
• Bong Libun: daughter of the supreme deities; married to S’fedat; could not bear children<ref name="auto1"/>
• S’fedat: son of the supreme deities; married to Bong Libun; could not bear children; asked Bong Libun to instead kill him, where his body became the land from which plants spout from<ref name="auto1"/>
• D’wata: son of the supreme deities; married to both Sedek We and Hyu We; placed the land-body of S’fedat on the sea<ref name="auto1"/>
• Sedek We: daughter of the supreme deities; married to D’wata<ref name="auto1"/>
• Hyu We: daughter of the supreme deities; married to D’wata<ref name="auto1"/>
• Blotik: son of the supreme deities; married to S’lel<ref name="auto1"/>
• S’lel: daughter of the supreme deities; married to Blotik<ref name="auto1"/>
• B’lomi: daughter of the supreme deities; married to Mule<ref name="auto1"/>
• Mule: son of the supreme deities; married to B’lomi<ref name="auto1"/>
• Loos K’lagan: son of the supreme deities; married to both La Fun and Datu B’noling<ref name="auto1"/>
• La Fun: daughter of the supreme deities; married to Loos K’lagan<ref name="auto1"/>
• Datu B’noling: daughter of the supreme deities; married to Loos K’lagan<ref name="auto1"/>
• Children of D’wata and Hyu We
  • L’tik<ref name="auto1"/>
  • B’langa<ref name="auto1"/>
  • Temo Lus<ref name="auto1"/>
  • T’dolok<ref name="auto1"/>
  • Ginton<ref name="auto1"/>
  • L’mugot M’ngay<ref name="auto1"/>
  • Fun Bulol:<ref name="auto1"/> the owner of wild animals<ref>Hyndman, D., Duhaylungsod, L., Thomas, B. (1994). To the last grain of rice: T'boli subsistence production. Springer.</ref>
• Children of D’wata and Sedek We
  • Kayung<ref name="auto1"/>
  • Slew<ref name="auto1"/>
  • S’mbleng<ref name="auto1"/>
  • Nagwawang<ref name="auto1"/>
  • Nga Hule<ref name="auto1"/>
  • S’ntan<ref name="auto1"/>
• Fu: spirits that inhabit and own the natural environment<ref name="auto2">Cudera, R. B., Razon, B. C., Millondaga, K. J. I. (2020). Cultural and ecological significance of Odonata (Insecta) to the T'boli of Lake Sebu, Mindanao, Philippines. Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity.</ref>
  • Fu El: the spirit of water<ref name="auto2"/>
  • Fu El Melel: the spirit of the river<ref name="auto2"/>
• D’wata (general): the generic term for the gods;<ref>Talavera, Manalo, Baybay, Saludario, Dizon, Mauro, Porquerino, Novela, Yakit, Banares, Francisco, Inocencio, Rongavilla, Cruz (2013). The T'boli: Songs, Stories and Society. University of the Philippines.</ref> guard lives and determine fate and destiny<ref name="auto2"/>
• Muhen: a god of fate in the form of a bird whose song when heard is thought to presage misfortune; any undertaking is immediately abandoned or postponed when one hears the Muhen sing<ref name="auto">Manzano, L. C. The T’boli. National Commission for Culture and the Arts.</ref>
• Glinton: the god of metallurgy<ref name="auto"/>

External links

• Template:Commonscat-inline
• Photographic and written account of a week spent with the Tboli of Lake Sebu by a traveler
• T'boli elder and child Template:Webarchive
• Preserving Culture: the T'boli tribe of Mindanao, Philippines by Alan Geoghegan & Ursula Schloer