Revival of lost “hiraan” tradition

The hottest corner in Bankaw News today is its Guestbook. It no longer has the appearance of one. The guestbook has been converted into a wild and wooly democratic forum for heckling, name-calling and exchange of discordant ideas, presumably by natives of the Leyte-Samar region now based in different parts of the world.
We originally presumed that our guests would behave properly. This was our minimum expectation of people not required formal identifications nor subjected to prior security checks to enter our domain. The result has been a mess after the flame wars started. Very much like the scene at a benefit dance, school party or anniversary celebration that had just been disrupted by rowdy local hotheads and thugs who had barged in.
Some damage in terms of ruffled sensibilities had been inflicted and cooler heads have come to intervene. But the Bankaw News staff remains willing to wait it out until the piqued but otherwise (presumably) mature protagonists have run out of vim and venom and have resolved to act with civility and sobriety in future exchanges of ideas and opinions. Anyway, there was no physical damage done in terms broken furniture, glassware or china during the verbal commotion in our cyberspace “house.”
The recent exchange of verbal abuse in the guestbook unwittingly revived the lost tradition of “hiraan” in the Leyte-Samar culture, but this time using direct language. An old Visayan dictionary (ca. 1616) described “hiraan” as a verbal altercation. The word apparently referred both to the debate and to the neutral ground where this was conducted. A “hiraan” was probably conducted as a last-ditch effort to prevent an all-out war between feuding balangays (sorry, no such word as “barangay” in any source).
A “hiraan” sought to revolve issues, to comfort the afflicted, and to offer restitution to the offended party – all to placate wrong deeds and restore good relations between involved balangays.
The last known and verifiable “hiraan” in Leyte-Samar history is a place in the interior of Carigara, Leyte, where Rajah Bankaw and his family were murdered by their guests in 1621. (This is discussed at length in the feature article for October, “Leyte: A forgotten symbol of resistance movements in the Visayas.”)
Incidentally, this cyber-magazine was named after Rajah Bankaw of history. And though some guests now seem to be setting up some of us for a “kill,” we would like to inform them that we have not altogether forgotten the lessons of this aspect of our local history. Still, we risked coming here to provide an on-line heritage link and educational information to Leyte-Samar natives in diaspora, in the hope that our menu would help avoid a repeat of some of our hidden but tragic historical experiences back home.
A “hiraan” must have been a difficult activity to facilitate in those days. At the Spanish contact, statements such as “Inatay ka!” (Your liver, the believed source of life, would be taken), “Anitan ka!” (May you be skinned) and “Binaliw ka!” (May you be transformed to a lesser being) were considered personal affronts that could be meted heavy fines, and were sufficient cause to degrade a timawa to slave status. Thus, “hiraan” spokesmen presumably had to be very creative so that their figurative language could inflict maximum psychological impact and damage on their opponents without ever resorting to any tabooed jargon.
In our day, “giatay ka!” (your liver was taken), “anitan ka!” (meaning unknown to many users), and “gibaliw ka!” (you are cursed) have become harmless statements and light cuss words and are sometimes even taken as words of endearment and acceptance. They have given way to direct insults and numerous expletives, acerbic adjectives, and degrading name-calls, like many of the words posted here by guests who obviously relish the “freedom” behind their perceived anonymity.
We dare say that the entire range of abusive language posted in the guestbook represents colonial centuries of angst and repressed and suppressed feelings, emotions, and aggression of Leyte-Samar natives. In this case, it does not matter now that they have used the guestbook as venue for venting these out. At least, the exercise has not caused damage on the immediate physical surroundings.
We just hope that much latent anger and resentments have been released here to the point of catharsis. Then we can sit down and calmly discuss our affinities and common cause and direction for the future. And then move forward from the ruins of the flame wars.