Ang Sulat sa Palayok: Has the ancient inscription on the Calatagan Pot finally been deciphered?

...Is it fake? Is it us? Does it tell us who we are?"

Find out on October 1, at Recto Hall, Faculty Center, College of Liberal Arts, UP

Perhaps it hasn't been and it won't. Perhaps it has been but it won't yet. There has been attempts to decode the ancient script, but it the end it will only give us a clue to who we are. That is a question we can only answer ourselves, but preferably with the help of those who came before us. Those who know what we have been before what we are now. Because what we are now is not what we have been only yesterday, but all the yesterdays before today. Maybe a thousand, three thousand years of yesterdays. Because we can never know who we are (or what we can become) if we don't have a clue as to what we were. Otherwise we will always think that we are not what we are now, which can lead us to want to be what we are not. Americans, for example. Or Chinese. Anything except what we are (because we don't know what it is).

So, even if it's just a mother warning her child to be careful after sending her/him out to buy sukà, whether it's a love song, a prayer, or a listahan ng utang, let's see what our experts make of the Calatagan Pot inscriptions. Is it fake? Inscribed on the unbaked clay by a crackpot? Or a pot of golden knowledge? Since it was found in the late 1950s (bought for P6 and eventually acquired by the National Museum), many attempts have been made to decode the partially-Baybayin inscriptions on the shoulder of the Calatagan pot.The great sculpture, national artist, and Espiritista, Guillermo Tolentino, tried, and even sought the help of his spirit friends to shed light on its probable message. Lately, another Guillermo, our friend Bomen, who is actually the young, intrepid scholar and poet, Dr. Ramon Guillermo (good son of our friends poet Gelacio and art critic Alice), used a computer program and some similar Asian scripts in trying to decode the script. He sent it out on the Internet for reactions and open debate, so the deciphering process can progress further. Other anthropologists and historians, notably the venerable initiator and advocate of Pantayong Pananaw (Our Own Perspective) in the social sciences, Dr. Zeus Salazar, also contributed their insights and even translations, but it seems the final revelation has yet to come.

This coming October 1, 2008, Wednesday, the much anticipated decipherment of the inscription will once again be brought to light in a symposium entitled Ang Sulat sa Palayok: A Symposium on Deciphering the Calatagan Pot Script, organized by U.P. Archaeological Studies Program, National Museum of the Philippines, and U.P. College of Arts and Letters. This event will be held at the Recto Hall, Faculty Center in U. P. Dliman from 2:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon. Two notable presenters (Dr. Ramon Guillermo and Dr. Quentin Oropilla) will be both delivering their papers on their translation and interpretation of the inscription, which will be discussed by a panel including Nestor Castro, Juan Francisco, Alfredo Evangelista, Jesus Peralta, and Zeus Salazar.

Our friend, Cambridge-trained archaeologist Dr. Vic Paz, who heads the U.P. Archaeology department, with whom we and other friends recently have been sharing some good beer and absorbing conversation at the cafe of the U.P. University Hotel, forewarned us about the symposium. He said, if you're really interested, you shouldn't miss it. Novelist and singer Charlson Ong, poet and playwright Reuel Molina Aguila, poet and singer-composer Jesus Manuel Santiago, and the great poet and student of Philippine history, Arnold Molina Azurin, who have been following the developments and discussions among the specialists, and I (who was a recent interloper), won't miss it for their lives. And you, if I've interested you enough about this watershed event, shouldn't either.

PHOTO: Symposium "teaser image": UP Archaeology; OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS courtesy of Bibingka.Com

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& While we're at it... Have you been to the National Museum lately?

Join John Silva's National Museum Tour (Fall 2008):
"Juan Luna and the Making of Our Nation"

(Schedules for September, October, November)

Dear friends,

This week, I will be teaching public school teachers how to appreciate
the National Museum. I get the funding through these museum tours.
So, a big thanks to those who've been on them. I attach my schedules
for the rest of September, October and now November. There have been
some dates removed for October so please use this schedule as the
latest to send to your friends. My schedule and further information is also
posted on my blogspot, johnsilva.blogspot.com.

Starting September 27, our Amorsolo retrospective will be showing and
you will have a wonderful experience seeing the best of this National Artist's
work in the National Museum. I have included too a tour of the new
Jaime Laya and Family gallery of contemporary paintings hanging at the National Gallery of Art. More to enjoy and maybe repeat your visit!

Many thanks again for joining my tour and for helping our public
school teachers. Please spread the word.

John L. Silva

JOHN SILVA is senior consultant at the National Museum, and advocate for the arts and heritage preservation. Thanks to Ben Razon for posting John Silva's announcement at Banggaan E-Group.

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