Subanon Culture

Parallels and Variances between Metro Manila Tagalog and Subanon Culture in terms of Dress, Curative Practices, and Disaster Management
Hailing from the mountains of Zamboanga del Sur and Misamis Occidental of Mindanao, the Subanon people are an ethnolinguistic group that constitute the largest Lumad group. The Subanon take their name from the word “suba” meaning river, and the suffix “-non” meaning place of origin; therefore, Subanon refers to “a person (or people) of the river.” The meaning behind their name was found true for the Subanon people originally, for these people lived near waters at first, until later settlers of the land pushed the Subanon to reside in the mountains instead (Batistiana et. al). They also speak Subanon, a language

The Subanon are bound to their identity by particular uniform looks of clothing that is worn by all. While the practice of wearing these costumes seems to be fading in the Subanon’s recent years, as well as these costumes have since undergone some aesthetic changes, it still stands that this uniformity of dress is not familiar to the Tagalog ethnolinguistic group, and has not been for years. In Metro Manila, people tend to wear all kinds of non-uniform store-bought clothes, without the intention to match the rest of the population, while Subanons even have headdresses called tulapok that all men wear to indicate that they belong in the group. The tulapok’s folding also varies per event, and the Subanon have dress codes for events such as weddings (Villanueva and Jomuad 111-112), not too far from weddings in Metro Manila where a certain dress code is employed. Another facet not present in Tagalog culture is the inherent and set code of meanings that come with the colors of clothes worn by people. For example, white distinguishes tribal authorities, yellow symbolizes belief in supernatural entities, and red stands for blood in the name of defending their ancestral domain, among others (Villanueva and Jomuad 116). In contrast, Tagalogs do not associate exact meanings to the colors of the clothes they wear, and much less necessitate the presence of certain colors on

The Subanon use effective medicine such as mango root for tuberculosis, rosal as an antiseptic and anti-inflammatory action, and numerous others (Valdez and Canapi 2). Tagalogs, too, have scientifically-proven methods of curing in the form of effective medicine that include but are not limited to syrups, pills, and—much like the Subanon—herbal remedies.
The last aspect deals with the indigenous knowledge that includes rituals and understanding of the environment, particularly in connection to natural disasters. It is given that natural disasters are not experienced by just any one culture— it is experienced by all. However, it is in how the culture views and responds to natural disasters that differences between cultures may