Negros Christmas…a Heritage of Hope

And just like that, Negros Season of Culture rounds out another year. This time, three inspiring features tug at the heartstrings of those who long to be home. Each, carefully selected to represent Integrity, Industry, and Innovation, core values that have carried Negrenses through adventures high and low, near or far.

Home furnishing designer Christina Borromeo-Gaston of Hacienda Crafts in Manapla, Negros Occidental, has collaborated with the Carmelite nuns of CM Bamboo Craft Centre based in Iloilo. With over half a century of creative work between them, these two design houses, habitues of Manila FAME shows, are launching a collection of Christmas tree ornaments. The artistic manipulation of bamboo veneers into Filipino-motif vignettes makes this holiday trims unique – what a way to bring the country to cosmopolitan living! Curated into themed collections, 18 hand-crafted ornaments attest to the integrity of the bamboo and the desire to tell the story of Philippine rural life. It is at once sophisticated and artisanal. Lean into nostalgia in “Bamboo Trimmings”

The persistent lure of Negros to come home finally got this Oxford-bred pastry chef to roost, and perhaps for good. Born in Kabankalan City, Kaye Bello grew up in the UK but always longed to return. This was helped along by regular vacations to Negros. How she eventually became a pastry chef is a whole story on its own, suffice it to say that hard work or industry served as the backbone of her journey. Chef Kaye apprenticed with the world’s most “Googleable” brands, including Gordon Ramsay and William Curley. Today at only thirtysomething, she runs Kalamay, a patisserie in the heart of Kabankalan serving delectable cakes and pastries, and winsome bonbons. Those and a “cup-a-tea”. Enjoy a hearty serving of Negros pride in “Home Sweet Home”.

Finish the line, “Christmas without music is like…”. Every city in the country has its company of homegrown music talents. Bacolod is no different. Mojo Nova is a band based here, with Tim de la Rama on drums, Joanne Bernal on vocals and percussions, Hans Samson on guitar, and Van Luceñara on keys. This month, Negros Season of Culture collaborates with Mojo Nova.

As survivors of a challenging time, the creative team of NSC wishes to herald the coming year on a note of hope. Enter innovation: The classic Negrense caroling song, “O Senyor Tagbalay”, which portrays Joseph in search of a place for Mary to give birth, is reissued by Mojo Nova with a modern arrangement. Because gratitude and good tidings are ageless. Against this lyrical backdrop, warm felicitations from Negrenses elsewhere in the world join Negros Season of Culture in saying,  “thank you” for the year that was. Catch hope on www.negrosseasonofculture.com.

Malipayon nga Paskwa! Paghidaet sa Bag-ong Tuig.”

Merry Christmas! Peace in the New Year.

Vibal Foundation’s Philippine Cartography Wins Gintong Aklat Award

Vibal Foundation’s (VF) Philippine Cartography 4th edition won the 2020 Gintong Aklat Awards for Social Sciences category. The awarding ceremony was streamed live on the Facebook pages of the Book Development Association of the Philippines (BDAP) and Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) on Wednesday afternoon, November 17. VF’s Program Director Kristine E. Mandigma, book editor Dr. Carlos Madrid, and Ms. Denden Quirino, daughter of the book’s author and National Artist Carlos Quirino, gave their acceptance speeches. 

Established in 1871, Gintong Aklat Awards is conferred bi-annually by BDAP. The outstanding Philippine books are chosen based on overall excellence—from the quality of production, design, and printing to the quality and significance of content. 

Philippine Cartography 1320-1899, Fourth Edition

National Artist Carlos Quirino recounts how the concept of the Philippines emerged as a vague grouping of islands in the early fourteenth century and evolved in fits and starts over half a millennium into its current iconography. The Philippines as a geographical and ideological construct was shaped by a long lineage of cosmographers, cartographers, and artists spanning diverse cultures and times, such as Zhu She Ben, Luo Hong Xian, Abraham Cresques, Francisco Rodrigues, Juan López y Velasco, Diogo Homem, Gerardus Mercator, Sebastian Münster, Robert Dudley, Comte de Lapérouse, Pedro Murillo Velarde, Claudio Montero, Francisco Coello, José Algué, and many others. 

From ancient Chinese scrolls, Japanese and Portuguese portolan maps, French scientific surveys, and British merchants’ nautical charts, Quirino weaves a history of heroics and everyday drudgery, of personal and international rivalries, as well as of egregious mistakes and brilliant insights.

Philippine Cartography was first published in a limited edition in 1959 and reissued a second and third time in Amsterdam and Quezon City. For this fourth edition, editor Dr. Carlos Madrid annotated Quirino’s text and added a selection of over 450 new maps to form the largest bibliography of over 1,600 Philippine cartographic materials. 

Profusely illustrated with over 200 images, this edition is further enriched with six remarkable foldout maps, among them the outstanding Topographía de la Ciudad de Manila, which is reproduced for the first time in high resolution. This edition is also specially honored with a foreword by renowned historian Ambeth Ocampo and an introduction by international author, Thomas Suárez, who presents a meditation on cartography, the making of the Philippines, and the twenty-first century digitality.

Dr. Madrid also appended three significant essays that considerably widen the author’s avenues of inquiry into the Selden map of Southeast Asia, the unheralded Claudio Montero and his Comisión Hidrográfica de Filipinas, and the world-class achievements of Jesuit father Vicente Memije—together with two Filipino artists, Nicolás de la Cruz Bagay and Lorenzo Atlas.

With its erudite text and unparalleled reproduction of rare maps, views, and plans, this book will delight anyone with an interest in antiquity, history, geography, and maps as instruments of power and rare vessels of beauty.

Interested readers may purchase Philippine Cartography and other VFI books at Vibal Online Shop at https://shop.vibalgroup.com, Lazada https://www.lazada.com.ph/shop/vibal-books, and at Shopee https://shopee.ph/vibalgroup.