Theme: National Literature Month and Filipino Food Month

For this month’s Baybayin meet-up, we held an intensive session featuring in-depth practice for all our participants. Since April celebrates Filipino Food Month, we enjoyed traditional snacks, or kakanin—such as kutsinta, sapin-sapin, and puto—while honing our calligraphy skills.

Exploring Culinary Heritage

We kicked things off by promoting regional dishes that go beyond the typical fare. Participants explored the diverse flavors of the archipelago, including:

Dish	Region/Origin
Kinalas	Bicol
Dinengdeng	Ilocos
Tupig	Pangasinan
Pancit Molo	Iloilo
Pinuneg	Cordilleras
Puso	Cebu
Piaya	Negros Occidental
Sinuglaw	Davao
Sundot Kulangot	Baguio and Pangasinan
Tiyula Itum	Tausug (Sulu)
Moron	Leyte
Putli Mandi	Tausug and Yakan (Sulu)

Filipino cuisine is far more diverse than just the usual adobo, lechon, sinigang, and lumpia. It was truly enriching to dive into this colorful variety. After the writing session, participants played a game to test their Baybayin reading skills: four ingredients from the dishes above were written in script, and participants had to decipher the names and guess which dish they belonged to.

Celebrating National Literature Month

The workshop then transitioned to National Literature Month. We featured an interactive game where participants guessed the names of iconic Filipino writers based on mini-biographies printed on bookmarks. Those who guessed correctly kept the bookmark and wrote the author's name on the back in Baybayin.

The featured writers spanned the history of Filipino literature, from the classical to the contemporary:

Transcribing these into Baybayin requires a few "house rules," as the script is phonetic and originally designed for indigenous languages. For modern names and English/Spanish titles, I have used the virama (the cross or x-sign below a character) to cancel the vowel sound for consonants, allowing us to spell foreign words more accurately.

Here is the transcription:

Mga Manunulat at Kanilang Akda (Writers and Works)

Jose Rizal — ᜑᜓᜐᜒ ᜇᜒᜐᜎ᜔

Noli Me Tangere (Huwag Akong Salangin) — ᜑᜓᜏᜄ᜔ ᜀᜃᜓᜅ᜔ ᜐᜎᜅᜒᜈ᜔

El Filibusterismo (Ang Paghahari ng Kasakiman) — ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜉᜄ᜔ᜑᜑᜇᜒ ᜅ ᜃᜐᜃᜒᜋᜈ᜔

Mi Ultimo Adios (Huling Paalam) — ᜑᜓᜎᜒᜅ᜔ ᜉᜀᜎᜋ᜔

Francisco Balagtas — ᜉ᜔ᜇᜈ᜔ᜐᜒᜐ᜔ᜃᜓ ᜊᜎᜄ᜔ᜆᜐ᜔

Florante at Laura — ᜉ᜔ᜎᜓᜇᜈ᜔ᜆᜒ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜎᜂᜇ

Nick Joaquin — ᜈᜒᜃ᜔ ᜑᜓᜏᜃᜒᜈ᜔

The Woman Who Had Two Navels (Ang Babae na May Dalawang Pusod) — ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜊᜊᜁ ᜈ ᜋᜌ᜔ ᜇᜎᜏᜅ᜔ ᜉᜓᜐᜓᜇ᜔

Cave and Shadows ( Kuweba at mga Anino) — ᜃᜓᜏᜒᜊ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜋᜅ ᜀᜈᜒᜈᜓ

May Day Eve (Bisperas ng Mayo) — ᜊᜒᜐ᜔ᜉᜒᜇᜐ᜔ ᜅ ᜋᜌᜓ

Paz Marquez-Benitez — ᜉᜐ᜔ ᜋᜇ᜔ᜃᜒᜐ᜔ ᜊᜒᜈᜒᜆᜒᜐ᜔

Dead Stars (Mga Patay na Bituin) — ᜋᜅ ᜉᜆᜌ᜔ ᜈ ᜊᜒᜆᜓᜁᜈ᜔

Lualhati Bautista — ᜎᜓᜏᜎ᜔ᜑᜆᜒ ᜊᜏ᜔ᜆᜒᜐ᜔ᜆ

Dekada ’70 — ᜇᜒᜃᜇ ᜐᜒᜆᜒᜈ᜔ᜆ

Bata, Bata… Pa’no Ka Ginawa? — ᜊᜆ ᜊᜆ ᜉᜈᜓ ᜃ ᜄᜒᜈᜏ

Francisco Sionil Jose — ᜉ᜔ᜇᜈ᜔ᜐᜒᜐ᜔ᜃᜓ ᜐᜒᜏᜓᜈᜒᜎ᜔ ᜑᜓᜐᜒ

Florante at Laura — ᜉ᜔ᜎᜓᜇᜈ᜔ᜆᜒ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜎᜂᜇ

Nick Joaquin — ᜈᜒᜃ᜔ ᜑᜓᜏᜃᜒᜈ᜔

The Woman Who Had Two Navels (Ang Babae na May Dalawang Pusod) — ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜊᜊᜁ ᜈ ᜋᜌ᜔ ᜇᜎᜏᜅ᜔ ᜉᜓᜐᜓᜇ᜔

Cave and Shadows ( Kuweba at mga Anino) — ᜃᜓᜏᜒᜊ ᜀᜆ᜔ ᜋᜅ ᜀᜈᜒᜈᜓ

May Day Eve (Bisperas ng Mayo) — ᜊᜒᜐ᜔ᜉᜒᜇᜐ᜔ ᜅ ᜋᜌᜓ

Paz Marquez-Benitez — ᜉᜐ᜔ ᜋᜇ᜔ᜃᜒᜐ᜔ ᜊᜒᜈᜒᜆᜒᜐ᜔

Dead Stars (Mga Patay na Bituin) — ᜋᜅ ᜉᜆᜌ᜔ ᜈ ᜊᜒᜆᜓᜁᜈ᜔

Lualhati Bautista — ᜎᜓᜏᜎ᜔ᜑᜆᜒ ᜊᜏ᜔ᜆᜒᜐ᜔ᜆ

Dekada ’70 — ᜇᜒᜃᜇ ᜐᜒᜆᜒᜈ᜔ᜆ

Bata, Bata… Pa’no Ka Ginawa? — ᜊᜆ ᜊᜆ ᜉᜈᜓ ᜃ ᜄᜒᜈᜏ

Francisco Sionil Jose — ᜉ᜔ᜇᜈ᜔ᜐᜒᜐ᜔ᜃᜓ ᜐᜒᜏᜓᜈᜒᜎ᜔ ᜑᜓᜐᜒ

The Rosales Saga (Salaysay ng Pamilya Rosales) — ᜐᜎᜌ᜔ᜐᜌ᜔ ᜅ ᜉᜋᜎ᜔ᜌ ᜇᜓᜐᜎᜒᜐ᜔

Bob Ong — ᜊᜓᜊ᜔ ᜂᜅ᜔

ABNKKBSNPLAko?! — ᜀᜊᜈᜃᜃᜊᜐᜈᜉᜎᜀᜃᜓ

Jessica Hagedorn — ᜇᜒᜌᜒᜐᜒᜃ ᜑᜄᜒᜇᜓᜇ᜔ᜈ᜔

Dogeaters (Mga Kumakain ng Aso) — ᜋᜅ ᜃᜓᜋᜃᜁᜈ᜔ ᜅ ᜀᜐᜓ

Felisa Batacan — ᜉᜒᜎᜒᜐ ᜊᜆᜃᜈ᜔

Smaller and Smaller Circles (Paliit ng Paliit na Bilog) — ᜉᜎᜒᜁᜆ᜔ ᜅ ᜉᜎᜒᜁᜆ᜔ ᜈ ᜊᜒᜎᜓᜄ᜔

Miguel Syjuco — ᜋᜒᜄᜒᜎ᜔ ᜐᜒᜑᜓᜃᜓ

Ilustrado — ᜁᜎᜓᜐ᜔ᜆ᜔ᜇᜇᜓ

Mars Ravelo — ᜋᜇ᜔ᜐ᜔ ᜇᜊᜒᜎᜓ

Darna — ᜇᜇ᜔ᜈ

Lastikman — ᜎᜐ᜔ᜆᜒᜃ᜔ᜋᜈ᜔

Captain Barbell (Kapitan Barbell) — ᜃᜉᜒᜆᜈ᜔ ᜊᜇ᜔ᜊᜒᜎ᜔

Carlo Caparas — ᜃᜇ᜔ᜎᜓ ᜃᜉᜇᜐ᜔

Ang Panday — ᜀᜅ᜔ ᜉᜈ᜔ᜇᜌ᜔

Jose dela Cruz (Huseng Sisiw) — ᜑᜓᜐᜒ ᜇᜒᜎ ᜃ᜔ᜇᜓᜐ᜔ (ᜑᜓᜐᜒᜅ᜔ ᜐᜒᜐᜒᜏ᜔)

Ibong Adarna — ᜁᜊᜓᜅ᜔ ᜀᜇᜇ᜔ᜈ

Edith Tiempo — ᜁᜇᜒᜆ᜔ ᜆᜒᜌᜒᜋ᜔ᜉᜓ

Bonsai — ᜊᜓᜈ᜔ᜐᜌ᜔

A Blade of Fern (Isang Talim ng Pako) — ᜁᜐᜅ᜔ ᜆᜎᜒᜋ᜔ ᜅ ᜉᜃᜓ

Leona Florentino — ᜎᜒᜌᜓᜈ ᜉ᜔ᜎᜓᜇᜒᜈ᜔ᜆᜒᜈᜓ

-Angel

Head of Baybayin

-Paolo

Tagasanay

Prepared and edited by: Lindsey