From Sambal Ayta to Tagalog Quezon: Folk Healing Traditions

Philippine Indigenous Languages Lecture Series (PILLS)
24 June | Tuesday | 11:00 AM
CSSP Health & Wellness Center

The seventh installment of the 2025 Philippine Indigenous Languages Lecture Series (PILLS) will be on Sambal Ayta [sbl], a language spoken in Zambales.

ABSTRACT

Folk healing traditions surround various arrays of culturally entrenched practices used by communities around the world to communicate physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Frequently passed down through generations by way of oral traditions and practices, these give back a comprehensive viewpoint and environmental knowledge of indigenous and rural societies. Exploring how herbal medicine, rituals, amulets, divination, and faith-based interventions serve as both healing practice and cultural expressions, this study investigates the linguistic, cultural, and spiritual dimensions of folk healing traditions. Taking from ethnographic investigations, case studies, and comparative analysis, this study features the resilience and adaptability of these traditions in the face of modernization and biomedical superiority. It also considers the integration of folk healing within contemporary healthcare systems and the ethical implications of preserving indigenous knowledge. Rooting from the concepts of ginhawa, that translates as kainumayan in Sambal Ayta, traditional healing practices from Botolan Sambal involving anito and Dolores Quezon’s albularyo and mangagamot were explored in this study. In the final analysis, this study argues for the recognition of folk healing as a legitimate form of cultural heritage and a complementary component of holistic health practices.

This event is free and open to the public.