Mapaso: Bulusan's Indigenous Healing Ground

Mapaso  is a healing spring in Bulusan located in the village of Buhang. Hot waters shoot out from naturally  elevated ground crevices to join the sea several steps away.

Attributed by locals with healing powers, visits to the spring are usually made during Fridays.

Mini rivulets of hot flowing waters leave its track to the sea with a reddish-hue. The waters has a rich mineral taste to it and the smell can only be described as volcanic in origin.
(Note: the heart shaped silhouette  of the leaves)

In front of  Mapaso is a rich fishing ground for artisanal fishermen with 'agahid' (a pole with net on one end). 

The low cliff where Mapaso is located can be seen along the main road of Sitio Taisan in Barangay Buhang (San Vicente).

Boulders strewn along the beach  that look like  remnants of past volcanic eruption  form an impressive Rock Beach landscape adding a sense of  excitement and energy to the mysterious Mapaso spring.

Interesting bubbles form in the low-tide waters fronting Mapaso.

note: The heart shaped silhouette appears again in my photograph. See middle photo. This is not intentional. It just appears whenever I take photos of nature in Bulusan.

Photographs by Alma P. Gamil
Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines

Tuob as Indigenous Knowledge: Aligning with the Elements of Nature

As an apprentice for the bobo maker I listened to every word he says. After the weaving sessions that took around several days of 'chop-chop' (segmented) demonstration of  'bobo' weaving steps, Inggo, explained that the process of integrating the object to the sea has in fact not yet commenced.

"This is my old bobo and this one (lifting the other bobo)is the newly woven one. I cannot just immerse this new bobo fish trap into the sea. I have to follow my accustomed rituals as taught to me by an old parabolong (medicine man cum village shaman).

The same items used for the traditional tuob as commonly practiced, the 'kamanyang', 'oliva' palm leaves from the recent 'hosana' are to be utilized in the tuob ritual. The additional material and the most important in this particular tuob specifically done for my bobo fish traps are the pieces of pandan leaves gathered near the shore as the final ingredient in the 'tuob' explained Inggo. The numbers must be in the odd number never in the even. 3, 5 and 7 are odd numbers.

Tuob is a ritual of cleansing and blessing at the same time. It bestows the object a sense of invulnerability to bad luck and to shoo away unfriendly spirits that will cause it to not function properly in the tasks ahead. It aligns it to the good elements of nature and attracts the good chi and thus more fishes will lend itself to be caught in it. This is in sum the purpose of the ritual the way I understood  Inggo.

"I prepare these items when everyone is asleep and I see to it that there are no people in my route to the sea so as the remaining embers of  the tuob materials will be able to float freely to the sea unencumbered free from the prying eyes of curious onlookers. In a 'bagol' (half coconut shell) the materials are earlier made into a fire to produce the thick smoke so important for the tuob process. The smoke must bathe the newly woven bobo fish trap entirely for several minutes.

After the ritual, the remaining embers are brought to sea as quickly and secretly as possible to be floated unto the vast unending sea inside the same 'bagol' used in the tuob.. This I believe is a symbolic act that pays homage to the spirits of the sea.

"One must not look back after the tuob's remaining glowing fragment is set to float to the sea. You must go back as quickly as possible leaving the embers in the half coconut shell floating to the vastness of the ocean with its remaining smoke finally extinguished by the ocean breeze."


Bulusan, Sorsogon, Philippines