I have worked with Subanen artists belonging to the indigenous Subanen people of Western Mindanao in the Philippines for 25 years with the help of the Columban Sisters who have been living and working with them since 1983. Over time I came to appreciate just how deeply the Subanen People revere their mountainous homeland and how closely they interact with the forest, streams and soil of their habitat through their music, dance and rituals.
For centuries their bountiful habitat provided the Subanens with food, water, herbal medicines and materials for their household needs. Using resources from their habitat they cleverly shaped wood, grass, rattan, bamboo and palm leaves into baskets, tools, furniture, mats, hats, musical instruments as well as the walls and roofs of their homes. Impressed by their crafting skill I worked with Subanen artists to form a ministry called Subanen Crafts.
As part of our ministry, we craft Christmas cards whose images link the Nativity story with the life of the Subanen people. We do so by showing Mary and Joseph doing things that Subanen parents do every day for their each other and their families such as carrying babies in shoulder slings up steep hills, gathering and cutting firewood, cooking over open fires, fetching water in buckets, washing clothes in basins, sharing food while sitting on the floor, washing their babies and putting them to sleep.
Such ordinary acts of kindness make love visible especially when people have to do them in dangerous circumstances like those faced Mary and Joseph – giving birth in the harsh conditions of a stable and then fleeing into a desert to escape a death squad. Subanen families are accustomed to dangerous situations. Like Mary, Subanen mothers give birth in rudimentary conditions. Just last year Subanen crafter Andonie Balido and her unborn baby died in her remote hillside hut.
Like the Holy Family, Subanen families have had to flee from their homes to escape armed groups during times of conflict. More recently Subanens have had to leave their homeland because their habitat has been so degraded by unregulated logging and soil erosion that it can no longer provide them with adequate water, fuel, building materials and arable land.
Global warming and degraded ecosystems are displacing people worldwide. Columban Missionary Fr. Teakare Betero, who works with us here in Mindanao, was born in Oceania on the island nation of Kiribati. He tells us that the islands in Kiribati are being engulfed by severe storms and rising sea levels due to climate change. Like the Subanens, families in Kiribati will be forced to seek homes and livelihoods elsewhere.
Every year the Subanen crafters and I gather together at Christmas time to share food, fun, and simple gifts. One fear faced by Subanen parents is having to leave their families and homeland to find work. Two years ago Janelyn Musdan made the hard decision to leave her children to become a domestic worker for a family in Qatar. She worked 18 hours a day, every day, with no days off. She managed to get home for Christmas but had to return shortly afterwards to work. Like Janelyn many Filipinos work overseas as nurses, caregivers, and domestics in the hope of giving their families a better future.
Juvelyn Vargas has been a Subanen crafter for 16 years. In 2019 she gave birth to two tiny girls long before they were due. Juvelyn then spent weeks in hospital watching her babies struggle for life in an incubator. During her anxious vigil her fellow crafters provided Juvelyn with food and clean clothes. After much waiting Juvelyn and her husband Raffy finally got to hold their two tiny girls, Rhea Faith and Rhea Hope.
During our gathering we remembered Andonie Balives, one of the four original Subanen crafters. In February 2024 Andonie died with her unborn child during a difficult childbirth. Twenty-four years ago, Andonie hiked for hours from her remote hillside home to attend our first crafting workshop. It was during that workshop that I noticed her smiling in front of an electric fan. She was surprised by a device that could create the wind. Andonie’s children, Barnebe (9) and Melanie (14) are now cared for by their extended family which includes Subanen crafters. Andonie was building their tiny hillside home when she died.
We need to embrace the Subanen people’s ability to live within the limits of their habitat if we are to restore the beauty and bounty of our damaged rivers, reefs, mangroves, forests and farmland. With the birth of Jesus, God’s love became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus made God’s love visible. After his Resurrection Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to form his followers into communities that continue to make God’s love visible to the world. The Christmas Star guided the Magi. Come Holy Spirit, guide us in our work and prayer to build communities that care for each other and the wounded Earth, communities that proclaim tidings of great joy for all people. Our caring God is with us.
Why not support the indigenous Subanen people of the Philippines by purchasing their traditionally crafted cards. To purchase, please call the Mission Office on 01564 772096 or write to: Subanen Christmas Cards, St. Columban’s, Widney Manor Road, Solihull, B93 9AB. Cards are sold in packs of 10 with envelopes for a price of £12 plus £3.50 postage (£4.95 for three packs or more) in VAT. Cheques made payable to ‘Columban Missionaries.’
