Tuesday, September 23, 2008 Tantingco: Kapampangan spa By Robby Tantingco
WHEN I was a child, I enjoyed taking siestas on my mother's lap while she picked lice on my scalp, cleaned my ears with an ear pick, or languidly scratched my back while gossiping with the neighbor.
The Kapampangan words I remember were "dikdik" (squeezing a louse with one or both thumbs), "luga" (the wax buildup inside the ear that she removed with a stainless ear pick imported from China, or with a matchstick tipped with a cotton ball), and "gamus" (scratching, whether or not there was actual itching).
When I grew up and grew old, I told her I was embarrassed being seen lying on my mother's lap and having my fingernails and toenails cut by her or my hair combed by her fingers. She said okay, but it was I who kept coming back for more.
On my visits home I'd first keep my safe distance from her, then slowly and without being noticed find my way to her side, where I'd sit and tilt my head a bit -- which was all the hint she needed to pull me closer and ease my head down to her lap.
There was nothing in the world that relaxed me more or took me straight to golden slumbers than that.
These memories came back to me when I attended last Sunday's launching of the Nurture Spa Village at Abe's Farm in Magalang. It was the brainchild of famous Kapampangan restaurateur Larry Cruz who, as you know, died a few months ago.
Larry and I had become friends after the Center for Kapampangan Studies published the biography of his father, E. Aguilar Cruz, written by National Artist Nick Joaquin.
Andy Alviz, also a good friend of Larry's, was collaborating with him on the idea of a spa that featured traditional Kapampangan relaxation techniques, when Larry died and passed on the ownership of Abe's Farm to his daughter Lorna. It was Lorna who welcomed the guests last Sunday.
Today, spas, massage parlors and wellness centers are sprouting like mushrooms everywhere, offering services that range from aromatherapy and acupressure to full body scrub, foot massage, shiatsu, Ayurvedic massage, Thai massage, Swedish massage, etc.
It's good to know that now they have started offering indigenous massage techniques, because we do have a long tradition of physical therapies similar to those found in other Southeast Asian countries.
The "hilot," for example, is traditionally applied on sprains and dislocated joints, as well as on bellies of women who are having trouble conceiving. Mothers who have just given birth also get a vigorous abdominal massage to put back in place the dislocated uterus and ovaries. This is done by a midwife who is also called a "hilot."
Today, you can find "hilot" among services offered in spas. They claim it cures common colds, fever and fatigue. At Abe's Farm, the masseuse even hums a Kapampangan lullaby ("tumayla"), which of course brings back childhood memories and quickens the relief of stress.
I haven't gone to such a spa so I don't know how effective young masseuses and masseurs are. Hilot is a gift that you either have or don't have. Folk midwives learn it from their mothers and grandmothers and take an entire lifetime of practice and observation before they earn the title of hilot. An improperly done hilot may do more harm than good.
Another Kapampangan massage technique is "akdut," where you pinch the skin all over the body using the back of your pointer and middle finger, instead of your pointer and thumb. This is applied on patients or clients who need a jolt on their nerves or better blood circulation on their skin. It probably has the same effect as the Ventosa cups which are used for "kalbag" (bloatedness).
I want to see the day when even our medical and nursing schools, especially here in Pampanga, train their students to become practitioners of these folk physical therapy techniques. They should know alternative ways to relax and heal their patients, aside from popping pills in their mouths or injecting an I.V. needle up their veins.
Doing a slow, soothing "apis" (stroking) on a patient in pain or distress will probably relax him twice as much or even heal him twice as fast because his body recognizes the familiar movements and pressures from the past.
In other words, a traditional Kapampangan massage provokes childhood memories that quicken and heighten relaxation, more than, for example, a Swedish massage because it is merely borrowed from an alien culture.
I am sure there are other folk remedies that still need to be discovered in the countryside and re-popularized so the rest of our world-weary fellow Kapampangans now living on the fast lane can benefit from them. All we need to do is a little imagination and experimentation.
For example, for body scrub, instead of using milk and salt solution, we can try "amuyam" (sponge) and "tina," the blue paste our parents applied on our necks and cheeks when we had mumps.
In ancient times, Pampanga was a top exporter of the indigo, which was the preferred dye for clothes and fabrics. It was extracted from a bush called "tayum," which is why there's a placed named Tayuman, where they produced dye from the plant extract.
We can also explore all the possibilities around Mount Pinatubo -- the ash deposits, the hot springs (there are some in Patling, Capas), the pumice stones and pebbles, the sand and the sulfuric water.
