HASHTAG PEYUPS
Group 1 Evangelista Ledesma Sabijon San Andres Torres
#Medyo Sablay
by: Maria Karla Sabijon
Aside from the sunflowers blooming in the summer, the University of the Philippines ' another icon for graduation is the 'Sablay',. The 'Sablay' is a sash made of cloth in green and maroon embedded with intricate geometric designs and baybayin -- the indigenous Filipino alphabet -- inscribed in it. UP students, alumni and people who know the meaning of 'Sablay' highly revere and admire it. Like Oble, the 'Sablay' is a symbol for all UP alumni and staff but also not just a work of art.
The first thing that we can notice in the 'Sablay' is its colors. Green and maroon are used because it is the University's official colors..Forest green (Pantone 349 CVP) is used to contrast the University's dominant color which is a shade of maroon (Pantone 195 CVP). According to ovcrd.upd.edu.ph, yellow gold was also used to symbolize " the high standards of values and excellence" in the university. In here we can infer that the conceptualization of the 'Sablay' did not focused only on the symbolisms , rather they also took into consideration the appropriate colors to be used.
Other elements in the 'Sablay' included geometric and curvilinear designs. The website of ovcrd explained that the geometric lines , in zigzags and diamonds, that are used are elements used in costumes of indigenous people for especial occasions from Batanes to Tawi-tawi. This signifies the diversity of cultural communities in the Philippines as well as tUP's goal in achieving excellence, cultural enrichment and scientific advancement. Another element used was the ukkil or ukit, the curvilinear design which imitates the movement of a sprouting plant which connotes to life.
Image Source: http://alliekabok.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/icons- oble_sablay.jpg
The highlight, which is the prominent baybayin letters in the 'Sablay' is a controversial one though. In an open letter addressed to the current chancellor at that time, Eliseo M. Rio Jr., a member of the UP Vanguard in 1965, expressed his sentiments on how the baybayin characters in the 'Sablay' meant a different word. He brought up how baybayin characters were used during the old times and he lamented the misused of these on the 'Sablay'. According to him, baybayin characters were used not as single letters but as one syllable already. The baybayin characters in the 'Sablay' were intended to spell out "U.P", the abbreviation of the University. However, as we backtrack into history, the baybayin characters used were 'U' and 'Pa' which spelled another word which is "upa" and in tagalog it means "to hire." Using the true meaning of the inscribed baybayin would change the whole meaning of all the symbolisms in the 'Sablay' and its wearer. That is why, we need as a reader of the image, or in this case, the artform, we should take into consideration the time that it was created.
I believe that the makers of the 'Sablay' did not mean to spell out "upa" in it, rather, I think that they picked out the character 'pa' because it is the simplest character for the family of the 'p' letters. This is because we are oriented with the Roman alphabet, thus the creators might have confused the simplest character of the "p" family as a single letter and not as a syllable.
This issue made me realize two things. First is the realization that almost or all elements in an artform, whether a painting, a sculpture, or a weaved textile, connect with one another to hold a specific meaning. Individually, these elements can mean anything. Maroon and green can mean Christmas, geometric designs can describe the creators passion , a nd so on. But collectively, the elements conveyed a set of meanings related to UP and its wearer. The second realization that I had is that viewers looked at the same object in different aspects. Mr. Rio focused on the baybayin characters that flawed the 'Sablay,' as for me, I did not noticed it until I was searching for facts about the 'Sablay.' What I had in mind while looking at the 'Sablay' is how it made UP unique among other schools when it comes to graduation regalia for many years (UP's uniqueness ended when a couple of other schools wore their 'Sablay' counterpart for their graduation rites.) and maybe other people might interpret the 'Sablay' a goal or maybe success.
Image Source: http://diliman-diary.blogspot.com/2013/04/an-open-letter-to-up- presidentalfredo.html