Connecting the arts, fostering collaboration and building community.
Calendar courtesy of The Dirt.
There are several other great resources for finding arts and culture events, exhibits, performances, and other creative activities in the Davis area:
Davis Enterprise | UC Davis Arts & Entertainment | YoloArts | Visit Yolo
Author Talk: Justine Villanueva
October 27 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Free
Join us in celebrating local author, Justine Villanueva’s latest children’s book: Munga and Lola on Sunday October 27th at 1:00 PM.
About the Author
Justine Eva Li Villanueva traces her ancestral roots to Bukidnon, home of her paternal grandmother who was a descendant of Apu Mansaliwa of the Bukidnon tribe of Kalasungay. She is an immigrant learning to dwell in Davis, California, home of the Wintun-Patwin, with her husband and two sons. Justine’s creative work focuses on decolonization, indigenization, and social justice. JustineVillanueva.com.
About the Book
Mungan and Lola is a story about love and care between the child Mungan and her lola (grandmother). One day, Lola becomes sad. With the help of her mothers and siblings, Mungan enthusiastically engages in the family rituals of care to understand Lola’s sadness and bring back Lola’s smile.
Mungan and Lola takes its inspiration from a Bukidnon epic about Mungan, the first Bukidnon babaylan (indigenous healer), who summons the healing power of sunlight by playing the traditional gongs. The babaylan Mungan also leads the Bukidnon people to their paradise. Thus, Mungan and Lola echoes the themes of personal and collective healing, belonging, and the ancestors.
In Mungan and Lola, the child Mungan, named after the babaylan, engages in rituals of care—cooking linagpang (an indigenous Filipino soup); performing hilot (an ancient form of touch therapy); and playing kulintang and other indigenous musical instruments to encourage dancing—to help Lola feel better. Mungan eventually discovers the reason for Lola’s sadness and, in the process, hears about Lola’s stories of her homeland and immigration to the United States.
Mungan and Lola shows us the healing powers of (indigenous) music and dance which connect us to the world and ourselves, and the healing powers of oral storytelling and remembering our ancestors and where we come from.
Beyond exploring the themes of healing, this book also offers a starting point for the exploration of many other cultural and historical themes relevant to the Fil Am community.
Mungan and Lola is written in hay(na)ku which is tercet-based poetic format created by Filipino American poet Eileen Tabios. Mungan and Lola also highlights three Filipino languages: Bisaya-Cebuano, Filipino, and Binukid.