Pagmamano

This country’s storehouse of rituals, customs, ceremonies, and traditions is a naturally rich source for Philippine iconography. It supplies the visual artist not only the resources of color and forms, but, more significantly, emotional registers such as poignancy and empathy. Such, for instance, is the custom of rendering respect for one’s elders by the gesture of pagmamano. The word is derived from the Spanish word, mano, meaning hand. An equivalent of the European custom of hand-kissing, the Filipino custom consists of bowing to an elder and greeting him or her with the expression mano po. With the hand of the elder thus offered, one presses his or her forehead lightly on the back of the hand.

In the Dans painting, several grandchildren of different ages line up, awaiting their turn. In olden times, a large brood was always regarded as a blessing from God