Narration of the Limokon
Mural by Rachel Holazo for Anteliz Hotel
Year: 1980
Oil on Wood
Dimensions: 6' x 24'
The Children of Limokon is a Creation Story of the Mandaya from Mindanao
The Children of the Limokon
In the very early days before there were any people on the earth, the limokon (a kind of dove) were very powerful and could talk like men though they looked like birds. One limokon laid two eggs, one at the mouth of the Mayo River and one farther up its course. After some time these eggs hatched, and the one at the mouth of the river became a man, while the other became a woman.
The man lived alone on the bank of the river for a long time, but he was very lonely and wished many times for a companion. One day when he was crossing the river something was swept against his legs with such force that it nearly caused him to drown. On examining it, he found that it was a hair, and he determined to go up the river and find whence it came. He traveled up the stream, looking on both banks, until finally he found the woman, and he was very happy to think that at last he could have a companion.
They were married and had many children, who are the Mandaya still living along the Mayo River.
*The limokon is the omen bird of the Mandaya. It is believed to be a messenger from the spirit world which, by its calls, warns the people of danger or promises them success. If the coo of this bird comes from the right side, it is a good sign, but if it is on the left, in back, or in front, it is a bad sign, and the Mandaya knows that he must change his plans.
Source: Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1916), pp. 143-144.
Mindanao Journal
Date of Publication: 1980/81
Rachel Holazo first woman painter to do a mural in RP
A romantic mural done in delicate tones graces the Lobby Bar of Anteliz Hotel in Davao City. The masterpiece depicting the evolution of Davao is Rachel Holazo's latest major work. She is the only woman painter ever commissioned to do a mural in this country.
SPECIALIZATION
Rachel Holazo specialized in life painting, portraiture and composition at the Art Students League of New York for three years under America's foremost master portrait painter Robert Brackman. Rachel became his protege and has acquired a scholarship grant while under his tutelage.
The Davao-born painter began her painting studies at the College of Fine Arts of the University of the Philippines under Joya, Castañeda, among others. She took higher studies in Art History and Humanities at the University of Michigan in 1966. Holazo had lived in New York for 12 years and returned to the Philippines in 1978 for a series of solo exhibitions at the Inter-Con Hotel and Seafront Clubhouse, sponsored by the United States embassy and at the UP Faculty Center, sponsored by Sigma Delta Phi Sorority.
EXHIBITION
Holazo returned to Manila in late 1979 to hold another show at the Hidalgo Gallery sponsored by IUCP and APCOR under Sixto Orosa, Jr. In January 1980, she went to Davao City for a homecoming exhibition held at the United States International Communication Agency Center sponsored by the West Rotary Club of Davao.
Holazo had traveled to many countries in Europe, the Caribbean, and to almost all the cities of the United States.
On January 15-30, 1982, Rachel Holazo will hols another one-woman show of pastel paintings at the Inter-Con Hotel, Makati.