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The Eskaya, less commonly known as the Visayan-Eskaya, is the collective name for the members of a cultural minority found in Bohol, Philippines. The Eskaya community is distinguished by its cultural heritage, particularly its literature and language, although many of its earlier traditional practices are no longer strictly observed.^[1] Reports indicate that Eskaya linguistic and cultural education has been in steady decline since the mid-1980s.^[2][3][4]

Most members of the Eskaya community inhabit a mountainous area that intersects the municipalities of Duero, Guindulman, Pilar and Sierra Bullones in the once-forested region of Bohol’s southeast interior. The original Eskaya settlement of Biabas (Guindulman), was established in the early 20th century by Mariano Datahan who died in 1949.^[5] In 1951, the second township of Taytay (municipality of Duero) was founded by Fabian Baja in accordance with Datahan’s directions.^[6] Significant Eskaya populations are now also found in the nearby townships of Canta-ub, Lundag, Tambongan, Cadapdapan and Fatimah. In 1996, the Eskaya community was awarded a certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim by President Fidel Ramos.^[7] An official census of the Eskaya population has not yet been made. One report estimates that in 1991 there were 130 Eskaya families living in Bohol.^[8]

The teaching of Eskayan in the volunteer schools is one of the few remaining cultural practices of the Eskaya community.
Formerly, Eskaya men would wear shirts made of piña raffia with a Chinese-style collar, black breeches and cotton berets. Women wore piña dresses with bulging sleeves similar to the Spanish-influenced Boholano style (mostly in Biabas) and covered their hair with cotton habits (mostly in Taytay).^[16] Traditionally, women were not permitted to cut their hair short nor wear trousers, and drinking and dancing were universally prohibited. For the most part these customs have been discontinued, however traditional dress is sometimes worn on Sundays and special occasions.

At weddings the parents of the bride offer the couple a glass of water and a comb. The comb is dipped in the water and run through the hair of both bride and groom. Rice is then showered on the couple, connoting plenty.^[16]
Until recently, the Eskaya practised a form of communal farming in which a portion of land was tilled for the benefit of the whole community.

Although the Eskaya had been known to people living in the vicinity of Bohol’s southeast highlands prior to World War II, it was only in the early 1980s that they came to wider public attention when government agricultural advisers toured the province to introduce Green Revolution policies.^[19] Local journalists and researchers have since suggested various theories on the origins of the Eskaya but there is still no broad consensus on the subject.^[18]

As far as documented evidence is concerned, genealogies attest that many of the predecessors of those living in the communities today originally came from the town of Loon on Bohol’s western coast;^[20] Mariano Datahan is reported to have arrived at the site of present-day Biabas at the turn of the nineteenth century; The Philippine Independent Church in Biabas was established in 1902;^[13] Datahan wrote a letter to President Manuel Quezon in 1937;^[11] and the resistance hero Col. Esteban Bernido records a meeting with Datahan in Biabas in 1944.^[21][22]

The Eskaya community has been the object of ongoing controversy, particularly with regards to its status as an indigenous group and the classification of the Eskayan language.^[9] Intense speculation in the 1980s and 1990s on the part of journalists and lay historians generated a number of theories that continue to be elaborated without resolution.^[18]

It has been argued variously that the Eskaya are a remnant of the original indigenous settlers on Bohol;^[1] that they migrated to Bohol from Sumatra in the seventh century A.D.;^[23] that they are descendants of the resistance groups that fought under Francisco Dagohoy;^[24] that they are a cult^[25] or secret society;^[10] or that they are a conscious reconstruction of an imagined pre-colonial society.^[11]

Some of the more unusual proposals are that the Eskaya people are a Semitic proto-Christian tribe;^[26] that they possess the lost book of Enoch;^[27] that they are descended from the builders of King Solomon’s temple;^[12] that their existence proves the imminence of a second Messiah in Bohol; or that they guard esoteric secrets.^[13]

Likewise, the Eskayan speech variety has been associated with languages as disparate as Hebrew, Greek, and Etruscan. Recent studies have revealed that the syntax of Eskayan is identical to that of Cebuano,^[11][4][9] lending weight to the theory that Eskayan is actually an elaborate form of Cebuano coding.^[6][11][9]

Legally, the Eskaya are classified as an indigenous group under Republic Act or R.A. No. 8371 entitled “The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997.^[7][28]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskaya