The website of the Cebu Eskrima Society debunks the whole "kali" myth nicely:

http://cebueskrima.s5.com/

Especially interesting are the following articles--"New Theories on the Origins of Eskrima" by Celestino Macachor, and "The Origins of Eskrima" by Ned Nepangue, M.D., here:

http://cebueskrima.s5.com/rapid.html

And Machacor and Nepangue had finally finished their excellent book, Cebuano Eskrima--Beyond the Myth, which is available here:

http://cebueskrima.s5.com/book.html


Peace,

A_M_P

edited to fix link

Very interesting read. Good find, A_M_P!

What!? You mean the Hindu God, Kali did not personally hand a kalis to the great Lapu-Lapu to single handedly fend off all invaders, using his kali techniques with Spanish names!? This is blasphemy!
LOL.
Nice find AMP. Some really good info here. Great post.

Sorry, I'm the "noob" here. So what's the point? What was the previous myth regarding Kali? Thought it was just another of the Filipino moshup of regional, local, family names commonly referred to when speaking about their indigenous stick - blade or open hand styles of fighting. Call 'em what you will they're great huh!

BTW, loved the fighting Jesuits leading the first wave of warriors with a cross (dagger/symbolic?) and a blade in the other!! Now I know why they kicked our arses so bad in H.S. - they had a tradition to uphold and badly in need training partners...ouch...lol!!