BINABAYANI: A ritual dance practiced in the Philippines. In it, participants work themselves into a trance-like frenzy, culminating in a mock knife battle. Developed because practice with real knives was too dangerous, after the Spanish banned martial arts training in the Philippines, binabayani were performed at religious celebrations. There, under the guise of religious rituals, the knife fighting techniques of KALI could continue to be practiced. (See also Kali article).
