WHAT IS IT IN IGOROT CULTURE THAT SHOULD BE PASSED ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION by Violeta Passerini
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3rd Igorot Cordillera BIMAAK Europe (ICBE) Consultation
5-8 May 2005
By Violeta Passerini
Some of the young generation were born in Igorotlandia and came here with their parents, who came to work, and some were born here through multicultural marriage. Those families who are lucky could go for a vacation yearly, once in two years or after five years, etc. These young generation are also lucky when they could stay in the “ili” and see how our elders live. And considering the taken vacation here in Europe, it’s very short to stay at home.
The connection of this to the “What should we pass to the next generation” is just simple. While most of us write about our culture and tradition, I would also like to say that pictures are also nice to pass to our children.
The Igorot way of living changed through modern technology which reached our provinces. The hearth was replaced by Shellane that it’s impossible to hung and make “kini-ing.” The camote or “tugi” is now seldom cultivated. The reason is our parents are already old to do this manual work and the either the children are in the cities or abroad to seek for better living, or camotes are replaced by vegetables crops.
Through the “ahente” or museum collection our native art crafts are also disappearing. It’s a pity that some of our parents don’t know the value of these things.
When we have these pictures, we have also an evidence when one day our children confront us with the question “How did you live before in Bontoc, Ifugao, etc.? What’s the use of these things? How do you use it? Do my grandparents still use them?” And when we show these pictures and our children ask questions, I’m sure it will be a nice moment to recall the past and tell them also about our culture.
The late Hon. Masferré documented the Igorots through his photography but I know. that there are still pictures which we possess since the ‘60s or ‘70s not taken by Masferré but from a friend or relatives.
This is already late for the 3rd ICBE documentation but when members of ICBE would help me to do this, then we could present the collection in the next consultation.