Welcome to the 12th Igorot Cordillera BIMAAK-Europe (ICBE) Conference!

 

 

Ric Cuyob 

On December 6, 2024, I was writing this short verse to express my happiness because after the long search for a convenient venue, we finally got one that suits our criteria perfectly – that is, to have the possibility to stay in the venue and do patpattong or group singing to maximize the bonding at least until 11:30 in the evening. For as long as this conference is not yet over, it remains an invitation. Thus, I requested it to be posted on our ICBE website as an article. So here it is:

To everyone,

Joyful, joyful, joyful me!

Am so happy to spread the news today.

We finally got a venue in ULB.

That is from May 29 until June 1 which is Sunday!

Welcome, welcome, welcome, kakadwa ay Kaigorotan!

Umali tako iman maki-abat si kaka-ili-an.

This gathering will be staffed by our second- and third-generation mostly born and raised here in Europe.

They will be assisted by the elders before they will take full control in  succeeding occasions.

By coincidence, the venue for this gathering is in a University, 

where knowledge is passed through formal means.

Unlike the days of our forebears, 

values, wisdom and traditions are passed by oral means

at home, in the dap-ay or ator, in the uma or kaingin and in some rare community gatherings.

For the ICBE,

Ric Cuyob

During this 12th ICBE conference, there are three new developments compared to the previous ones:

1. This will be largely managed by the second-generation Igorots with the assistance of the first-generation as already mentioned.

2. It came this time that our speakers and during our plenary sessions are our very own young Igorot anthropologists,
   who are very energetic and full of knowledge as well as our second-generation. To our second- and third- Igorot
   generation, this is a great opportunity to  listen to inputs from the same age group. For us who belong to the
   first-generation, it will be very exciting to listen to the wisdom of our youth, yet already established their name as anthropologists. 

3. This time, the topics that the speakers will tackle deal with many aspects of our life, which essentially confront our second- and
   the next generation of Igorots in the diaspora.

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22 January 2025