|
Monday, April 17, 2006
Dacawi: The return of the native (with a 't')
By Ramon Dacawi
THE 10 towns of Ifugao have launched their respective annual cultural festivals that they've named after the ancient rituals tied to or marking the various stages in the traditional rice cycle. Hungduan, my parents' still remote town where some of the oldest and most extensive rice terraces are found, will have its "Tungoh" from the 17th to the 19th of this month.
"Tungoh" refers to a day of rest, at a time when the rice stalks, planted during the "tunod" in January, have already rooted, their leaves turning lush green, showing signs of flowering and graining, promising a rich harvest.
Twelve years ago, then mayor Andres Dunuan saw fit to ask the town's surviving "mumbaki" (native priests) to guide the villagers in the restoration the rituals surrounding "tungoh" period midway into the rice cycle. The other towns followed suit, coming up with their own festivals: Rambakan in Lamut; Keleng di Tenek among the Kalanguya in Tinoc; Kulpi in Asipulo and Lagawe; Urpih in Banaue, Gotad in Hingyon, Kiangan and Hingyon; Ikghumtad in Mayoyao; and Ammung in Alfonso Lista.
Substantially, the festivals are not supposed to be tourism come-ons. First and foremost, they are cultural fares. They are moves towards revival and restoration - and passing on - of a rich cultural heritage so it won't be lost forever. The older Ifugaos call it "boltan," a hand-over to the next generation, many of whom are no longer there or were never there, having been born and grown up in the cities, away from the terraces and the culture that built them.
First and foremost, the festivals are supposed to trigger a longing, a yearning for the native to come home to trace, renew or understand his roots, and in so doing, find or restore his identity as an Ifugao. By coming home for the festivals, Ifugaos, whether by blood, sentiment or choice, may be stirred to think Ifugao, perhaps like my cousin Reynaldo Lopez Nauyac.
Even without a festival to lure him back, Nauyac saw fit to return home to Hungduan several years ago. He was, and still is, on a personal mission, if not a quixotic attempt to help restore the eroding terraces through the revival of the indigenous system that sustained them for centuries.
Personally, I share his belief that the only way to save the terraces is through the culture that built them. The belief, however, sounds more like a motherhood statement than a practical guidepost for the complex task of turning back the rate of erosion of the terraces, which were enshrined in the World Heritage List in 1995 and, six later, in the list of endangered WH sites. The extent of erosion of the terraces is directly proportional to the rate of the erosion of the culture that built them.
Nauyac, a woodcarver who worked his way through college, is a recipient of the SOIL (Selected Outstanding Indigenous Leader) award. His credentials include having built a self-sustaining community for Ifugao woodcarvers along Asin Road here. As in the housing project, skeptics view his present work as a romantic exercise in futility.
Nauyac is unfazed. Almost by his lonesome, he remains focused on his dream of reforesting the mountains with indigenous tree species. Culturally correct, he has anchored his program on the revival of the "muyong," the traditional, family-owned forests above that terraces that, for centuries, supplied water for the rice fields.
Nauyac is idolized by University of the Philippines graduate Teddy Baguilat, the youngest ever to serve as governor of Ifugao. Teddy was born and grew in Manila and didn't know much about his roots. Mocked by recurring queries from classmates in the elementary grades on his ethnic origin, Teddy decided to move to Kiangan for his high school studies and to find answers to the questions that mocked his self-worth and identity, questions adults in the Big City still ask of us: Do Igorots really have tails and did they once live on trees?
He found the answers and more. He learned the traditional way of wrapping wearing the g-string during formal occasions. He started speaking the dialect, studying the rice cycle, attending and dancing during rituals. Four years ago, in January, Tedddy watched as the "mumbaki" performed the time-honored rituals ushering in the "tunod" or the planting season. He then waded into a paddy and had his first experience planting rice, as his forebears did over the centuries. With that immersion, Teddy the Ifugao felt complete, his identity fully intact.-e-mail: rdacawi@yahoo.com for comments
(April 17, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
