Monday, September 15, 2008 Finding the heart of Mindanao By Stella A. Estremera
THE Kadayawan Festival just passed and has finally highlighted the people of Davao and Mindanao.
After several years of trying to find the unique identity of Davao, the organizers and leaders have finally captured the true essence of identity -- the people; their culture, their norms, their arts and crafts.
For so long, durian, Mt. Apo, the Philippine eagle, waling-waling, and pomelo are what come to mind when Davao is mentioned. There's nothing wrong with that, since Dabawenyos are truly proud of these iconic images. But because that's all that has been highlighted, the unique culture that sizzles within was not given much notice, bringing about a generic indak-indak, with just splashes of ethnic color, and minus the Sto. Niño of Cebu, the maskaras of the MassKara Festival of Bacolod, and the make-believe atis of Ati-Atihan in Kalibo, Aklan. But street-dancing just the same.
That the art and culture has just been sizzling in the back burners of Mindanao had shoved the people of Mindanao to the back burners, as well.
But not for long, as the Kadayawan Festival and similar moves to push to the centerstage the region's culture and arts.
"Any development without art doesn't have a soul. Industrial development, like what Davao region is experiencing now, should always have an artistic component," Davao artist and poet Vic Secuya told Sun.Star Davao.
Secuya then shared his favorite quotation from self-development guru, Stephen R.
Covey: "Things are created twice, first in the mind, and second in actuality."
"Before a chair is made, there has to be a concept of a chair, and that is art," he said.
It is also a reflection of the advancement of a region, he said.
For so long, Mindanao has been regarded as the backwoods, but there on exhibit at the Ayala Museum these days are the recently dug-up ancient gold jewelry from Surigao and Agusan, Secuya said.
"Those are awesome works of art and yet we never knew that our ancestors were already very good in that," he said.
The well-crafted gold pieces, he said, reflects a high level of civilization and and advanced culture. But because these were not given much attention before, it disappeared like all other remnants of advanced civilization in Mindanao. Thus, to the back burners the whole island went.
Lost in this ignorance is the beauty of our people.
"Culture defines us and art is a beautiful way of knowing who we are," Mindanao sculptor and painter Kublai P. Millan said.
As an immediate result of the radical shift in focus of the festival, the indigenous peoples, who have kept their arts and crafts to themselves are now proudly showing them off, teaching the people to appreciate what Mindanao had always had beyond just the durian, Mt. Apo, waling-waling, and pomelo. Not that these gifts of nature are not important or appreciated. They are, but the people who made Mindanao what it is are just as important, should be given equal appreciation, and should not be taken apart from nature that nurtured them.
Mindanao may not have the centuries old bastions and churches that other island regions of the Philippines have, but within it throbs the heart of its people manifested through their music, dances, chants, crafts, paintings and designs, architecture and cuisine -- the familiar tunes of kulintangs that are now played in fusion with jazz and pop, the earthy tones of tnalak and other woven fabrics that put the winning touch in local designer's creations, the highly-priced agungs and brasswares that complete an interior design, the bamboo-cooking that adds a zing to our dining experience, and the welcoming smiles of indigenous peoples who now take pride in their heritage.
When fully appreciated, all these are worth more than centuries-old rocks because all these were kept alive by generations of Mindanaoans, a task that requires the heart to keep the living traditions going.
