WHAT IS IT IN OUR CULTURE THAT WE WANT TO PASS ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION? 1.

WHAT IS IT IN OUR CULTURE THAT WE WANT TO PASS ON TO THE NEXT GENERATION?

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AGENDAWHAT IS CULTURE ANYWAY?THE CULTURE MODELTHE CULTURE OF OUR ANCESTORSCONCEPT & APPLICABILITY to Present Generation

WHAT MUST WE PASS ON?

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What is Culture, Anyway?“Culture” in the Anthropological sense is defined in the following statements: 1. “ Culture refers to the entire way a group of people lives and is organized. A set of rules, standards, or manners shared within a human group that describes a range of behaviors and beliefs that are proper, acceptable, and valid. These rules promote the survival of the group. These rules govern all aspects of behavior within the human group and provide for repercussions when the rules are violated. These rules also govern relationships to other human groups and the environment. These rules aren’t necessarily written down. They are, in fact handed down from generation to generation through tradition.”

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What is Culture, Anyway?

2. “ No culture stays the same. Every culture is constantly changing. The change either comes from inside the culture or from outside the culture through acculturation”.

Examples of Cultural Rules & Traits:• What must a person do when a member of a family dies?• The proper use of clothing• Who must lead a peace pact and what must this leader do?• What must a woman do when she delivers a baby?• How do we name a child? • Marriage customs• Myths, legends and histories• The Appropriate thing to say or eat at certain times

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The Culture ModelThe Culture of a people may be grouped into4 MAJOR COMPONENTS : (What disguishes one culture from another)

• Beliefs - ideas, customs, values, norms, traditions

• Social Institutions - family, religion, education, government, economics

• Humanities - attitudes, music & art, language, recreation

• Technology - Methods, Tools, Machinery, Skills

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The Culture of Our AncestorsBeliefs

•Ideas•Values•Morals•Customs•Traditions

According to Bishop Claver, the deepest part of a culture is its values because these, he says, make up one's identity, ''not dress, not dance, and not even language.'’ To Bishop Claver, the old Igorot ways of honest and open dealings with one another in their social, economic and political life are worth looking into” - & is in fact, worth passing on to the younger generation.

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Respect for the elders. See narrative on Childhood experience with elders.

Belief in supernatural powers/spirits. See narrative on Childhood experiences with

a men sip-ok.

Tayan - a common piece of land for members of a clan to cultivate. The concept is so that none in the clan will go hungry. Tayan is not for sale. See

narrative for Childhood experience here.)

Marriages, feasts; deaths, offerings

Naming conventions - children named after a relative because parentswant child to inherit good traits of the relative; named after physical attributesof the child, etc. (Fowangan - aw-ai niyanak ay chak-chakowag nan puto na!)

Peace Pacts

The Culture of Our Ancestors (cont’d)

Social Institutions

•Family• Religion• Education• Government• Economics

The Igorot family has alwaysbeen patriarchal and fiercely protective in nature.

Considered ritualistic pagans.

Schooled on their own “rules ofsurvival”.

Ruled by the elders of the ‘ili’.

Exist and live by taking only whatthey need from day to day.

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There are merits to these institutional traits - solidarity, discipline,loyalty, organized decision making process, and non-wastefulness.

The Culture of Our Ancestors (cont’d)

• Attitudes• Music & Art• Language• Recreation

Humanities

TATTOOS - In the early years, young men and women in the Cordillera were usually tattooed by an elder who occupied a high position in the community. The men who returned from war with their enemy's head, however, were allowed to get their tattoos by a maingal (warrior). The women would mostly get their tattoos at a young age to make them more attractive, while the men saw tattoos as a mark of manhood.

BAG-BAG-TO - a recreation - the bigger your wound,the more your harvest.

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Language of the Igorot is very descriptive of where the tribe comes from - hence, the Bontocs are known to be roughand direct; Kalingas, rather bold-shy; Ifugaos, pilosopos;Benguets, shy mango; and Apayaons, malumay.

Songs, dances, chants - for different occasionsdefinitely follow certain rules.

The Culture of Our Ancestors (cont’d)

Music & Art

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There are different dances for different occasions. Each dance has a story and a message.

The art of beating gongs requires spiritualty and a skilled senseof harmony and coordination. Beating the gongs while dancing at the same time, is a skill that only comes with enculturationand acculturation. It does not happen overnight. For some, it’s a spiritual experience.

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Igorot dances are better appreciated when performed in thenative attire. The designs on the tapis and wanes also tella story and reflect the beliefs, myths, and legends of a culture.

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The Culture of Our Ancestors (cont’d)

• Methods• Tools• Machinery• Skills

Technology Rice terraces technology.

Crop rotation

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“Planting rice is never fun, bent from morn till the set of sun”- to the Igorots, it is a family activity, it has its time, it hasits season, it is an art that requires extreme coordination withMother Nature.

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Rice processing is such a painstakingactivity that our people have learnedto process just enough as needed. Con-sequently, it’s fresher and more nutritious.There is little waste. It’s a process thatprovides a time to chat. It requires‘Gag-get’,time, patience.

Rice Processing

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Rice Wine making.

“Inasin” (Ham) meat salting preservation methods

Wood carving - agar-aramid

ti tao ken dad-duma pai.

Basket weaving.

Pottery.

Jewelry - ahling, beads, etc.

TECHNOLOGY Cont’d

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Weaving - a family creativity resulting in a material that reflects the symbols, story and thoughts of a people. It does not happen overnight. It requires concentration, patience, and knowledge of the culture.

TECHNOLOGY Cont’d

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SO WHAT IS IT THAT WE WANT TO PASS ON?

Can’t wear tapis to work or the wanes in NY city streets.

Can’t afford to feed the whole town at your wedding

Can’t butcher as many pigs in your house during death

Don’t have the time to plant, pound, winnow rice for food.

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Are the dances and songs all that’s left?

VALUES learned from customs & traditions

We must continue to hold our childrenclose to us and teach them the values ofclose knit families from childhood.

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“There is a time, and a season under the heavens” - and when we do wear our native attire, we wear it with pride and a degree

of solemnity because we know what went into its creation.”

We must teach the Symbolic meaning of our woven fabric designs

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Concept of strength, patience, ingenuity in Technology

one-ness with nature

Respect for the elderly, rules & the memory of a relative who moves on to the “other world”.

Sharing with the community in times of joy, as well as sadness.

Every culture trait of the four aspects of the Igorot culture from beliefs, to institutional make-up, to humanities andto technology have the following basic values common to them:

Simple living - taking only that which you need and ensuringenough for others.

Cultivation of strong family ties.

This is our people’s story- make it yours?. 20