BESAO, Mountain Province – The National Museum officially declared the historic and scenic Gueday stone calendar as a national landmark pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 260 issued by former President Ferdinand E. Marcos on August 1, 1973.
National Museum officials were in town recently to install the marker and turnover the necessary documents supporting the declaration of the Gueday stone calendar as a national landmark.
Gueday is located in a high altitude and has a colder weather which makes rice growth slower with one cropping a year in the past, but a better condition for growing glutinous rice varieties which is generally termed as ‘diket; and are culturally used during special community and family occasion and for ritual purposes such as in the form of rice wine.
The rice terraces around Gueday also proves abundant rice production in the past but at present, the rice terraces with sturdy stonewalls are still preserved and provide a beautiful scenery especially if seen from a far.
Based on researches and available literature, the ‘kasilapet’ signals the end of the cycle of agricultural activities and the beginning of the next cycle which happens when the sun perfectly rests a top of Ambaon –Bato, a portion of the mountain ridge in Masameyeo, Gueday, as seen at ‘dap-ay Awaw’ at the lower portion of Gueday while sitting and lining at the stone calendar.
The exact date of the ‘kasilapet’ celebration was a result of years of observation by a person named David Ganaden years prior to his death in 1944, probably in the 1920s to 1930s. Ever since, the ‘kasilapet’ has been observed every September 30.
The declaration of the Gueday stone calendar as a national shrine monument or landmark will help in efforts to preserve and protect cultural properties that synchronize the peoples culture and identity which are indispensable for correct historical and cultural understanding.
Mayor Johnson Bantog II said that the installation of the market by the National Museum on the Gueday stone calendar is a significant gain of the local government in aggressively working out the sustainable preservation and protection important cultural properties considering that it will be part of the country’s history books.
Further, he claimed that the declaration of the stone calendar as a national shrine monument or landmark will definitely help in boosting the growth of the local tourism industry because nature lovers and those who are advocating for cultural preservation and protection will surely make it a point to visit the historic and scenic stone calendar that is existing in one of the town’s remotest villages.
“We express our sincerest gratitude to all those, who in one way or the other, extended the needed assistance to the local government in ensuring that one of our major tourist spots will be provided with the appropriate marker that will formalize its declaration as a national shrine monument or landmark,” Mayor Batog stressed.
One of the priority thrusts of the municipal government is for the aggressive promotion and preservation of scenic tourist spots that will entice more domestic and foreign visitors to consider the town’s unique tourist destinations that had been passed on to generations by the ancestors of the people in the different villages.
By HENT
