In line with the celebration of Gotad ad Ifugao 2023, a photo exhibit celebrating Ifugao’s history and culture was opened to the public last June 13-17,2023 at the Senior Citizens Building, Provincial Capitol Compound, Lagawe.
The photo exhibit was led by the Heritage and Tourism Office, Ifugao that aims to reach out to the people specifically to the youth for cultural preservation, promotion, protection and perpetuation. It is also done to present the lives of the early Ifugaos, through their costumes and customs.
The history of Ifugao in the American period particularly on the 1900s to 1927 are gathered wherein, photos of the rice terraces, ethnic rituals, early Ifugaos and, old Ifugao houses were displayed in the exhibit.
Ritual materials like the “bulul” or the rice granary idols and other materials that was used in the performance of rituals like the “pama-ahan” or rice wine bowl and, “pun-amhan/ pun-amahan” or ritual box were presented in the exhibit.
According to Roscoe Kalaw, Supervising Tourism Operations Officer of Heritage and Tourism Office-Ifugao, the essence of the exhibit is to have deeper understanding of the past and to have a peak of the cultural items presented. He emphasized that, the current generation is the essential link for the perpetuity of the Ifugao culture from the early Ifugaos to the future Ifugaos.
He added, that we should do our share and strive to have the enough volume of knowledge because, surely all these cultural items will become curiosity materials and will no longer have relevance in them.
One of the visitors of the museum, Julia Dela Cruz from Indigenous People’s Organization (IPO) Lamut expressed that with exhibits like this, the younger generation will have the urge to learn more of the Ifugaos tradition despite the presence of technologies which redirects their attention. Through this photo exhibit, the youth would not shy away from the culture of Ifugao and would be a potent factor in continuing the living traditions and culture of Ifugao.
This was agreed to by Novie Ann Calbo a college student from Banaue that photo exhibits are important in preserving the culture of Ifugaos. According to her, “Tapnu makita iti kinapintas ti damu nga awan pay unay nagbaliw. (To see the beauty of before where there are still few changes.)”
Moreover, Kalaw stated that the Provincial Local Government Unit (PLGU) Ifugao, don’t have much of the cultural items much more for the relics. But there are still some representations of ritual materials that were gathered. Nowadays, the younger generations they could only see these figures through books and manuscripts of researches.
He also highlighted the on-going construction of the soon to be Provincial Museum at Poblacion South, Lagawe. In account to this he expects everyone to join hands and work together to fill that museum with essential historical and cultural materials.
Ifugao is a land of distinct history and a multifold collection of indigenous knowledge. Through the photos and relics exhibited, people will understand its relevance to them. Hence having better understanding of the past leads to a better understanding of the current situation. By Jurjen K. Sublino