BONTOC, Mountain Province – Gov. Bonfacio Lacwasan, Jr. urged the people of the province to sustain efforts of their ancestors to preserve their rich culture and traditions passed down to the present generation for them to be able to pass the same to the future generations of highlanders.
The governor believes their ancestors did their part in preserving the province’s rich culture and traditions and passed the same to the present generations, thus, there is a need for today’s youth to embrace such culture they inherit and nurture it before passing it to the future generations of Igorots.
“The annual Lang-ay festival is just one of the means by which we could empower our youth to embrace the culture of our ancestors. Let us not adulterate our culture because it might result in the eventual extinction of the identity that we were able to establish through the past centuries,” Lacwasan stressed.
He said that even in the family, people should learn to practice the time-honored traditions that were passed on to them by their ancestors because it is at home where everything starts well, thus, older people have the obligation of teaching the younger ones the proper ways of practicing our customs and traditions.
According to him, the appreciation aired by visiting local and foreign tourists on how the people were able to showcase the province’s rich culture and traditions should be an inspiration for every local resident to strive to learn how to practice such rituals, among others, for them to teach the younger ones that will come after them.
He added the perfect way of executing the rituals, dances, among others, should be the target of today’s youth because they will be the ones that will hold on to it and pass it on to the coming generations.
While there are numerous factors that affect the practice of the province’s culture and traditions, he emphasized inter-marriages with other members of tribes from different parts of the country should not result in the extinction or adulteration of the province’s culture and traditions but it should open the opportunity for everyone to be informed and educated about other cultures and spreading the richness of the province’s customs and traditions.
He commended the different municipal contingents for including the participation of the younger ones in the performance of their chosen dances and rituals pursuant to the criteria adopted by the organizing committee because it has been the view of provincial officials that there is a need to involve the youth in the practice of the customs and traditions as they will eventually spearhead such performances in the future.
He said cultural diversity remains as one of the identities of Cordillerans that distinguishes them from the other tribes that come from the different parts of the country, thus, there is cultural richness even in diversity.
By HENT
