I?ll admit I feel a bit of envy when I read people?s reviews of events around National Heritage Month, like Ceres Doyo?s description of ?Misa Baclayana? Thursday. With growing domestic responsibilities, it has become impossible for me to catch these events.

I am looking forward to the kids being older, when I can take (drag?) them with me to some of these activities and make sure they develop an appreciation of our cultural heritage.

But I realize too that there?s much that can be done at home. Starting around the age of 3 or 4, children do acquire a sense of time in terms of the past, present and future. The future, even if only five minutes away, always seems so far off. The past is a bit more vague, but it?s there.

Psychologists say children don?t usually remember what happens before the age of 5, but they do have a curiosity about what it might have been like. Lately, with new puppies in the house, my son talks about missing Tiny, a very old dachshund who died two years ago. I know he can hardly remember Tiny but it?s important for humans, even very young ones, to have some referential points to the past. Tiny is part of a vague babyhood that needs to be recreated, even re-lived through vicarious story-telling.

Story-telling

Stories and story-telling are what heritage conservation is all about. That?s why homes are such an important link for heritage appreciation and conservation.

The other day, my father brought out some old photographs and that caught the attention of my son, who first identified all the babies and young children but eventually caught on, fascinated that his Dada and his Auntie Evelyn (my sister) were also once babies and toddlers. Soon, his Lolo was telling stories behind the people in the photographs and, over lunch, he waxed even more nostalgic, going into stories of past summers and our family activities.

There?s so much one can do at home to get the heritage appreciation going. Old photographs are a good start, but we should expand on the show and tell. Things we took for granted, like phonographs and cassette players, are from ancient times as far as kids are concerned, and explaining how they work, or better demonstrating how they work, will keep them going for hours.

My mother found my first camera, a Kodak Brownie, the other month. Kids today are taking pictures at age 3 using digital cameras. So, confronted with the Kodak Brownie, kids will ask why you can?t see pictures right after taking them. ?What?s film?? they ask. When my kids get older, I want to explain how those old cameras worked, because it?ll help them to better appreciate the more modern gadgets they have.

No one has asked me yet why older photographs are black and white, or sepia, but I know I?ll have to get to that as well, together with a reminder that the world was in living, exciting color then.

The digital technologies certainly open new possibilities of heritage appreciation, and again this can start at home. Digital scanners are cheap now and you can use them to transfer old photographs, quickly and efficiently. Many of the scanners even allow you to position old photographs and slides (Slides? What are slides?) for easier scanning.

The digital technologies are a boon as well for audio heritage. Old phonographs and cassettes can be re-recorded into digital media, again with fairly low-cost equipment.

There are about two weeks left before the kids go back to school, and I know many families have run out of activities to keep them busy. Ever considered heritage work? Get them to interview Lolo and Lola, and to tape them.

There are so many MP3 player-recorders available now, allowing hours of recording. Don?t forget audio isn?t just talk; encourage people to sing as well. Don?t rush them as they think of what to say, because the moments of thoughtful silence will be pregnant with meanings, too.

Since digital video cameras are also becoming more accessible, you might want to consider doing your own indie heritage film. Watch ?Storyline? on ANC for some tips on camera work and story ideas. Older people will often be initially reluctant about being interviewed, until you bring them into kuwentuhan (story-telling) mode, and then you can?t stop them from talking.

Time capsules

Heritage work, we should remind ourselves and the kids, isn?t just about recapturing earlier times, but also preserving the present for posterity. Have them do time capsules, assembling things they want future generations to remember, putting them in a box with explanatory notes, and then burying this treasure trove. Explain to the children that someday, the time capsules will be recovered and interpreted by anthropologists and archaeologists. Remind them to include the date in the explanatory notes.

In this 21st century, the time capsules should include audio-visuals. They can be commercial recordings of current hits, or they can be home-made stuff, including documentation of the family, friends, their school, their neighborhood. I am curious to see what young people consider to be important enough to transform into tangible memories.

Ask the kids to bury the time capsule in a place that means something to them, maybe beneath their favorite tree in the garden, or next to where Tiny and other pets are buried. Make sure to mark the place where these time capsules are buried, because the kids themselves, when they?re older, might decide not to wait for 24th century archaeologists to dig them up. They could organize a reunion of siblings and cousins and whoever else put the time capsule together to rediscover a bit of the past, and of themselves.

Family memoirs are never confined to the home alone. Inevitably, people will relate personal events to what was happening in the nation, in the world. Your memorabilia can contribute to local heritage efforts. In the next few years, I can predict more towns and cities setting up heritage centers, and those old unsorted photographs in a shoebox just might have captured important parts of your town?s history.

I?m hoping too that local and national governments tap into digital technologies to promote heritage conservation. There are so few audio recordings available of some of our best chorale groups, including the Loboc Choir that sang the ?Misa Baclayana.? Listen to dzFE every noon time for a sample of what can be done with recordings, however few, of Filipino classical music. Perhaps private philanthropists (I understand Oishi is a major benefactor of the Loboc Choir) can put some support into audio, no, maybe better DVDs, of our cultural performances, so that those of us tending our future heritage (kids) can catch up on what we missed!

Ilocandia

This Sunday at A Venue on Makati Avenue, there?s an Ilocandia Arts Fest starting at 10 a.m. where abel cloth, burnay pots and assorted Ilocano crafts will be on exhibit. (No tobacco, I hope.) At 5:30, they will launch ?Tawid: The Living Treasures of Ilocos Sur? which describes the artisans of Ilocos. Also, Jonathan Badon will launch ?Sika,? his album of Ilocano songs.

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Email: mtan@inquirer.com.ph