Keeping indigenous traditions alive

Upi, Maguindanao del Norte—Last Thursday, July 18, was a historic day for the indigenous Teduray and Teduray-Lambangian communities in this mountainous locality. That day, three donor programs and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) took part in the community ritual and groundbreaking ceremonies for the proposed structure that will house the Indigenous People’s School of Living Traditions (SLTs) there, the first of its kind in the autonomous region.

The three programs are the Support to Bangsamoro Transition (Subatra, with two programs, one for capacities enhancement and institutional strengthening of transition bodies in the BARMM, and one to support civil society initiatives to promote community access to justice, or the Subatra Justice and Society Project, and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). These programs are funded by the European Union and the Agencia Española de Cooperacion Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID or Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development).

Schools for living traditions are community-based educational institutions mandated to preserve indigenous knowledge, skills, and practices concerning human beings’ relationships with nature; oral traditions and expressions, like riddles and other items of folklore, performing arts like songs and dances, rituals and festive events as well as indigenous crafts like handloom and mat weaving.

Nationally, the SLTs were first launched in 1995 by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) under the leadership of its chair then, Felipe M. de Leon Jr. The SLTs are part of the mandate of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization to protect traditional and cultural knowledge and practices from the possible adverse effects of modernization.

After the groundbreaking ceremonies, a “kumustahan” session took place between the Teduray and Teduray-Lambangian indigenous communities and their visitors that day—representatives of the European Union delegation in the Philippines led by EU Delegation to the Philippines’ Head of Cooperation, Christoph Wagner, civil society organizations, regional government officials, and the technical advisory teams of the two Subatra programs, and UNOPS.

It was in the kumustahan session that visitors heard the sentiments, concerns, and wishes of the indigenous communities in the province and in other municipalities in Maguindanao del Sur. In the sharing session, IP leaders highlighted the imperative to conserve and preserve traditional knowledge, skills, and practices, especially the local Teduray and other indigenous languages, which they believe are slowly being replaced by languages that are lingua franca in Cotabato and in the two Maguindanao provinces. Many younger generations of Teduray can no longer speak their language without shifting to either English or Tagalog. The older Teduray and Teduray-Lambangian also decried that their younger counterparts no longer want to wear traditional clothing or learn traditional arts and crafts, ditching these items of knowledge and practices in favor of Western modes of dressing and entertainment.

This is the usual route of how languages and cultural elements disappear or become extinct—when people no longer use what their ancestors used in their face-to-face interactions. Traditional games that older generations of Teduray used to play during festivities are no longer part of indigenous children’s social life since their gadgets have become their close “buddies”—they are more connected with their friends in virtual reality in cyberspace than with their parents, siblings, and other relatives who are with them physically all the time.

We do not begrudge the benefits of modernization in our present ways of life. However, indigenous communities would prefer to sustain their indigenous knowledge, skills, and practices alongside certain aspects of modernity that do not run counter to recognizing their distinctive identities as a people. They are to be respected for asserting their right to sustain their traditional belief systems, skills, and practices as they embrace being part of a modernized world.

The keepers and holders of tradition are already in the pre-departure areas of their lives, and may soon take their final flight to the Great Beyond. Keeping such valuable nuggets of cultural heritage is therefore urgent and imperative. We do not want the sacrifice of our national hero, Jose Rizal, dying for this country to be for nothing.

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