Back to my Roots

“Nice butt!” sabi ng kaibigan ko habang pinapanood namin ang isang Cordilleran cultural performance sa aming unibersidad. Siyempre, naka-traditional outfit sila, naka-bahag iyong mga lalaki. Bilib din naman ako. Sa kabila ng lamig, iyon lang ang suot nila ng gabing iyon – exposed ang mga muscles, taba, at puwet; walang hiya-hiya…

Unang pagkakataong nakapagsuot ako ng bahag noong pumunta ako ng Korea for a Youth Exchange Program. Though I tried to show as little skin as possible (as if may maii-show) at nagsuot ako ng brip. Funny enough, sa isang Exchange Program muli akong nagkaroon ng chance na mag-bahag. This time, my friend convinced me to lose the undies!

“Kultura mo iyan, dapat ipagmalaki mo,” naalala kong sinabi niya. At iyon na nga, sa harap ng mahigit-kumulang na 300 audience mula sa Southeast Asia at Japan, ako’y sumayaw. Halos malaglag ang aking bahag pero masaya ako noong panahong iyon na nakapagbahagi ako ng kaunting sulyap ng aking cultural identity.

I’m an Ibaloi and definitely I’m proud to be an Igorot. Pero pag minsan ang hirap sabihing Igorot ka kung wala kang kaalam-alam tungkol sa kultura mo. Hindi naman sa walang-wala. Subalit lumaki ako sa siyudad at namulat sa relihiyong  hindi sumasang-ayon sa animistic beliefs ng mga IP (indigenous people). Hindi rin naituro sa akin ang lengguwaheng Ibaloi. Nakakalungkot subalit ang katotohana’y nawawala na ang pagpapahalaga sa IP culture na tila ba wala itong puwang sa isang moderno at globalisadong lipunan. Ganun pa man, ang tanging hiling ko ay sana hindi ko ito tuluyang makalimutan.

Cordilleran cultural performance in Thailand, 2012 (photo credit: Aya Abraham) 

 

Dream

Watching the animated short, “Dream” was saddening. Endangered species sing “I Dreamed a Dream” as they show how humans show no regard to animals and the planet.

Human needs and greed always come first. Environmentalists are branded as anti-development. It’s such a travesty when animals are protected against people who consider hunting as livelihood. “How can I feed my family if I don’t do this,” they ask. It can be a tricky subject as I remember Greenpeace’s war against sealers which affected the livelihood of indigenous tribes like the Inuit in Canada. What then should we prioritize? We always hear of sustainable consumption but how exactly can we keep the balance of sustaining the ever growing human population and the destruction of the environment and the extinction of animal species?

And what becomes of the indigenous people (IP) relying on what the Earth provides. They’re being shunned and their land taken away from them. I am an Igorot, an IP. But I have lost this identity somehow when I got molded in the ways of modern city life. That which is considered superior but is miserably failing as a system.

Is this the hell we’re living? Regardless, I still continue to dream.

 

I’m an Igorot and I don’t have a tail

That’s how I introduced myself one time to dispel people’s ignorance about Igorots, an indigenous group in the Philippines.

It may come as a surprise in this time of advanced technology where information is readily available at the tip of one’s fingertips that there are still a lot of misconceptions about us, the people from the mountains. No, we don’t have a tail. Not all of us are short and dark. And who are you calling uncivilized? Apparently, some school textbooks claim so.

Having said that, a photo of an Igorot hottie, aka “The Carrot Man,” going viral on the internet is, I think, a good thing. Yes, it’s also an indication of our being shallow but hey, an eye candy is an eye candy. Can’t argue with admiring physical beauty. But more than that, he’s attracting attention towards the region and its people. The fascination, so it seems, comes from the fact that an Igorot could actually look like that!

They tell me I don’t look like one because the image in their heads is again, someone short and dark, with curly hair, much like a fellow IP, the Aetas. And there’s totally nothing wrong about their appearance. It’s just this messed up idea of how we perceive beauty.

Where did this apparent discrimination come from anyway? I believe it’s when the Spanish colonizers weren’t successful in conquering the north and they had to resort to demeaning remarks hurled at Igorots which has crossed over to the present time.

So I wouldn’t really blame the unfortunate ignorance of some Pinoys but is ignorance an excuse?

Me, doing an Igorot dance. (c) Noel Orcullo