Igorot Dance Video - Maryland

There is an Igorot Dance video taken during the 18th anniversary of the Philippine International Bible Church of Montgomery County, in Maryland last month. What's special about the video is that it had my sister and my brother-in-law amongst the dancers. While my brother-in-law is a natural dancer, I haven't seen my sister dance that much. And, this is the second time I saw them dance together (though with other dancers) since they got married more than 8 years ago. Check this video from the Igorot Video Collection website.

Read more...

BIBBAK Illinois, American Igorots raising funds for Ondoy victims

BIBBAK Illinois (see photo), in association with the American Igorot group, will be performing Igorot dances on stage at the local Asian Heritage Festival this Sunday. This is an effort to help raise relief funds under the American Red Cross for victims of Typhoon Ketsana. My family won't be there due to prior commitments, but we'll be praying for the success of the fund raising effort. Here's the full post from Rex Delson taken from the American Igorot Facebook page:

"As some of you know, the Philippines recently suffered from Typhoon Ketsana a few days ago (Sept 26th). Sadly, many of you may not even be aware of this because the American media’s coverage of this tragedy has been poor at best. In short, Ketsana blew across Luzon dumping a month’s worth of rain in just six hours and flooded most of Manila and its surrounding areas. More than 3 million people were affected by Ketsana and 676,235 are in evacuation centers not to mention the dozens that remain missing. To make matters worse, a category 4 typhoon (second strongest category), named “Parma”, is heading for Luzon and is expected to make landfall tomorrow morning.

While prayer is the best thing to do at this time, we can also do more. Two days ago, Anin Goldiwhil of Igorots @ Facebook group sent a message to all its members informing them of ways they can help. Unfortunately, we in America (and some of you elsewhere) are not able to help in those ways because of our distance. American Igorots can help by contributing to relief funds already going towards the victims of these disasters. People can do this through their churches, schools and relief organizations such as the American Red Cross.

American Igorots is encouraging all members to contact their local relief organizations to help in this cause. If you are a member of BIBAK in your area, ask the leaders to organize fund raisers. If they already have fund raisers going on for other purposes, ask them to divert those funds to help disaster victims. These are just a few ideas. I’m sure others can think of some other ways.

Since I have been a child here in America, I can always remember the generosity and family closeness of Igorots that I believe makes being an Igorot special. For this reason, American Igorots with the help of BIBBAK Illinois will attempt to raise relief funds under the American Red Cross name this Sunday at the local Asian Heritage Festival that BIBBAK Illinois is planning to perform their Igorot dances on stage in public. Let us know what other kinds of efforts are taking place throughout the different parts of the country by posting in the American Igorots discussion topic, “Ketsana & Parma Disaster Relief.”

Agyamanak ken ag aluad ka,
- R. Delson"

Read more...

Igorots in Seattle: 100 years later

Jerry Large, a Seattle Times staff columnist wrote a feature on the recently held annual festival that recognized how shabbily the Igorots were treated in a human exhibition in 1909. He starts his article with "After a century, the Igorots are back with an update on how they fit into the world". The writer noted that "Filipinos and Filipino Americans have tended to view the Igorot as a backward culture". He countered that what is really backward is that view. The article mentioned his conversation with several Igorots - Lulu Fang-Asan a professor at Benguet State University; Tony Gomowad, an Episcopal priest and Igorot activist; Caridad Fiar-Od, a retired professor; and Gloria Golocan, president of BIBAK of the Pacific Northwest, and an Igorot nurse based in Seattle. Full Article: Getting it right 100 years later; Photo Credit: Igorot Village: Then & Now

Read more...

A Photographer from Barlig

Langfia Ayeona is a young Igorot photographer from Barlig, currently based in the UK. I stumbled upon her work while creating my recent bloggable entry. She has dozens of "treasures" in her galleries. She also started a blog on Barlig.

Read more...

Meeting EK, a Reader of this Blog

As mentioned in the previous post, I learned of a reader of this blog at one of the Sagada Igorot gatherings during the holidays. I was casually talking to a nurse from Bontoc who is a good friend of my cousin. Her husband, who I shall refer to by his initials EK (sorry po, hehehe), is a neighbor from Sagada. I think we were discussing the US presidential elections when EK told me that he reads my blog on a regular basis. I was pleasantly surprised since I don’t think I published my name on the blog though I did post one photo in one of my archived posts. I pressed further on how he learned that this blog is written by me and he said something like, “Maybe people who know you personally can identify you”. Right on. If he’s a reader, I’ll take his explanation anytime.

EK and I had a discussion on the identity of another Igorot blogger from Sagada – Bill Bilig of igorotblogger.com. EK wasn’t sure, but he thinks that Bill Bilig is an alumnus of Sagada’s St. Mary’s School and he resides in Manila. His real initials are like his penname – BB. He is a prolific blogger with very timely and well researched posts on the Cordillera and Igorots. He hasn’t been that active in the past months though. Mr. Bill Bilig, maging sino ka man (naks!), you have readers who miss your regular posts.

Another thing EK asked about was whether there is an archive of the latest Igorot blogs / Sagada blogs that I keep on my sidebar. There’s actually none. These are feeds that I take from Google Blog search. The blog displays only the 5 most recent blogs having the words “sagada” or “igorot”. SaGaDa-iGoRoT.com displays more though.

• Latest Igorot Blogs - contains the links to the most recent 25 blogs with “igorot” in them.
  

• Latest Sagada Blogs - contains the links to the most recent 10 blogs with “sagada” in them.

For EK, let me see if I can increase the list to the most recent 50 blogs. Still, I don’t have a solution on how to archive this. 50 blogs is a good number though. More than 50 and my webpage will look like a link farm already, something that I would like to avoid. If however, one is interested in checking ALL blogs that have “igorot” or “sagada” in them, check the following Google Blog Search links below:

Igorot Blog posts Sorted by Date
Sagada Blog posts Sorted by Date

It’s interesting to note that there are more than twice as much “sagada” posts than “igorot” posts. One can actually use Google Alerts to search for specific news / blogs on particular topics. These alerts can be sent directly to one’s email. I prefer people to visit my blog or my site as opposed to getting the list of blogs through their email though. It helps my traffic too, hehehe.

Hey EK, asa ka man men-post is comment mo isna tapno ammok ay binasam nan post ay na-ay. My best regards to Mng. E, and the kids.

Read more...

Sagada / Igorot Gatherings over the Holidays

During our Maryland vacation, there were several Sagada / Igorot gatherings that we attended.

The first was a visit to my aunt near our company headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia. After picking up my brother-in-law at the Dulles International airport on the afternoon of Dec 24, we dropped by my aunt’s house. She was just recently widowed and we weren’t able to visit during the wake and funeral of her husband, a jolly good Igorot who I will always remember as being very upbeat and optimistic. 2 of her sisters, very nice ladies who we’ve known since we were young were with her when we dropped by. Her eldest sister, Auntie J, was a very close friend of my dad who passed away when I was 8. Auntie J is in her 70s and as she looked at my 3 young boys prancing around, she said aloud, “Ag-set mo dakan ud aped matey ay masapa. Ilam et sak-en nan mang-ila isnan ap-om”. She was actually talking to my dad in an endearing Igorot way. Loosely translated, she meant “It’s your fault – why did you die early? See, I’m the one who is looking at your grandchildren.” Sweet!

We spent Christmas Eve at the house of my sister. There were at least 9 Sagada / Igorot households represented in their house that evening. To combat the blatant gift giving, my sister requested if I could prepare a devotion for the kids so they could hear a Christmas message. I gave a small presentation on “The Perfect Gift” focusing on a gift that was so precious that it can never be taken away, it is never wrong, and it will never be broken nor wear out. It was done on the family room, with the Christmas tree lighted and the room literally overflowing with gifts. We ended with two prayers and a hymn – thanking God for His most precious and Perfect Gift – His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.

After the prayers and the singing, the children were surprised and amused to see a figure in red, wearing a red Igorot shawl, red pants, and a pasted on beard and sunglasses come bouncing down the stairs to the sound of HO-HO-HO. It would have been best if his coming was announced by a gong. The sight of the “Igorot Santa” made the teenagers and the adults in the room double over in laughter. He was so funny! I would have posted a picture but I don’t want my brother-in-law to strangle me.

On Christmas Day, we made the nice 1 hour drive to Annapolis, Maryland for the blessing of the house of a neighbor from Sagada. Mng. G is a few years older than I and is a batch mate and close friend of one of my sisters. We also met in 2000 back in Singapore. She and her husband and their 2 children moved to Maryland in the past year after stints in Canada and in Arkansas. They bought a newly built 2 storey house in the state capital that was near the bay. It was a very nice place with lots of room and which overlooked a park. We had a good time enjoying the wonderfully cooked meals the hosts prepared themselves and chatting with old friends and new acquaintances. There were visitors from New Jersey and a couple of Mng. G’s sisters made the 18hour ride from Arkansas. It was while thinking of writing this post that I realized one thing – majority of the visitors that day came from just 3 families who lived near each other in Nangonogan, Sagada. Too near that if stories I heard were true, sibling spats in one household could be heard in another. Would their elders ever have given it a thought? Here were their descendants, celebrating a new home on Christmas Day, thousands of miles away from Sagada.

On New Year’s Eve, one of my cousins got married to a Caucasian American in Washington D.C. We received their wedding invite in August but we had to decline because we weren’t sure if we would make the drive to Maryland by then. It was a good thing since we babysat the children of a sister while the parents attended the church service and reception. The wedding was attended by relatives from different states, with some relatives travelling all the way from Australia and Canada. It’s obvious but I’ll state it – Igorots and their offspring are all over the world.

We spent our New Year’s eve at the same house we spent our Christmas Eve. We interrupted the kids’ Wii playing sessions to countdown the New Year. As the wedding was over by that time, visitors were coming in and out of the house to greet and munch at the food my sister and her husband prepared. Karaoke singing went non-stop until the early hours of the year. Unlike Christmas Eve when there was at least the Igorot Santa, there was nothing uniquely Igorot in the celebrations except for the Igorot participants. The celebration was classic Filipino – spent with family, plenty of shared stories, karaoke-singing, and food.

The last gathering I attended was at my Auntie J’s despidida. It was held at the house of her son, who happened to be a neighbor of my sister. My mother and I dropped by to say goodbye. It was supposed to be a short stay since it was late in the evening, but as with any group of elder ladies, stories take time to be exchanged. It was at this gathering where I learned that one of our family friends is a regular reader of this blog. Surprise, surprise! This post is long enough so I’ll reserve that story for another post.

Our 2-week holiday was filled with a lot of gatherings amongst Igorots from Sagada. The gatherings were always heartwarming and sentimental. Though far from where our roots are, relationships that were cultivated in Sagada have gone across the globe and continue to flourish. It’s always a joy to be a part of these gatherings – my family and I look forward to joining some more this year.

Read more...

An Igorot in Chicago reflects on Barack Obama

(Photos taken from Chicago Tribune)

I was in Dallas, TX during the fall of 2004. It was my first foreign assignment in the US. I witnessed the debates between John Kerry and incumbent President George Bush. I remember that the state of Ohio proved to be the sole battleground state and that it was a closely contested race. At the back of my memory during that campaign season was a photo of a beaming Illinois senator with his family that headlined a local newspaper. I don't remember much about that story, except that he delivered a keynote speech at a convention. That was the first time I saw and heard of a man named Barrack Obama.

Fast forward to spring of 2008. I'm back in the United States and this time with my family. We were residing at a northwestern suburb of metro Chicago. My wife and I were closely following the Democratic primaries and the heated contest between Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama. Somehow, I was cheering for Mr. Obama as he went on to win a string of states that eventually led to his being selected as the Democrat Party's presidential candidate.

Then came his acceptance speech which we watched from start to finish. To say that the guy can talk is an understatement. HE CAN HYPNOTIZE. In the 3 presidential debates, his eloquence allowed him to state his stand strongly, clearly, and almost effortlessly. It is not difficult to be charmed by this guy. He possesses youth, talent, charisma, and projected the ability of handling pressure effortlessly. He always looked cool. It looked like he was really destined to become this nation's president.

On election night, I came home from work and immediately switched on the TV. Soon, Obama carried pivotal states that were supposed to be close contests - Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia. It was turning out to be a rout. At 11pm CST, the polls closed in the West Coast and without a single ballot being counted, the networks projected BARACK OBAMA as the elected 44th president of the Unites States of America.

It was late and it was way past our boys' bedtime but I wanted them to watch his victory speech. Its not too often that one shares the same metro city as the president-elect. Thousands of people have gathered at Grant Park, a mere 30-minute drive away to celebrate his victory. Had my kids been older, we would also have trekked downtown to witness and be a part of this historical moment.

Ah, "historical". It's been 7 days since he won, and the word "historical" has been repeated a billion times to describe his victory. Amongst others, the phrase "first black president" keeps cropping up. Beyond his skin color, Obama has a very white background having been raised by a white mother and white grandparents. I don't know the statistics but he can easily be the most international president in terms of origin. Born in Hawaii, he has lived in Indonesia, and has visited relatives in Kenya as a youth.

For me, Obama is the epitome of an American dream. Born in a middle-class working family, he has told stories of how his mother studied with him at 4 in the morning just so he can get ahead in his studies. He went to top universities such as Columbia and Harvard and excelled at those schools. He was a community leader and an Illinois senator. He couldn't have accomplished much just by being normal - no sir, though he's talented, I bet that it his work ethics, self discipline and motivation that makes him who he is. On top of it all, he is married to an equally over-achieving lady, who happens to the descendant of slaves; and they have kids who aren't allowed to whine and receive paltry allowances amounting to $1/week. It's almost unreal.

Had I been allowed to vote, I wouldn't have voted for him though. I do not agree with him regarding his pro-choice stance and tax plan. I'll probably benefit from his tax plan next year but I don't think its the best for the economy. Yes, 95% of all the people would benefit, but the employers who employ the people? They're going to be hit in a manner that can substantially curtail their growth and affect their ability to employ. With regards to his pro-choice stand, I heard him explain in an interview with Pastor Rick Warren that he doesn't believe that life begins at conception. I wonder what he believes then, but for me, this is a fundamental issue that should never be negotiated.

Lastly, I've been tasked to hire employees before, and I take into consideration both experience and potential. The presidential election is like the process of hiring an employee, except that this is no ordinary job - it is the most important job in perhaps, the whole world. Despite Obama's talent and potential, it is too risky to have someone too untested to decide on options that will impact the lives of billions.

And yet, the elections are over and Barack Obama is the president-elect. My pre-election views have changed over the course of a week. I now think that though Obama may not have been the better candidate, he definitely has the potential to be the greater president. As a Christian, I am commanded by Scripture to pray for my leaders. As a resident alien here in the US, Barack Obama is my leader too, and so I shall be praying for him.

Read more...

Igorot Artifact at the Louvre

It was in April 2003, on my 5th visit to France that I was able to fully explore the Musée du Louvre (the Louvre Museum), reputed to be the world's most visited art museum. I went there early Saturday morning and marveled at the amount and beauty of the exhibits. I wouldn't consider myself an art enthusiast, but even an ordinary Joe like me appreciate beautiful creations. Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo were amongst the most popular exhibits with plenty of excited visitors taking photographs of these.

Egyptian antiques dominate one section - I read somewhere that most of Egypt's ancient treasures are either in France or in England. The oldest item I saw was a wall painting that was 4000+ years old, though there could be older artifacts which I was not able to view.

A lot of the artworks were done by artists from France, Italy and Spain and I spent most of the morning and afternoon going over them. The afternoon was almost ending as I drew to a small section of the museum featuring American, Asian and Oceanian antiques. My heart was pounding in anticipation as I wondered if there was an exhibit from the Philippines. I saw just one representing our country of 80+ million people. Enclosed in a glass box was a carved wooden figurine holding a bowl. It was a type of bulul, and an engraved note indicated that it was previously owned by the anthropologist William Beyer.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia.org

Read more...

Hector Begeo: An Igorot Olympian

"Hector Begeo (born June 19, 1964) is a three-time Olympian representing the Philippines. He is the national record holder in the men's 3000m Steeplechase. He also place second and silver in the 1983 Asian Championships. He is the only Filipino to advance into a semi-final in the 3000m Steeplechase in an Olympic event during the 1988 Seoul Olympics."

From Wikipedia

Now that the Olympics is over, I was wondering if there ever was an Igorot who participated in the Olympics. I had a hunch about a certain athlete and a quick google search pointed me to his Wikipedia profile, which quickly confirmed what I thought. Begeo's name is not pronounced as be-ge-yo as most Filipinos mistakently pronounce it. Instead, it is best pronounced using a German character, ö - umlaut, transcribed as 'oe' like 'i' in "sir". Try using the vowel sound in "sir" to pronounce bö-göw. (Kung ser ang pagkasabi mo, ambot sa imo, hehehe.) Aside from competing in the Olympics, he won four SEAG gold medals between 1983 and 1999 as well as the 1983 Asian Games bronze.

As a high school student during the 1991 Manila Southeast Asian Games, I watched Hector in one of his races. It was a weekend evening - the starting line of the steeplechase was just in front of where I was standing, and fellow Filipinos were egging him on as the athletes were warming up. I shouted "Go Hector!" and I vividly remember that he looked up to where I was seated and raised his hand in acknowledgment. The race started - and one could see that Hector was pacing himself, staying with the lead pack but not in the lead. He maintained his position which led to some impatient bystanders to question why he was not taking the lead. In the last lap however, Hector made his move and grabbed the lead. The stadium went wild and roared their approval with chants of "Philippines, Philippines!". The pace on the last lap was considerably faster than most of the race. Midway through the final lap, Hector has built a sizeable lead. He did glance back at his opponents at least twice before finally crossing the finishing line with the crowd cheering loudly.

I watched his victory lap before slipping out of the stadium and finding a jeepney back to the boys dormitory where I was staying. Watching that race made me feel real proud as a Filipino and an Igorot. My memory of that race is so clear even after 17 years!

There are dozens of Igorot athletes who have shone in international competitions. Recently, Franklin Kawaen (pronounced ka-wa-ön), an Igorot karate instructor based in Dubai was crowned World Cup champion. (See related article.) In due time, an Igorot athlete will soon win an Olympic medal - mabe even gold. Whether or not he is competing for the Philippines is a different story altogether.

Read more...

BIBBAK Illinois: An Afternoon with Fellow Igorots

My three boys and I arrived at the Bunker Hill picnic grove at the Labaugh Woods in Chicago around half past 12. It was not a difficult task to identify which area we were going to. A huge BIBBAK banner hangs over a group of tables where fellow Filipinos were enjoying lunch. I took some water and cupcakes that my wife baked and my boys and I approached the group. We were met by a smiling man who turned out to be one of the 2 adults we knew in that group. I didn’t even recognize Marlon and I had to ask for his name. Marlon and Marissa is a couple from Benguet who we met at a common friend’s house blessing last January. They were the ones who invited us to the BIBBAK gathering.

While I was making sure that my boys had lunch, I was approached by an elderly woman – I knew she looked very familiar. I don’t know how to explain it but women from Sagada and the Cordilleras have a sort of generic look – warm, friendly, nice, with distinct facial features. She pointed to my boys and asked in our dialect if they were all mine. I smiled and said yes. She then asked me if I was “Kamulo”. For a moment, I was surprised but she quickly explained who she was and we embraced. It was a pleasantly unexpected meeting. She happened to be my aunt and a good friend of my mother. Her husband is my mother’s cousin, and she herself is the 1st cousin of my wife’s grandmother. My mother has spoken previously that she was in the United States, but I knew that she was nowhere near Chicago. I haven’t seen her in more than 10 years.

Kids had a fun afternoon

After lunch, the boys weren’t in such a friendly mood and the youngest complained that he wanted to go home. I urged them to play with the other kids to no avail. I watched helplessly as they sat down with the adults in checking if our raffle tickets would win a prize. They waited patiently and I almost pitied them each time a winning number is announced and it was just off the numbers we had. After most of the prizes have been awarded and our chances of winning looked bleak, one of our numbers were called. My oldest eagerly received an envelope with cash. That apparently changed their mood and soon, they were off with other kids, joining the parlor games, playing volleyball and even getting themselves splashed with mud. One of their new found friends gave them a bag of candies that they would munch on the ride home. It turned out to be a fun afternoon for them.

BIBBAK Illinois Activities – Election of Officers and Future Events

As it was my first time with the BIBBAK Illinois group, I watched from the sidelines and had some quick conversation with folks that went my way. This year’s gathering apparently was more than in previous years. There were few folks from Mountain Province, but plenty from Benguet and Baguio. I filled and submitted a membership application. That afternoon, I saw a young group of officers get elected for positions in the next two years – that group included Marlon and Marissa.

The next major activity for the group is the December gathering / Christmas party. They’re planning on a cultural presentation. I was asked twice if I knew how to “men-gang-sa” (play the gong). I don’t. I participated in gong-playing before during weddings back home and in school presentations and these were amongst the more uncomfortable moments in my life. It takes a lot of coordination which doesn’t come naturally to me. You have to beat the gong in rhythm with the others, while moving your hips and feet at the same time. Making these all come together in smooth “suave” way is beyond my grasp. Last time I played the gong was in a BIBAK gathering in Texas, and a fellow i-Sagada was looking at me like “What the hell are you doing?” Ha-ha-ha-ha! So there – I’m hopeless in this area. I’d very much like my kids to learn though that I might consider playing to generate their interest.

A website in the Making?

BIBBAK Illinois is not as well known as their counterparts in the east and west coasts. I was asked if I can help create a web presence, and I most happily obliged. Part of the group’s mission and vision is to reach out with scholarships to students from the Cordillera region. There’s also a general thought that attendance and membership to BIBBAK Illinois could be improved by reaching out to the younger group of Cordillera folks within the state of Illinois. I think that a web presence could definitely help the group in a lot of ways – from letting the world know of its existence, to sharing multi-media, to announcing events, etc... It is definitely something to look forward to.

Read more...

BIBBAK Illinois - Images and a Video

Igorots and residents from the Philippine Cordillera region met together for the BIBBAK Illinois 2008 Summer Picnic held at a picnic grove at the Labaugh Woods in Chicago. Here's sharing some images and a video. A story post will be published later. I did miss out on taking a photo of the food - lots and lots of food!

Group picture under the BIBBAK banner.

No BIBBAK gathering without the dancing.

Sacks of rice, bottles of strawberry jam, shirts and other goodies comprised the raffle prizes.

Newly elected and very young batch of officers.

Volleyball during the picnic.

"Where's that bag of water?" Having fun with kids games.

Igorots or not, in the Philippines or in the US, boys of all ages will always enjoy playing with mud.

And, a video of the attendees dancing:

Read more...

Igorot Images from around the World

I stumbled across a huge collection of online galleries featuring photos of Igorots in the Philippines and abroad. This is courtesy of the Igorot Galleries in sagada.com. My wife and I took a good hour or so going over the photos. From a remote mountainous region in northwestern Philippines, the Igorots sure have come a long way. Here’s a sampling of the more than 7000+ pictures in the gallery showing Igorot gatherings in Seattle, British Columbia, Tokyo, Australia, Switzerland, and Washington, D.C.

Read more...

Passing on the IGOROT Heritage through Dance

Young American Igorots in full costume
Photo from the Igorot Gallery at sagada.com.

I visited a gathering of several BIBBAK groups in Texas while I was there on a project during the fall of 2004. (BIBBAK stands for Bontoc, Ifugao, Benguet, Baguio, Apayao / Abra, Kalinga) I noticed that there was a lady who was in charge of meeting with the children and talking to them about the Igorot culture. Majority of the children were born in the US, and most likely never set foot in the place where the Igorots come from – and that’s in the Cordillera Mountains of Northern Philippines. Still, as most people of every culture has done in history, the parents of these children would like them to learn about who they are. So it is very common amongst migrating Igorots to meet together, and pass on the Igorot heritage to the younger generation.

Teaching children how to play the gong and participate in Igorot dances are effective and fun ways to keep the practice alive. For someone like me who is a very awkward dancer / gong player, it is difficult to teach something I could not even be decent at. (I blushed and huffed my way through an Igorot dance during my wedding day – a terrible memory, really.) But my inabilities shouldn’t pose a problem. There will always be groups of Igorots wherever you are, and most of them will likely be good dancers.

There is a family picnic for BIBBAK – ILLINOIS on Saturday, Aug 23, 2008 at Des Plaines. I’ll be bringing the boys over and we’ll be looking forward to the Cultural Presentation and Native Dance Rehearsal in the afternoon. I will also be posting some pictures in this blog after the event.

My youngest, at 2, playing with a gong in Maryland.

Read more...