TECHNOLOGY FOR TRADITIONS
DOCUMENTARIES ON PHILIPPINE INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE NOW ON VIEW
The video documentation of intangible cultural heritage began with Central Asia and then Southeast Asia, beginning with four countries — Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. Its objectives are to raise awareness on and increase visibility for the ICH in the Asia-Pacific region. It also aims to contribute to the safeguarding of existing ICH elements, which are always in danger of vanishing
The International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (ICHCAP), under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), has recently launched 10 documentaries on some of the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) elements of the Philippines.
Produced with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the documentaries feature the use of mud in traditional Ifugao dyeing (“Using Mud as Mordant in the Traditional Dyeing Process of the Ifugao of Northern Luzon”);
piña weaving of Aklan (“Piña: The Pineapple Textile of Aklan, Western Visayas”); the
traslacion procession of the Black Nazarene image of Quiapo, Manila (“Poong Nazareno: The Traslacion of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo, Manila”); the moryonan
Lenten penitential ritual in Marinduque (“Moryonan: A Lenten Tradition in Marinduque Island”); the craft of making moryonan
masks (“Mukha ng Moryonan: Mask Making for Moryonan Lenten Tradition of Marinduque”); the giant Christmas lantern tradition of San Fernando, Pampanga (“Parul Sampernandu: The Giant Christmas Lantern Tradition of San Fernando City, Pampanga”); the feast of Our Lady Peñafrancia of Naga City, Bicol Region (“Ina: Our Lady of Peñafrancia”); the buklog ritual of the Subanen of the Zamboanga Peninsula (“Buklog: The Ritual System of the Subanen of Zamboanga Peninsula”); the igal of the Sama people of Tawi-Tawi (“Igal: Traditional Dance of the Sama of Tawi-Tawi”); and the boat building practices of the Sama people of Tawi-Tawi (“Lepa and Other Watercrafts: Boat Building Traditions of the Sama of Tawi-Tawi”).
These 27-minute documentaries, subtitled in English and Korean, are products of the video documentation of Asia-Pacific
ICH project of the ICHCAP, whose main office is in Jeonju, South Korea. The project started in 2015 with stories from Central Asia. In 2017, it focused on Southeast Asia, beginning with four countries — Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. Aside from documentation, the project’s objectives were to raise awareness and to increase the visibility for ICH in the Asia-Pacific region. It also aims to contribute to safeguarding the existing ICH elements, which are always in danger of vanishing.
The Philippine part of the project is an important undertaking as ‘rituals, traditions, practices, customs, expressions, knowledge and skills, collectively grouped as intangible cultural heritage are some of the most impactful factors in shaping civilization and culture,’ noted Manipon. This ‘yields invaluable insights into many aspects of social relationships and human development.’
ICHCAP’s main goal is to promote the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and contribute to its implementation in the Asia-Pacific region. UNESCO defines ICH as “traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants. These include oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.” On the other hand, buildings, historic places, monuments and artifacts and other material objects are part of tangible cultural heritage.
The Philippine ICH video documentation team is led by the NCCA Secretariat’s Cultural Communities and Traditional Arts Section headed by Renee Talavera; theater veteran and Mindanao culture expert, Nestor Horfilla as consultant for Mindanao and co-director of some of the documentaries; and journalist and cultural researcher Roel Hoang Manipon as main writer and researcher, and co-director of some of the documentaries.
(First of a series)