TANGIBLE ARTIFACT OF THE PHILIPPINES
BEADS
The tangible Philippine cultural artifact that I have chosen are the beads. I am
certain that we are all knowledgeable about what beads are. These are the accessories
we wear in our body in order to look more pleasing and elegant. Beads are widely used
for ornamentations and/or designs or in other words, as accessories because it makes
themselves before as more charming and attractive to look at. Also, we still used beads
up to the present times because it was passed to us by our ancestors and the beads now
are more creative and improved when created. Furthermore, we can usually see and
observe that beads are worn by women to their clothing as they look more nice-looking
on it, it is usually on their/our clothes or we wear it to our body such as earrings, necklaces,
bracelets, anklets and a lot more may it be on our shoes or footwears as well. However,
the use of beads is not only limited to women due to the fact that men uses beads as well
to their clothes and as accessories same as the use of it for the women. Beads has a
great significance for it’s contribution to our culture and tradition because pre-historic
beads are considered to be the important resources which derives the human past or the
history of the Philippines. Moreover, beads are more than decorations or accessories
because it is not just all about enhancing our beauty as we wear these beads and tend to
add to our attractiveness since it is more than that, these beads has contributed a lot to
our history, it is part of our identity as Filipinos already that is why this particular cultural
artifact should be given appreciation and importance.
As what I have concluded, beads are more than being decorations and that is
absolutely true due to the fact that beads has a lot of usage in our history. During ancient
time, even before the colonizers came to our country which is in the Philippines, our
ancestors already has the idea of using beads. Various tribes in the Philippines have been
using elaborate beadwork in their clothes and accessories because truly, it makes
everything more attractive and pleasing. There are a lot of things where the beads are
made, usually it is from handmade resin to cut seeds and animal bones. Those are the
beads in the history unlike today, it has already evolved into something modernized and
with the use of technology as well. However, beads are not just intended to be an
ornament or decoration to one’s clothing because in our history, in the tribes of the
Filipinos, it has a deeper meaning as it were woven into patterns with spiritual meanings
on it. Beads are being used before in their spiritual practices and not just useful for
decorations. As we look back on our history, we can observe that our ancestors in
different tribes before has wearing their beads because that is already part of their culture
as tribes in those times thus, they believed that there is a deep spiritual meaning on it and
it also helps them in their everyday living before. Additionally, beads were used as
medium of exchange due to the fact that they can be used as money.
Furthermore, aside from using beads for spiritual practices, beads were also used
as the artifacts which informs individuals about archaeological records. In the history of
the Philippines, beads particularly the prehistoric beads were utilized as human markers
to indicate a territory. Which means that beads were truly significant before as those were
utilized as the individuals occupied identical territory. Furthermore, beads were also a
great indication for social status in those times as it shows or reflects the owner’s wealth
that. In addition, beads were passed through generations to generations as it is believed
to signifies individuals’ status as they wear these and this culture can be greatly observed
in the Village of Lubo in Kalinga. Furthermore, in the old days or in the history, these
people in Kalinga were accustomed to wearing authentic beads believed to have been
acquired from Chinee traders during Ming Dynasty. Hence, truly from our history up until
today beads are linked to social, economic an aesthetic components of the society and
culture according to Carter. Furthermore, there is also what we call heirloom beads which
is won before at funerals to indicate the social position of the particular community. The
history of the beads are not only limited to that because beads were also greatly used for
rituals or ritualistic occasions in every tribes such as in funerals, weddings, rice harvest
festivals and most importantly these beads signifies respect. To sum it up, beads are truly
significant in our culture and in the history. In addition, beads are truly sacred as these
were used with deep meanings in it and not just for decorative purposes. This particular
cultural artifact that we have should really be appreciated and preserved especially the
real meaning and value of it and not just being an accessories because it is absolutely
more than that. These beads greatly symbolized us Filipinos and our rich and diverse
culture and traditions. The history of this cultural artifact must be shared to the present
time in order to know how important it is before and it should be important to this present
time as well.
INTANGIBLE ARTIFACT OF THE PHILIPPINES
HUDHUD CHANTS OF THE IFUGAO
Hudhud chants are particularly performed by the tribe of Ifugaos which are greatly
known for their rice terraces which extends over the highlands in the northern part or
islands of Philippine archipelago.These rice terraces is considered to be one of the most
beautiful sites in the Philippines as it is handmade and shows the great culture and beauty
of nature of the Philippines. The hudhud consists of narrative chants which are being
performed by the Ifugaos in their community. These are the chants that the Ifugao engage
to when it is already a rice sowing season to them, they also perform it at funeral wakes,
rituals and if it is already harvesting time in their fields. By those events which particularly
happens and had happened in their tribe, we can truly observe that performing these
hudhud chants are already part of their culture and it is part of them being as an Ifugao
already. Furthermore, hudhud has 200 numbers of chants and those were divided into 40
episodes. By that, we can truly say that these chants is has a great number. The hudhud
chants of the Ifugaos is already part of the Philippine cultural artifact whih is intangible
due to the fact that it reflects the creativity and the dedication of the Filipinos as part of
who we are and what is our culture already. It is utmost significant that these hudhud
chants were passes through generations by generations because it greatly shows our
culture before up until today especially for the Ifugaos.
For the history of the hudhud chants of the Ifugaos, these chants were estimated
to begun before 7th century which means that it was being performed many years ago
already and the fact that it is still being preserved and performed today is something that
we should be grateful for. The Ifugaos were highly disciplined in those times as the chants
or each stories of the hudhud would usually take 3-4 days to recite and they effectively
perform it as it was and still part of the Ifugaos culture. As that being said, a complete
recitation to this will truly last for several days. Moreover, as these hudhud chants were
made, these were particularly intended for the tribute to Ifugao heroes, heroines, wealth
and culture thus, it is truly significant to them before and up until today. Moreover, since
in the history or in the ancient time, we really couldn’t deny the creativity or the Ifugao
people or the Ifugao tribe. When these chants were made in the history, it was full of
repetitions, synonyms, figurative terms or expressions, employs metonymy, metaphors
and onomatopoeia that’s is why it is believed that is it truly difficult or even almost
impossible to be transcribed. These chants were recited before to show the religious
beliefs, customary law, traditional practices and the importance of rice cultivation of the
Ifugao people. As it being made, it enables their culture to be rich and preserved until
today.
Furthermore, it was in the history that the Ifugao’s culture is matrilineal that is why
regarding in this hudhud chants, the wife takes the main parts in the chants and her
brother particularly occupies a higher position comparing to her husband. It was strictly
done like that since these chants we recited by these individuals. In funeral wakes and
harvesting of rice, these chants were really recited by the Ifugao themselves in the history
unlike today this has become mechanized and mostly during the funeral wakes as it can
be clearly observed, they utilized radio or music CDs which replacing these performance
or recitations of chants. This tradition is accurately rich before since the Ifugao greatly
invest their time for it and recites this however as the time goes by there are few people
living in that place which knew these chants most especially old people already and the
younger generations don’t show much interest on it. The hudhud chants of the Ifugao
greatly shows the culture of the Filipinos and how creative we are thus, we should know
how to give importance to it and preserve this tradition. Since these chants were created
before in order to give importance in the rice cultivation, the Ifugaos should not change
the meaning of it and continue performing this great tradition the have as it is one of the
Philippine artifact which we should be proud of.
CULTURE AND SOCIETY: SOCIOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVES
This lesson has a great impact on me since I was able to deeply understand the
concept of society and culture as well as various perspectives. I’ve grasp various personal
learnings from this module 2 that would help a lot in understanding the phenomena
happening around me and the meanings of it. The first major learning which I have grasp
from this lesson is the differences of culture and society. I was able to understand the
broad definition of the term culture. I have understood that culture is a complex whole and
it includes knowledge, beliefs, law, art, morals, customs and other capabilities and habits
acquired by man as a member of the society and that was according to Edward B. Taylor.
So when we see certain things around us that we usually do that is already part of our
culture for example the festivals or fiestas in various places in a region, that is already
part of our culture. However, it is not limited to that due to the fact that it also includes
arts, clothing, foods and a lot more which greatly shows who are the Filipinos. In other
words, culture serves as our identity already and that is needed to be preserved and pass
through generations to generations. That is the anthropological perspectives of a culture.
On the other hand, there is also a sociological perspective of a culture which basically,
another way of knowing what culture is. This perspective focuses on symbols and on our
behavior and it also claimed that the culture provides meaning through the use of
symbols. I have also learned that culture is learned by individuals and eventually passed
from one generation to the other which is basically true considering that our practices
today which are part of our culture were from the old days or from our ancestors.
Furthermore, I have learned that culture is distinct from society because an individual can
escape the society but he/she could never escape the culture. Wherever we go even
when we leave in our society, we can always bring with us our culture such as in foods
or practices like “pagmamano”.
By those knowledges which I have learnt about the society and culture, I will apply
these concepts and disciplines in a real life situations in a way that I can now differentiate
the society and culture. Moreover, I can now know what are the culture inside my
community and I will effectively know how important these are in shaping our society.
Additionally, I will apply it in a way that I will share to in the people around me for them to
know what culture is all about and I am certain that they will give such importance to
these. I have also another major learning from this topic which are the characteristics of
the culture such as it is learned and acquired through socialization and enculturation, it is
dynamic, adaptive and flexible, it is shared and transmitted, it is integrated and patterned
with social interactions, it is social, cumulative and requires language and other forms of
communication. There are a lot of characteristics but to sum it up, culture is passed, it
can be learned and it needs the way for communication in order to share it. I am certain
that we all know these characteristics since through the years of living, we can observe
how this culture were passed. In addition, I have learned that the functions of culture are
that it defines situations, attitudes, values, goals, myths, legends, supernatural and it also
provides behavior patterns. Those are just some of our culture that is undeniably present
today in our times as we continuously doing it and engaging to it. I can apply these
concepts in real life situations in a way that I can now differentiate the culture and
traditions of the different tribes of our region or in the country. I can now be knowledgeable
about how diverse we are in terms of our culture and also, I can apply these learnings
through observation in my society what culture do we have for instance, the myths,
supernatural, behavior patterns of the people here including my family.
Furthermore, my learnings are not just limited to those topics because I was able
to learn about the 7 various perspectives about the study of culture and society. The first
perspective that I have learned is the comparative perspective and it focuses in the
similarities and differences of cultures in our country. We all can’t deny that our culture is
truly diverse that’s why these perspectives explain how different and similar cultures are.
The second one is the historical perspective and it is just like the comparative perspective
but it focuses in the similarities and differences in one particular society across time. In
order words, it look closely in the heritage which remained as the time goes by thus, it
looks back in the past. The third one is the structural-functional perspective and it states
that the society is a complex system with it parts that works together in order to maintain
the operation of the society as a whole. It is just like the human body who have organs
who needs to function well so that everything will keep on going. The fourth one is the
symbolic interactionism perspective and it focuses to the fact that there is a certain
communication inside the society, we tend to socialize with one another and we are all
active participants which shapes the society or the world in general. The fifth one is the
conflict perspective and by the term “conflict” it focuses in some negative side of the
society we live in which is true because we can all admit that there are things happening
like that. The sixth one is the interpretative perspective which focuses on how people
interpret the world or society around them. The last one is the critical perspective and in
my own understanding, this is one of the most important because this will be the one to
assess and analyze the certain sociological claims and findings that have passes. By
those learning that I have from those perspectives, I can apply all of it in real life situations
by utilizing those perspectives to see how complex the society are as well as the culture.
For instance, I can use historical perspective in looking back to the history in my society
and what are the things that have remained up until now. Truly, those concepts and
disciplines can really be applied in real life scenarios. It has broaden my knowledge and
ideas about what culture and society is. It was also useful to me to give more appreciation
to our culture as it is significant in shaping our society or in shaping the Philippines.
Hence, I have a lot of personal learnings on this lesson that helped me in knowing the
diverse culture of the Philippines.