CULTURAL
NOTES
Richard
Kinnud
Most often than not,
family is translated in the local languages including ours in the Cordilleras
as “pamilya.” Easily, one can say that this
translation is just referent to the English word. Trivial as it maybe, this translation
indicates that the Cordilleran societies’ understanding of the family has
revolutionized. This is not surprising
as the family, considered to be the basic institution, is continually affected
by economic and technological changes, the influence of foreign culture, and
even the advancement of knowledge because of education.
In my native
Ifugao language, the word family can be translated as “himbabbale.” The root word is “bale” which refers to a
house or a home and there is the prefix “him” which means togetherness. The infix “ba” which is a repetition of the
first syllable of the root word indicates more than two people. Thus plainly, himbabbale means a group of
people living in one house or one home.
It generally refers to a husband and wife and their children.
It would be
notable though that in olden times, children of age would not sleep in one
house with their parents. The Ifugao
native house is usually a small one-room abode.
Rarely is a “kulob” or an extra room appended to the house. Children thus simply come home, do chores to
include feeding animals raised at the yard, eat, then go their respective
agamang or sleeping quarters which are usually homes of folks who live alone,
then go back home again in the morning to eat, change clothes perhaps, and go
to their daily chores.
When one
would marry, or had own home, he or she would be considered “limmahun,”
literally meaning one who went out or “immiwe”, meaning to separate. This indicates that the parents are no longer
accountable for the basics such food and clothing. Someone of age may also opt to be an “immiwe”
by living on a separate home. Every son
or daughter, though, whether marrying or living alone still have responsibility
to the home especially to the parents.
Distinct to
himbabbale are himbale (husband and wife), hina’ama (father and children),
hinama (father and child), hini’ina (mother and children), hinina (mother and
child), hina’agi (siblings) and hinaappu (grandparent and grandchildren). A family relate to other families as they
could be from the same “tinanud” which can be termed as “himpananud”
(clan). And of course, there is the
nun-aapu (kin by affinity). All this are
subsumed in the term now used -
“pamilya.”
The practice
of “agamang” has long been over and done.
And that would mean children and parents will literally be a
“himbabbale.” Marriage would not be the
main reason for leaving the house (lumahun or umiwe), but for economic and
similar reasons. They go to school or
land in a job away from hometown for instance.
However, it also happens that because the “pamilya” nowadays have bigger
houses, married children bring their new family and live with their ascendants.
On certain
rituals or celebrations involving families, some changes are also observed. For
instance, in the Ifugao engagement rite which is the bequeathing of the “momon”
from the man to the woman’s family it is
ideal that the husband-to-be is not present during the occasion. The wisdom behind is for him not to be part
of the consumption of his own present, which usually is duck or pig meat or the
animal itself, and more importantly, to wait that said momon which is actually
a marriage proposal is accepted by the family of the lady.
The period after the momon is usually a time
for relatives to register their objection to the impending marriage. Nowadays, however, it is often seen that an
engagement rite while still called a “momon” involves the presence of the
parties involved. It now becomes the
marriage itself even if there no proper ceremonies by an authorized
administering official as a priest or a mayor.
One reason that I usually hear is that “they have already children;
there’s nothing to object on.” Another
reason involves being practical, “That would now be the celebration of the
marriage so we will lessen on expenses.
They can invite on a grander one if they so desire and provisions
permit.”
In earlier
times, one primary occasion that would gather families is the honga. It is an occasion dedicated to celebrate the
life of a living person. And it should
be the responsibility of children to afford one for their parents. Honga is a community occasion which anyone
can attend but the value of kinship is emphasized here particularly on the
practice called the bolwa. This is a
system of sharing meat among kinfolks.
Children of honoree will first get their share to include the married
grandchildren if there are. After which,
what remains of the meat will be divided between the himbale (spouses) honored
in the occasion. The split will then be
distributed to the respective closest kins.
It is thus important that one knows the genealogy so as to know if the
distribution of “meat” still comes to one’s reach.
While honga
is still being practiced today, sometimes children delay its happening. For one, it is costly to host one. Another is that it is often difficult to
arrange a time when every one of the children of the honoree are present. Unlike before when a family could be just
within a village all involved in farming, often times siblings live far from
each other or are in diverse works that there is no common availability.
Besides, sometimes people find no utility for it in as far as knowing one’s relatives
as there is already the clan reunion, which is an adopted practice.
In other
celebrations such as on weddings, age-old cultural practices dictate that the
important people to invite (maayagan) are the relatives. This surely strengthens the “himbabbale” and
even the “himpananud.” In modern times,
the important guests would now extend to people that wields power and influence
in the society. It is evident on what
people choose to be their ninongs or ninangs.
This surely influences certain dynamics in “pamilya” especially during
political exercises.
As times go
by, more changes will certainly happen on society’s understanding of the
family. But at any rate, people will
surely like that these changes will be for the good and not for the deterioration
of “pamilya.”
***
Religion,
particularly Christianity which is the dominant one in the Cordilleras, is a
major influencer in the dynamics of family.
In the Catholic Church, the Sunday after Christmas Day or December 30 if
Christmas Day itself falls on a Sunday, is designated as the Feast of the Holy
Family. The Holy Family refer to Joseph,
Mary and Jesus. His emphasizes the
advocacy of modeling one’s family to the Holy Family. Some values often emphasized are surrendering
one’s family to God’s plan, faithfulness and love. Joseph and Mary both accepted their role as
angels revealed even as their human reasoning would have dictated otherwise as
the scriptures will tell. They remained
to be with each other despite the odds that they faced such as their escape to
Egypt. As pastors would tell, they have
shown us how to show love in family.
Others would even say that our current cultural practices as family
reunions and other family bonding activities that people do at Christmas time
are good practices on how we shall model ours to that of the Holy Family.
After the
Feast of the Holy Family comes the so-called Feast of the Epiphany. This is a celebration of the visit of three
wise men, some say kings, to the Holy Family.
If the catechism I heard don’t fail me, this is the manifestation that
Jesus the Christ is not only a savior for a particular nation but for the whole
of humanity as represented by the wise men or kings. They have brought to the Holy Family gifts as
gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Bible
scholars have the interpretation that these are act of praises to the kingship
(gold), divinity (frankincense) and humility/humanity (myrrh) of the Child
Jesus. I also read one that says, while
these are acts of praises, the gifts are representative of the culture of these
wise men. This made me think, what if
the birth of Jesus happened today and one of the wise men is from the
Cordillera, what could one of the gifts be?
When
attending family occasions such as a honga, one can bring along as a present to
the honoree a pig. This is usually seen
as a recognition of a close attachment to the family. Usually, the family of an honoree will do the
same when the occasion is also observed in the giver’s family.
As to new
births, a usual gift given in earlier times is the “oban” or a “bayyaung”. These are blankets that can be used to carry
a child and the later can even be used later as an attire.
So, if one
of the wise men was a Cordilleran, would it be a black pig? Or could it be one of those native
blankets? Anyway, this is just to tickle
our minds on how we may be able to approximate the acts of praises of the Three
Kings.
Meantime, I
greet readers of this column and the Northern Philippine Times a Happy New Year
and we now hear the salutations of Happy Three Kings, may it lead us to
reflective celebration of the Epiphany.
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