Producing Spectacles, Appropriating Traditions: The Case of Baguio’s Panagbenga Festival (original) (raw)
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2015
A cursory review of tourist events in the southern Philippines and East Malaysia reveals the emergence of quite a number of festivals that veers away from the nature of traditional ones. These festivals are non-traditional for the two important reasons. First, they are instigated by authorities above the kampung or village level. Second, they are largely secular festivals that have less to do with the respective cosmologies of communities, but rather have more to do with a perceived need to create a sense of pride or solidarity beyond the family/clan or village level. Generation of income through tourism revenue may also be added to these two reasons. Two examples of this relatively new type of festival are the Kamahardikaan Festival of Bongao, Tawi-Tawi Province, southern Philippines and the Regatta Lepa Festival of Semporna, Sabah State, East Malaysia. This chapter compares the two festivals through Eric Hobsbawn’s (1983) concept of “invention of tradition.” The inventio...
Published in the Tafter Journal (Esperienze e strumenti per cultura e territorio, 2014
The Panagbenga cultural festival of the popular tourist destination of Baguio City, Philippines, turns 20 in February 2015. Researching the sustainability of a 4-week festival held annually since 1995 is of academic and practical interest. Lessons can be learned for cultural policy and for more pro-active participation and collaboration between different stakeholders. Jumping off from issues and contestations on the cultural sustainability of Panagbenga, this descriptive-normative study argues for an ethics and politics of sustainable festivals, with focus on the difficult concept of sustaining culture. The study explores how cultural festivals become virtual and actual spaces for reflection, contestations, and consensual agreements on cultural tradition. “Cultural sustainability” or how cultures are dynamically engaged is distinguished from “cultures of sustainability”, or how cultures (mostly traditional) promote sustainable forms of living with the environment. The latter concept has been more discussed in the literature than the former concept. Key words: Cultural festivals, Cultural sustainability, cultures of sustainability, festival ethics, Panagbenga
Humanities Diliman, 2019
Cultural performance first appeared in the language of the academic community when Milton Singer published his book When Great Tradition Modernizes (1972), in which he proposed cultural performance as a unit of observation in an anthropological inquiry. Since then, cultural performance has become a useful tool to provide a frame for the understanding of the self, society, and culture. This essay reflects on the concept of cultural performance in a preliminary attempt to historicize and to contextualize it using Philippine culture as a starting point. The first part is a descriptive illustration of how the term evolved from being a social scientific concept to an important subject in the humanities, particularly in the fields of theatre and performance studies. Included in this section is a proposal based on reflections by anthropologists, folklorists and performance scholars for a model illustrating some identifiable markers that signify an activity as a cultural performance. The second part is a paradigmatic schematization of the specifics of how cultural performance may be understood in the context of the Philippines. Using the phenomena of panata, pagtitipon, and pagdiriwang, this paper argues that Philippine cultural performances are artistic communications in small groups performed publicly as a community gathering, even if the intentions of many performers are personal. The preliminary arguments found in this essay are based mostly on sporadic field notes in various locales in the archipelago.
Papua New Guinea's Indigenous Cultural Festivals: Cultural Tragedy or Triumph?
Event Management, 2014
Indigenous cultural festivals are increasingly being recognized for their contribution to the growth and vitality of communities around the globe. Such festivals invigorate the communication and celebration of indigenous culture, tradition, and rituals. Additionally, indigenous cultural festivals are often used as a draw card to attract tourists to a host destination and contribute to the development of the region. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), festivals have long been essential to community life and are fundamental in sharing and sustaining Indigenous culture. More recently, local communities and the PNG Government alike are recognizing that these festivals have the capacity to facilitate development of the country's embryonic tourism and event industry. The purpose of this qualitative research was to identify and examine cultural festivals in PNG, to develop a footprint of indigenous cultural festivals in PNG, and explore the extent to which tourism influences the cultural commod...
Socio-Cultural Effects of Festivals in Batangas Province, Philippines
Asia Pacific Journal of Education, Arts & Sciences, 2014
This study aimed to determine the sociocultural effects of festivals in the province of Batangas as part of the cultural tourism industry. Specifically, it described the profile of the respondents in terms of age, gender, civil status, religion, income educational attainment; assess the perceived socio-cultural and economic effects of festivals in the province of Batangas; to test the significant difference between perceived socio-cultural and economic effects when grouped according to their profile variables; and to propose a plan of action to enhance and promote the cultural tourism industry of Batangas Province. Majority of the residents were 60 years and above, female, married and Roman Catholic with monthly income of 5,001 – 9,999.99 and elementary graduate. The respondents strongly agreed that one of the socio cultural effects of festivals is it provide unity in the community and in terms of economic effects, hosting a festival is expensive. A plan of action was proposed to enhance and promote the cultural tourism industry of Batangas Province.
SOCIO-CULTURAL DIMENSIONS AND IMPACT OF THE PAVVURULUN FESTIVAL OF TUGUEGARAO CITY, PHILIPPINES
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation , 2020
Festivals are one of the fastest growing forms of tourism. Festivals are rapidly They are becoming increasingly popular in rural areas as a means to revitalize local economies. The study aimed to identify the socioeconomic dimensions and impacts of Pavvurulun Festival of Tuguegarao City, Philippines. The Pav-vurulun festival is an annual event in Tuguegarao City that commemorates patronal fiesta. This is a week-long celebration in honor of St. Hyacinth. Pav-vurulun connotes coming together which allows members of the community to gather together and are enjoin to celebrate prestigious events. This study generally aimed to identify the socio-cultural dimensions and impact of Pav-vurulunan Festival of Tuguegarao City. The festival have direct and indirect social, environmental and political and environmental impacts in the community. The benefits are intrinsic and extrinsic and had a large impact on the community's growth and development. Interestingly, it showed that they consider that when the community benefits from the festival, they as members of the community also do. the The study pointed out that women dominated the participation in the said festival and most are youths. There were direct and indirect impacts on the community through the opportunities they provide for such as participation, skills development and volunteering. It showed that most of the respondents belong to the female group and are young adults. The youths were also more exposed to the festival. The organizers were mostly volunteers and few of them were hired and received compensation in exchange of their services. Since most are voluntary, the organizing committee members believe that they truly benefited from the festival. Possibly, new ideas and programs suited to the changing needs of the society is also recommended. Although, the study revealed an increased awareness of the culture, history and tradition of Tuguegarao City made possible by the festival, organizers must intensify their mechanisms on using the digital media in promoting festival and more programs and festivities must be displayed.
Unveiling the Mystical Lucban Pahiyas Festival
Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 2015
This is an ethnographic study which described the local knowledge of the Lucbanin on Pahiyas. The generation of information on the local knowledge as described by the Lucbanin unfolded the natives' meanings in celebrating Philippine festivities such as Pahiyas Festival. Further, their cultural practices and beliefs, handed down from generation to generation served as contributory factors in the acquisition of local knowledge on Pahiyas, revealing its priceless and transcendent beauty. Triangulation was used in the study to analyze and interpret field notes based on participant observations, interviews and document/s analyses. Theme analysis was conducted concurrently with data gathering. Coding was used to classify and identify emerging themes/categories which provided extensive analysis of the data. Results revealed that oral traditions played significant contributions in the acquisition of local knowledge of the Lucbanins in the preparations and celebration of Pahiyas Festival .Oral traditions coupled with direct and participants' observations, formal and informal education as well as folklore served as mystical instruments in the preservation and promotion of Lucbanins' cultural and spiritual values and beliefs, keeping Pahiyas Festival as a moving and dynamic legacy throughout the years. The role of oral traditions as rooted in Lucbanins' local history is a symbol of a true and genuine Lucbanin, entirely different from other locals in the country.