Philippine E-Journals

Preservation of Indigenous Culture of Bataan through an Ayta Magbukon School of Living Tradition (SLT) Program

Neil D. David

Discipline: Social Science

 

Abstract:

The UNESCO declares that there are two approaches to preserve cultural heritage: one is to record it in tangible form and conserve it in an archive; the other is to preserve it in a living form by ensuring its transmission to the next generations. The establishment of SLT is in response to the second approach. This undertaking focuses on the transmission of indigenous knowledge (IK) to the young. It aims to encourage culture specialists to continue with their own work and train younger people to take place in the future. In order to preserve the Ayta Magbukon indigenous culture, the oral literature, traditional skills that included traditional dances, songs, chanting, traditional cooking and traditional medicines were documented using ethnographic approach as the method of collecting data and information. These data was presented again to the cultural masters for validation using the triangulation approach. Results show the significance of this data in the SLT Program in the transmission of the Ayta Magbukon indigenous culture to the young. The program will achieve its goals of culture preservation and the continuation of their wisdom from generation to generation as long as this kind of undertaking will have continuity even without outside intervention.