Two Celebrations

It has been a special month for me and this blog. October is the National Indigenous Peoples Month, as declared through Proclamation No. 1906, series of 2009. It is also the third anniversary of Portal to the Plateau. I must say, however, that I didn’t mark the two occasions with any special activity. For one, every month is Indigenous Peoples Rights Month for me. My research on the culture of the Dulangan Manobo is a perennial preoccupation. As to the birthday of this blog, I prefer to celebrate not the length of time this blog has been in existence but the number of times it has been useful. I prefer to count my success by the number of posts I’ve published. I celebrate my 50th post, 100th, 150th, and so on. Nonetheless, I’m pleased with myself whenever I realize that this blog is still in public space after one, two, or three years. It means that I’ve had much greater patience and passion for Portal to the Plateau than for my previous blogs. It may also mean that I’m becoming a more responsible person.

Without consciously meaning to, I’ve celebrated the two occasions by doing more for this blog. A week ago, I went to Kulaman village, the seat of government of the municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. I spent three days only there, but I did things that were worth ten blog posts or so. The posts are coming out in the coming months. I also just got back from Manila, where, among other things, I visited two places that exhibit limestone burial jars from Kulaman Plateau. The photos I took of the jars are probably worth ten blog posts also. My calendar for this blog is filled to overflowing! I actually already have prescheduled posts for all the Mondays of the rest of the year, and for all the Mondays of January and February next year. But I’m not going to make you wait long for my posts about my recent trips. I’ll insert them between prescheduled posts or wherever suitable.

Dulangan Manobo elders, garbed in traditional clothes, sit on a tarpaulin and engage in an antang-antang (negotiation) as the younger generation, wearing shirts and jeans, look on. This is a photo of a photo displayed in Delesan Kailawan, a “cultural heritage home” maintained by the RNDM sisters in Kulaman village, Senator Ninoy Aquino town.