Sunday, October 07, 2007

Indigenous Peoples Month

By Ambrosio R. Villorente






The Archbishop Gabriel M. Reyes Memorial Foundation, Inc. (AGMRMF) will celebrate the “Indigenous Peoples’ Month” by featuring the Mangyan Traveling Exhibit. This exhibit is in cooperation with the Mangyan Heritage Center.
This traveling exhibit is entitled “The Mangyans of Mindoro: Myth and Meaning “to be held for three weeks at the ground floor of the Museo it Akean, Kalibo, Aklan as announced by Ms. Nynn Arwena G. Tamayo, AGMRMF executive director.
The exhibit will highlight the Mangyan photos taken for the last 100 years (1900-2004) which are “blended with informative text and selected poems, rare artifacts, attire and musical instruments. There will also be audio-video documentary materials on Mangyans. Two volunteer Mangyans will demonstrate cotton spinning, cloth-wearing and bead-work during the whole exhibit.” There will be for sale rare Mangyan handicrafts.
The three-week “must see” started with the Opening Program at 9:30 o’clock in the morning, Thursday, October 4, 2007. The exhibit is until October 26, 2007.
The Mangyan Heritage Center (MHC) endeavors to establish itself as a leader in the presentation and promotion of the indigenous Filipino cultural heritage especially with regard to the Mangyans. MHC helps the Mangyan tribes of Mindoro develop and maintain a center that stands as a testament to the modern day value of their culture. It offers library reading materials, scans and prints selected materials, provides audio-visual material viewing, photocopies selected materials, and allows photo exhibit viewing.
Established in 2000, MHC is a library, archive, research and education center in Oriental Mindoro located in Calapan City. It has 36,000 samples of Ambahan poetry, 2000 recorded Urakay songs, 10,000 decades old photographs, 10,000 theses, studies and journals on Mang-yans, 2,000 news clippings, 500 Mangyan folktales and several Mangyan artifacts. The MHC is open from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. daily except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
“Mangyan is the generic name for the eight (8) Indigenous People groups found in Mindoro namely: Alangan, Ba-ngon, Buhid, Hanunuo, Iraya, Tadyawan, Tau-buid and Katagnon. “They live in the central mountainous portion of Mindoro who are estimated to be 10 percent of the total population of Mindoro island. /MP

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