Every single day we wake up and go about our daily lives the usual way, our minds occupied with schedules and meeting objectives, there just seems to be room for, well, not much else. Most of us go online, and check out what’s going on in the world or with other people and, if curiosity strikes us, even try to learn about them: their cultures, their quirks, and even the most random things about them. So it is quite a bit of fresh air when, once in a while, we are reminded of how our own culture – our own quirks and randomness, even – are just as interesting, perhaps even more so, than that of some strangers’ in another side of the planet.
I may not be one of those staunch advocates of my ethnicity (you know, one of the first ones to grab their blades and scream in outrage when Filipinas are defined as household helpers) or the most vocal guardians of my local identity (I actually laugh and shake my head in pity at those who readily look down on Cordillerans as second- or third-class citizens of the country because they. KNOW. ZILCH.). But I am proud to be an Igorot. In fact, I see myself as a highlander first, a Filipino second. I just do.
So I always feel a thrill of pleasure when I see representations of my Igorot culture; never mind that it is that of other tribes/groups and not my own. Never mind that they are from another province; it’s still part of the greater Cordillera region – the Igorots’ realm.
Just like when we made a brief visit to the Bontoc Museum on a work-related benchmarking trip in the Provincial Accounting Office of Mountain Province a few months back.
The Bontoc Museum
The town proper of Bontoc is quite small, everything is almost at walking distance. The Museum itself is at the top of a hill, so if you’re going there by foot, expect some uphill walk through narrow streets and alleyways. You’d see the sign by the gate, and pass by the Saint Vincent’s Elementary School until you arrive at the entrance to the Museum.
It’s actually quite hard to miss, since the architecture of the building practically screams “THIS IS A MUSEUM”.
There is an entrance fee of Php 70.00 (USD1.35) to the Museum, which will allow you access to the two-level main museum building, and the outdoor museum, as well as a souvenir shop.
UNFORTUNATELY, as written on the entrance, “Videos or cameras are not to be used inside”.
And not to hit on the other visitors and blogs I’ve seen with photos of the artifacts inside the museum (maybe they got special permission, who knows, but rules are rules) and this was one of the times I decided to abide by the rules and not use my camera inside.
Which means you’d just have to take my word for it, haha!
There are two levels, and the important thing to note is that the Bontoc Museum is an ethnological museum, so it contains artifacts and relics pertaining to the culture of the different tribes that comprise the greater Cordilleran Igorot race.
What started out as a small village museum in 1975 slowly expanded into this large collection of authentic ethnic artifacts, crafts, and an expansive gallery of photographs that practically give you a glimpse of the region’s – and its people’s – history.
Personally, I’ve never felt so “at home” in a museum. Maybe because I was surrounded by something familiar, and yet new at the same time, because I can’t even claim to be an expert in my own tribe (the Ibaloi tribe, to be exact). In fact, I am still learning, to this day. So walking around this museum provided an interesting glimpse of the other tribes.
By going through the old photographs – some of them mostly faded, but still preserved to a certain extent – I couldn’t help but marvel at how the mountain provinces have grown and, what makes it more impressive is that they have grown but still remained in touch with their heritage and cultural identity. I can only hope this will still be the case 50, 100 years from now.
After walking around the two-level museum, we headed out and walked into the next building, which turned out to be another museum, but with souvenir items being sold. Here, photographs are allowed.
I was a Capitol kid, meaning, every day, after school when I was in elementary, I would hang out at the Benguet Provincial Capitol, where my Ma-dear works. So I grew up playing close by the province’s own version of an ethnological museum.
Granted, I haven’t been there in recent years, but I’ve heard accounts that the museum’s contents are not as extensive and “in depth” as the one in Bontoc Museum. Which makes me sad, really.
After leaving the souvenir shop, we headed out to the Outdoor Museum, which is basically a recreation of a typical small Igorot village in the past. (OK, there are some of these villages still, in further removed areas of the province.)
Here you have old houses and huts set up around a cultivated land with various greens meant for consumption. This place is currently maintained, meaning the gardens are cultivated, crops are harvested, and the soil replanted on as another planting season starts.
You can take a peek inside several of the houses, even step inside the more spacious ones. Inside, you’d find a typical village home, complete with household tools and implements used by the farming villagers.
Carabao horns, woven baskets and flat baskets (bilao), wooden plates, bowls and cutlery… all showing glimpses of the Igorot craftsmanship.
Below is a wooden statue that represents how the dead is honored during a typical Bontoc death rite or ritual. The deceased is propped up in a seated position on the “chair for the dead” (or sangachil) as the ceremony is carried out. Depending on the deceased’s age, cause of death, wealth, or social status, the death rites can last for a week or more.
It’s like how the dead is normally placed in a coffin during the wake; this time, though, the deceased will be on that chair.
And if you needed any more affirmation that this outdoor museum is actually a thriving village (sans human residents), you’d only have to check out the pig pen beside the house.
Typically, pig pens are constructed below ground level, with a pit dug and stones used to line the walls and floor. The pig practically has its own house and a “sewer system”. I don’t know, I just find this adorable.
And adding one more photo, for scale purposes, haha!
This structure is a Rice Granary, or where the villagers store the rice they just harvested. However, aside from rice, this is also used to store wine and farm tools. This is usually built close to the fields, for obvious logistics reasons.
Interestingly enough, the sign said “no nails were used in the construction of this building”. I think they meant iron or metal nails. Maybe they used wooden nails to put it all together.
I’ve experienced spending the night inside a rice granary once before. Granted, it was not just a rice granary, because there were also other farming tools and equipment inside. Imagine lying down and, when you look up, you’d see sickles hanging overhead.
‘Twas a fun experience, though. It was when we went to Batad. Check out the blog post here and here.
Just as the label says, this is alongan, a typical Bontoc coffin. It is made out of wood and, one thing I noticed was the circular shape it makes when covered. I’ve seen other native coffins before, but they were mostly square or rectangular, with either sharp or curved edges.
After the death rites, the deceased will be placed in this coffin, ready for burial.
Note the circular placement of stones in front of this hut. The elevated stones work as chairs or benches for people to sit on. In the middle is where a fire will be lit.
No, this is not for bonfires and hanging out. This is called the “ato”, or what the Bontocs refer to as their religious and political center.
The village has a council of elders, kinda like their set of officials, and this is where they convene for council meetings. Thus, you can say that the important decisions of and for the village are made here.
It is said that the “ato system” has become one of the unifying practices in Bontoc, even to this day. Upon reaching the age of puberty, boys start to sleep in the ato, and this is also where they receive their education from the village elders.
I truly appreciate how this piece of the past and the present is still maintained in this small corner of the town. For sure, there are other local government units that do the same, and I can only hope to see more of them in my own province or region.
The Bontoc Museum is open from Monday to Saturday, from 8AM to 5PM, with a noon break from 12 noon to 1 PM. Make it a point to visit when you’re in town; it won’t even take you a couple of hours.
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