Dances remember one's heritage
Churches, customs, and civil groups are often called "communities of memory" because they remember lessons of the past that are often forgotten by mainstream culture.
One example of this is the party we attended last week: For entertainment, the local Women's club danced the fandango and the Quadrille, in traditional costumes. Alas, the average age of the women was 70, so this dance heritage might be lost in the grass roots villages in another ten years.
The Philippines has a rich dance heritage, and like much of the country, it has mixed the Spanish and American and Asian cultures with local folk dances. .Some nice photos HERE of various dancers. Luckily, the heritage may be dying in favor of modern dance in the young, but it has been kept alive thanks to local dance groups and heritage societies.
In Manila, the elite families are often Chinese, but up here in the country, many less wealthy but prominent families like my husband's family have Spanish blood...and although thanks to land reform we no longer own the local land (except for a few acres per family member), until about ten years ago, when my husband visited during the fiesta, he would bring lots of US cash, and the farmers who once worked for his father would visit, bringing a little rice or fruit or sweets as a gift, and he would give them a dollar or two as a gift.
Sigh. We could see it coming...the farm villages got electricity in 1990, and by 1995 you could see TV antennas, bamboo houses replaced by concrete housing, and signs in the shops saying : Cellphone calls to Saudi available here.
Few of the children, who now are educated, want to go back to working the land when jobs in Manila and overseas are available. So now the roads are lined with the vacation houses of people from Manila, and we have to hire farmers for our small fields from the Visayas...
Yet the older generation still remember their heritage, although in another generation one may no longer see a quadrille danced at a fiesta.
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One example of this is the party we attended last week: For entertainment, the local Women's club danced the fandango and the Quadrille, in traditional costumes. Alas, the average age of the women was 70, so this dance heritage might be lost in the grass roots villages in another ten years.
The Philippines has a rich dance heritage, and like much of the country, it has mixed the Spanish and American and Asian cultures with local folk dances. .Some nice photos HERE of various dancers. Luckily, the heritage may be dying in favor of modern dance in the young, but it has been kept alive thanks to local dance groups and heritage societies.
In Manila, the elite families are often Chinese, but up here in the country, many less wealthy but prominent families like my husband's family have Spanish blood...and although thanks to land reform we no longer own the local land (except for a few acres per family member), until about ten years ago, when my husband visited during the fiesta, he would bring lots of US cash, and the farmers who once worked for his father would visit, bringing a little rice or fruit or sweets as a gift, and he would give them a dollar or two as a gift.
Sigh. We could see it coming...the farm villages got electricity in 1990, and by 1995 you could see TV antennas, bamboo houses replaced by concrete housing, and signs in the shops saying : Cellphone calls to Saudi available here.
Few of the children, who now are educated, want to go back to working the land when jobs in Manila and overseas are available. So now the roads are lined with the vacation houses of people from Manila, and we have to hire farmers for our small fields from the Visayas...
Yet the older generation still remember their heritage, although in another generation one may no longer see a quadrille danced at a fiesta.
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posted by boinky at
10:59 AM
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