NCCA Celebrates Indigenous Peoples Month this October

NCCA Celebrates Indigenous Peoples Month this October with Dayaw Festival: Indigenous Peoples Month 2010

In celebration of Indigenous Peoples Month this October, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) spearheads the holding of Dayaw Festival: Indigenous Peoples Month 2010 in Manila this October 2010. The event will be organized by the NCCA Subcommission on Cultural Communities and Traditional Arts (SCCTA) and Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao, Inc. (UGAT) in cooperation with several government agencies and local governments.

The festival aims to gather ethnolinguistic groups in the country to participate in cultural exchanges and presentations highlighting significant aspects of their way of life, both material and non-material culture and tradition. This is in pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 1906 declaring October as Indigenous Peoples Month.

The NCCA has been celebrating Indigenous Peoples Month for three years now in the country’s major regions. In 2007, it supported Kalimudan: Panaghi-usa sa Mindanao (Mindanao Indigenous Peoples’ Gathering) held in Davao City in November and featuring Mindanao’s ethnic groups. The following year, Timpuyog: Indigenous People Month Celebration in Luzon was held in Santiago City, Isabela, focusing on Luzon ethnic groups and featuring performances, arts and crafts workshops, cultural awareness lectures, forums, tours, and a theme-park exhibition featuring the traditional houses, cultural resources, practices/rituals, chants, music, songs and dances, stories, traditional arts and crafts, indigenous games. Last year, the Indigenous Peoples Festival was held in Roxas City, Capiz, called Dungog, with similar activities and aims.

This year’s celebration will feature almost 110 major cultural communities in the country. They will be joined by selected delegates from six member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Dayaw Festival: Indigenous Peoples Month 2010 will feature interactive activities such as performances, exhibitions, forums, conference, lecture-demonstrations and workshops on traditional crafts and cuisine; indigenous games; and display of arts and crafts produced by traditional specialists and artists. The conference, themed “Kalikhasan” will address Indigenous Peoples concerns, with IP leaders from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao gracing the event. Also, there will be performances in five universities in five Metro Manila cities namely Quezon, Pasay, Pasig, San Juan, Manila and Makati with the theme, “Indayog ng Kalikasan.”

This festival will provide venue for indigenous peoples (IP) to celebrate the richness of their cultures; allow cultural exchanges that will foster deeper cultural understanding to sustain a culture of peace; provide opportunity to discuss IP rights; give students and other people a chance to deepen their awareness and appreciation of indigenous cultures; recognize the expertise and contributions of indigenous communities; and advocate for the preservation as well as integration of traditional culture into the national cultural mainstream.

Dayaw Festival is in cooperation with the city government of Manila, the National Museum, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Department of Education, Department of Tourism, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Foreign Affairs, Commission on Higher Education and the Office for Muslim Affairs.