I read a post from a friend’s wall in Facebook that says, “Your culture is your brand…” This got my attention for it
made me think of what really is my brand. As it is defined, brand is a name,
symbol, logo or other item used to distinguish a product or service or its
provider. It is also pertains to a company’s image. A certain product is
identified by its brand. Paralleled to culture, it is a distinguishing mark of
what a person is.
I am raised in
the lowland, under Ilocano way of living. My father who is an Ilocano was born
with parents who are farmers. According to him, their living is so simple and
socialization is not their priority, they woke up early and off to the fields
where they spend the rest of the day. But this changed when my father finished
his Bachelor of Commerce major in Banking and Finance. He introduces new way of
living to his parents like building a bungalow house instead of the old
bahay-kubo, buying of sala set and other house furniture, attending to
gatherings in the barangays and even changing their manner of clothing. But their
distinct characteristics of being an Ilocano which are hard-working and “kuripot”
remained. I grew up with the understanding that every centavo counts and we
need to work for our living. I was reared in the idea that hard-earned money
should be well spent, not for pleasure but for other more important things. We
only buy new pair of clothes and shoes for special occasion and so with cooking
of special delicacies. The system of “pagmamano”, giving reverence to the
elderly, the “ninang” and “ninong” practices and the use of “bagoong” in every
meal are just a few of the norms and traditions being inculcated to me.
When my father
died on October 14, 1990, my mother decided to go back to her hometown in
Bagulin., La Union, a place where in the upper part, nearby Buguias and
Kapangan, Benguet is populated by kankana-eys.. A radical truth changed within me.
I learned that my mother is a full-blooded Igorot and that makes me an Igorot,
too. The culture is far different from the way I used to. Their way of living
is also simple, they work hard too but they are more carefree in comparison to
the Ilocanos who are uptight. Right there, I learned to adapt the new culture.
I learned the language (kankana-ey), the norms and traditions, tried to wear
the ethnic costumes, dance with the gongs and solibaos, eat salted meat
(kini-ing), attended wedding celebrations even if it is from one mountain to
another, witnessed burial, caňaos and other kankana-ey traditions.
With
these two kinds of culture merged within me, I tried to evaluate myself, what really
now is my culture? What is my brand?
Living
in Loakan for 16 years now, where the community is populated by Ibalois and few
kankana-eys, my culture is being dominated of being an Igorot. My total way of
life now is based on what are the acceptable behaviours, beliefs and values in
my community in order for me to be accepted. I am now a refined mixture of a
modern Igorot where the traditional way of living is accompanied with what is
practical in modern days, a modern (sophisticated) Igorot as they say. I do and
participate in the classic traditions, norms and beliefs as long as it is
logical, practical and still acceptable. One example of this is the practice of
offering animals if one of the members of the family is sick for him to be
well. I respect this belief but I am not practicing it because I do believe
that offering an animal will not cure the sick one, medicine does. Yet I still
pray that he/ she will be well.
I
do eat pinipikan, salted meat and other Kankana-ey delicacies but I am also
delighted to eat other modern foods like spaghetti, lasagne, pizza, cakes and
the likes.
I
am a sophisticated Igorot by heart and mind, still a traditional but practical
and logical one, this is who I am, and this is my culture, my brand.
In
a large group of Ibaloi and Kankana-ey people in Loakan exists a 57 year old
church, the Loakan Baptist Church. Here, the members are from different walks
of life, different tribes like Ibaloi, Kankana-ey, Ilocano, Ilonggo and
Tagalog. But all co-exist, sharing the same belief and faith.
Members
gathered on regular Sunday Worship Service, prayer meeting, youth and
children’s activities on weekly schedule. The church is family-oriented, where
almost our children grew up together, sharing the same activities like Sunday
School, AWANA and Junior Varsity, cantatas, mission outreaches and others. The
church became our second home catering to more or less 350 regular church
members and 150 walk-ins or frequent visitors. We are being identified as “mga
Baptist yan” in our community, commonly invited to pray during special
occasions within the community like Barangay Fiesta, school programs, burial,
weddings and reunions. We are frequently invited as resource speakers on topics
pertaining to moral, values and religion and even ask as counsellors in cases
of family problems, conflict mediation and youth reformation.
These
made us distinct among the majority, which I consider as my subculture.
Living in a
multi-cultural society made us flexible in any given situation, even drastic
changes may occur. The knowing of “what” of one culture to another is very
advantageous to adaption and interpersonal relationship. This will give us the
opportunity to easily mingle with others, adjust on a given situation and
further broaden our perspective and understanding of ones behaviour or
actuations. We would be able to understand preferences like for example why the
eating habit, attitude towards food and taste different from one person to
another. This will make us consider our responses, reactions and opinions over
such. Moreover, the negativity of ethnocentrism will me minimize in
multi-cultural society. One will avoid the tendency to look at something from
his/her own perspective based on his/her culture. The person would see to it
that balance is achieved and objectivity is applied in all situations.
In a
multi-cultural society, the freedom of exchanging ideas, practices, beliefs,
traditions and norms is fully accepted without committing offense. There is
respect for one another's stand in this kind of society. Learning will become
dynamic and proactive resulting in a faster and unified response to achieve
change. Since the consideration here is the knowing of ”what” or “who” the
people are, goals and objectives are specific taking into consideration the
varied cultures existing in said community.
However, this
also has its disadvantages. As a universal rule, the more varied a matter is,
the more complexities there is. Leaders in a multi-cultural society must take
consideration the entire existing group so as not to create the feeling of
‘favouritism’ or the favouring of one group over the other. Another disadvantage
is the diverse personality one should deal with especially that each one has
its unique beliefs, practices, traditions and norms. One practice is acceptable
for their group while that same practice is an abomination to the other. Let us
take a look at the Muslims’ practice of not eating pork where in in a gathering
he was being offered to eat one, or worst, there is no variety of food choices
where he can forego the meat (pork).
Another
disadvantage of a multi-cultural society is the difficulty to draw unification
in goals and ideals. Because each one would like to advance his/ her own
culture, there will be a tendency of judging according to its own standard and
its significance to their own culture. Sometimes, we tend to consider things based
on how it benefits us and how it will advance our own interest.
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