I’m on vacation, but had to drop by to inform you that I’ll be spending whatever online time I have on attempts to retrieve my blogs that have been deleted or stolen.
Kinda sad when I learned that the blogs I’ve maintained for some time are gone just like that.
Blogger/Blogspot sucks big time.
It not that readable, but since I made, then I’ll show it.
A tribute to ‘Angels and Demons’ and ‘Majika.’
I am an Igorot. That means I’m mountain grown and more importantly, mountain born.
The use of the term Igorot can be as trivial as calling oneself Ilocano (from the lowlands) or Tagalog (riverside dwellers) when applicable. But what is wrong with calling myself Igorot? Why shouldn’t I?
History tells us that the Spaniards and Americans tried to subjugate the Igorots. If you can’t beat them, destroy their name, seemed to be the strongest weapon the colonizers used. So the Spaniards attached connotations like ugly, unkempt, barbaric, etc. to the word Igorot. Then the Americans devised a way where instead of calling them Igorots, they promoted the use of more localised (and more divisive) terms such as Kalinga, Ifugao and the like. So add the two (igorot=bad, kalinga=better name) and they win. Upon inspection, however, Kalinga and Apayao, are derrogatory terms compared to the neutral Igorot.
From Wikipedia:
It is said that in the Ibanag and Gaddang languages, Kalinga comes from the common noun “kalinga� which means “enemy�, “fighter�, or “headhunter�. The inhabitants of Cagayan and Isabela considered the Kalinga as enemies since they conducted headhunting attacks on Ibanag and Gaddang territories. As such, the name is considered a misnomer since it has no geographic or ethnic basis. Yet the term has become the official ethnic name accepted even by the natives themselves.
Kankanaey is a language but it can also mean a linguistic grouping, i.e., the people who use the language (Western Mountain Province and Northern Benguet, i.e., the old Lepanto province during the Spainish period). That means that the Kankanaey are composed several tribes if you insist on using that term. (tribe: an indigenous society bound together by family ties. That means Kankanaey is, and never was, a singular tribe).
Ibanag, just like Tagalog, means riverside dwellers, too.
Ifugao means from the hills/mountains. By denotation, Ifugao and Igorot mean the same thing. By usage, an Ifugao is one who came from Ifugao province. The term Igorot encompasses a larger area of residence.
Nowadays, there is nothing wrong with being called Igorot or Kalinga or Ilocano (a redundant term; i = ano) or Tagalog or Bisaya. So let us be who we are.
I now have my own wordpress blog without having to do all that wordpress installation voodoo.
This post was from my old blog, naturally. I had to go through the voodoo afterall.
