Ignoring heritage is tantamount to not recognizing one’s identity. It is ignoring one's qualities. Preserving heritage is carrying identity from the roots letting it reach the present and future generations. Take your pick! Erase and get lost, or stand tall to tell and retell your heritage stories and identity. Well, you cannot be proud of something that you know nothing about. The first step got to be awareness and recognition of the fact that heritage is part us as a person, and vice versa.
Pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 439 series of 2003, the month of May is annually celebrated as National Heritage Month to create consciousness, respect, and love for the legacies of the country’s cultural history. It follows that local heritage is also celebrated in specific communities. In Quezon, we have a lot of fiestas on May especially because a lot of towns celebrate the feast of San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of farmers, and the province is mainly agricultural in nature. But festivities are just one of our heritage treasures.
We have a beautiful Tayabas Tagalog that sets us apart from other Tagalog-speaking provinces in the country. Most of these words can be found in Vocabulario De Lengua Tagala, the first Spanish-Tagalog Dictionary written by Father Pedro de San Buenaventura in 1613 which means that it has been in use even before the Spaniards conquered the Philippines. What is wonderful is that those words have been preserved to the present time and we still use them, actually. That is one part of our heritage that we can be proud of. We are speaking the language of our ancestors.
We have intangible heritage through the stories, traditions, music, treatments for the sick, and culinary arts. The list is very long. The lullabies that parents and elders sang to us, not just the mothers, put us to sleep and calmed us when we were babies and having trouble of whatever form; the bed time stories that formed our young minds so that we will grow up with good values; the way we treat family members and those we hold dear, those were handed to us through generations. We have traditional ways to care for the sick, and those are important part of our cultural heritage. The recipes of our food are not just about how to cook but prepare the family’s food with tender loving care. We do not see those things, but they are essential to everyday living. Sometimes, heritage cannot be seen and touched but felt, and it is in the core of our memories. Recognizing them is important for the conservation and preservation that we owe the future generations.
Built heritage like our architecture, the composition of our homes and those school buildings that came from public funds, the monuments of our heroes, the sites of important events in our history, all these are part of our heritage. All part of us as a people.
What defines us? Explore and find out. Life is changing, but we continue to be Quezonins, and Filipinos. Never deny our heritage, for that’s what we are made of.
Happy Heritage Month!