BAGAC, Bataan—West of the country’s capital, on the peninsula once drenched by the blood of allied freedom fighters, is a living museum of Philippine customs and traditions reborn in a community now visited by Filipino and foreign tourists.
The customs and traditions of the Filipinos, from the 18th to the 20th century Philippines, is seen—thanks to costumed male and female cultural tour guides—in the reconstructed houses of stone, stilt houses built in that span, and the different dances performed by a dance troupe during the cultural night.
These houses were old and decaying architectural pieces of a bygone era and slowly fading into the background of urban life, according to Mabel, one of the weekend tour guides, who spoke her lines in impeccable Filipino.
She explained before her assigned 20-something group of weekend visitors, from different parts of the country and some from overseas, how Filipinos lived in as early as the 18th century, their manners and traditions—no smiles during picture taking to stress the character of the Filipino women of the era—and their lifestyle.
Some of the houses were opened to the visitors who had a quick travel back in time with Mabel who related how the Filipinos then lived in the different houses that today dot the 400 hectares of bayside area fronting Bagac Bay on the country’s western seaboard.
The 27 architectural pieces were painstakingly reconstructed from different parts of the country and rebuilt, according to the tour guide, “brick by brick” and “plank by plank” and now stand dazzling against a backdrop of verdant mountains as well as rain-fed rice fields and a running river that empties into the sea.
An afternoon tour of the houses was capped by a dinner either at the Filipino restaurant or the Italian restaurant, soon after a cultural show, performed by the Las Casas Filipinas Dance Group that allows the visitors to have a glimpse of the different dances of the archipelago of 7,107 islands at low tide.
The dances, include “maglalatik,” carinosa,” pandanggo sa ilaw,” “itik itik,” “sayaw sa bangko,” and “tinikling,”—the last a winner for the audience, when some are invited to make the rhythmic steps with “instant” dance instructors from among the young dancers, many of who are college or high school students and out-of-school youth.
The cariñosa is a dance of Hispanic origin from the Maria Clara suite of Philippine folk dances, where the fan or handkerchief plays an instrumental role as it places the couple in romance scenario.
The tinikling, a traditional dance darting back to the Spanish colonial era, involves two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo poles on the ground and against each other in coordination with one or more dancers who step over and in between the poles in a dance.
It is traditionally danced to rondalla music, a sort of serenade played by an ensemble of stringed instruments which originated in Spain during the Middle Ages.
Legend has it – although there is no historical basis – that tinikling originated during the Spanish rule of the Philippines, starting 1521 and lasted for 333 years, when natives worked on large plantations under the control of the Spanish king.
Those who didn’t work productively were punished by standing between two bamboo poles, some of which were adorned with thorns.
To avoid being clapped in the ankles by the sticks, the natives would jump in and out of the sticks as they neared their feet.
Like Mabel, others like Olive and Joy as well as Maylody Gonzales were very accommodating and ready with the necessary information travelers needed during the overnight weekend stay of the visitors.
Maximilian Santos, 7, of Toronto, Canada, was excited when he and members of his clan reached the community by private vehicle through 146 kms of the North Luzon Expressway and thickly asphalted roads of Pampanga and Bataan that snaked by the side of Mount Samat through tree-lined national highway on the ground once drenched by the blood of Filipino and American freedom fighters.