Karao and Kalanguya’s cultural dances introduced in Bakun

April 21, 2018 Community Billboard

All grade 2 to grade 6 teachers including few high school teachers learned how to perform the Kalanguya and Karao’s cultural dances called Mamaya and Igig in a hands-on training last April 11-13, 2018.
The native people of Benguet are composed of four ethnic groups or tribes. They are the Kankanaey, Ibaloy, Kalanguya and Karao. Each group has different ways of performing their own cultural musical instruments and dances. For Kankanaey are the tallak, tinaktakyad and ginalding; for the Ibaloy, bendiyan and kinalshing; mamaya for the Kalanguya; and igig for the Karao. They also have tongatong which is the equivalent of tallak of the Kankanaey. Ibaloy, Kalanguya and Karao by the way know how to play each other’s instrument and dances.
Due to strong assertion to preserve and cultivate our ancestors golden culture, the national government mandates DepEd as its number-one instrument in the attainment of the goal. Now as a result, the DepEd mandates all government elementary and secondary schools to do such tasks of cultivating those old but worthy to be emulated practices in the past to our children by means of the teachers as the primary instrument.
In Benguet, according to those who joined national trainings for MAPEH and Araling Panlipunan, they observed that the notion of other people outside is that, if you are a native from Benguet you all know how to perform those different traditional and cultural dances of Benguet. It is with that reason that the Kankanaey, Ibaloy, Kalanguya and Karao teachers are required to teach one another through trainings on how to play or perform those cultural dances of Benguet people and teach these to the children. ANTONIO B. LANTAEN / ABN