Berte, Leslie Kate Dianne

IV- BFA Product Design

Module 5
Fiestas and Colonial Culture

Introduction
The role and function of the fiesta under the colonial system of government can
therefore best be summarized in the following words of Renato Constantino (1982, 2), "The
molding of men's minds is the best means of conquest." As they

Body
It was reported to Rome that during the 17th century in the Philippines, festivals were
held in their mission-parishes with as much ceremony, diversity and entertainment as
possible to promote a remarkable image to the Catholic Church, to anchor Christian
message more strongly in the minds of the population, and to outshine through
extravagance and color the pre-colonial festival culture and customs. They made a great
effort to attract the local population and as well as the people from neighboring and far-flung
districts. It was also reported in the middle of the 17th century that out of the curiosity of the
Moros they came to visit the church of Zamboanga. In order to confirm the fascination of the
exotic, ad as a result they were left with a lasting unusual impression as the padres covered
the roof of the house of worship with clay, a symbol of status and when it was marked
finished, a festival with fireworks and bullfights were made. The Easter ceremonies of
Zamboanga in the year 1641 were attended by massive number of principals from the
region, who came to see for themselves how the Christian community celebrated the
memory and the story of the Passion and the death of Christ which left a desired effect to the
people. The guests were much enthralled by what they saw and began asking questions
about the meaning of the events, which the padres were only too eager to explain as this
was their goal in the first place.

In contrast to their approach in Latin America, in the Philippines the Spaniards based
their occupation not so much upon military force as upon rather more peaceful, or at least
less bloody, suppression strategies. As part of their movement to win the Filipinos for
Christendom and at the same time to bind them to the emerging colonial state, the
Spaniards were made to encourage the indigenous population living in disseminated
settlements to move into an enclosed locality, called reducciones, an essential move if they
were to Christianize and Hispanize the indigenous population, this goal is the heart of the
colonial policy throughout the Spanish Empire. The Spaniards believed that only in an urban
environment and well-structured settlements was it possible to take control. The religious
orders relied heavily on specific enticement techniques. The most important lure, he stated,
was "the colorful ritual of the Church," in particular the feast of the patron saint, but also
religious festivals such as Easter, Corpus Christi or Christmas as well as festivals for special
occasions such as the consecration of a church building or the canonization of a member of
an order. Although the native inhabitants were subjected to pressure of varying degrees in
order to persuade them to abandon their traditional settlements, and although this
occasionally involved the use of physical force, the main emphasis was laid on attraction-
strategies.
the role of the fiesta in the service of Spanish power was not limited merely to the
reinforcement of administrative structures. Jesuits and others used the pomp and
circumstance of these festivals to carry their concepts of the true faith, of civilized life and of
a political order ordained by God, into the most remote areas of the colony. The Jesuits used
the pomp and circumstance of these festivals to carry their concepts of the true faith, of
civilized life and of a political order ordained by God, into the most remote areas of the
colony. They were deliberately deployed to ensure collective attitudes and behavior
conformed to those of the colonial power.

In the multitude of people which flocked together on these occasions the Jesuits
found an eager audience for their ideas and teachings. Instead of merely preaching the
Christian message from the pulpit, or enforcing its norms in the confessional, the padres
were also able to dress this message in the processions, songs, dance or plays, in festival
decoration and architecture, or even in pyrotechnics.

"The molding of men's minds is the best means of conquest." Renato Constantino
(1982,2) , this words best describes the role and function of fiesta under the colonial system
in the Philippines. However, this is the only half of the goal. Festivals were by no means
simply a cultural-imperialistic instrument in the hand of colonial masters, used to establish
and buttress their power. the indigenous population with a means to assert themselves
culturally under changed political and economic conditions, and even eventually to resist
heteronomy outright a recent research was made and found that this was possibly due to the
structural heterogeneity of the cultural element “festival”.

Traditional culture was accorded new attributes, and on the other hand modes of
behavior handed down from generation to generation lived on in new forms. As evidence of
the former it is possible to cite the multitude of traditional songs and dances which entered
into fiesta programs and now bore Christian attributes. An example of this is singing the
doctrina to native melodies s, which became one of the most important means of
internalizing the core principles of the Catholic religion. The indigenous population created
such "pious songs" themselves, based on the catechism or on the texts of sermons. These
they then performed in the traditional style, so that they--as a Spanish Father wrote-"praised
God with the same music with which at former times they had so blindly sewed Satan."" The
second form of continuity preserved by the indigenous population from the pre-spanish era
into the colonial period can be observed particularly in a series of functions inherent to both
traditional ceremonies as well as Christian festivals. During the Spanish era, the task of
ensuring protection from evil spirits and their dark powers was transferred to the Catholic
Church and its saints.

The adaptation of the festival calendar to local climatic conditions is a particularly

clear indication that the indigenous population tailored the fiesta to suit their own needs. In
the Catholic Directory, the month of May is the most popular festival month in the Philippines
today. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the number of fiestas honoring the
local patron saint in May had already reached 13 percent of the total in the present it had
increased to 21 percent, while at the same time the month of August has steadily declined.
This reveals a growing tendency to take local conditions into account during the seasonal
festival cycle.
 The final example of the appropriation of the fiesta by the indigenous population is
taken from the field of social organization. Filipinos used the fiesta to throw light upon
existing social structures. The local elite was keen to take on duties and functions which
ensured them a visible public role within the framework of a festival, and the remaining
population accepted their assuming such roles without demur. Whoever financed new
ceremonial robes for the image of a saint, sponsored a band of musicians or undertook the
construction of a triumphal arch thereby documented his status or increased his social
prestige. For this reason, the names of the donors did not remain anonymous. Their names
are listed in the diaries of the clergy, as well as in the newspapers of the 19th century and
the fiesta programs of the present day.

As time went on, the indigenous population also learned to make use of the fiesta
and its central components to serve their own objectives, and as a means of opposition to
Western foreign rule. Plays, for instance, were used to spread satirical and colonial critical
messages about Spanish religious orders and officials, their personal behavior or their
politics. Marcelo H. del Pilar, for instance, packaged his criticism of the existing conditions
not only in seemingly religious tracts, but also exploited the crush of spectators at cockfights
to spread political propaganda, or filled his verse with satires on monastic rule at poetry
competition. he years 1896 and 1897 leading representatives of the Katipunan, including
Andres Bonifacio, made fervent patriotic speeches during fiestas at locations across the
province of Cavite, the rebels' stronghold. Indigenous priests cited the political situation in
their sermons and promoted the cause of revolution. During the short period of freedom in
the interim between Spanish and American rule, festivals were turned into mass rallies in
support of the new order.

III- Analysis

The message of the module reading is all about how fiesta was used and relayed
various messages through how the celebration was conveyed, shaped the attitudes of the
indigenous people of the Philippines and their behaviors in a way that not only they
stabilized colonial rule but was also capable of undermining the very same.

The analysis of this cultural phenomenon brings to light the active part of how the
indigenous population played their role in the development of their own culture. It would be
wrong to see them simply as victims of a form of mental colonization, as the analysis of
indigenous influence in the fiesta has shown. The process of interaction that was cultured
during the course of several centuries, native and the foreign actors created the basic
elements of the identity and the characteristics of the Philippines today

As the colonial bond gradually loosened, eventually broke entirely, and the inherited
fragments of Western culture which combined with the structures of indigenous traditions
have today become part of a new and unmistakable Philippine identity.
Berte, Leslie Kate Dianne
IV- BFA Product Design

Module 7
The Invention of Tradition

I. Introduction

The Invention of Tradition is a classic work of historiography, edited by the great

British Marxist historian, Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger. This module focuses around
a single theme of the invention of many so-called historical, cultural, and social traditions.
This statement implies that these traditions were often deliberately created much later than
many realize and arose in response to real social needs. 'Invented traditions' are often used
by elites to manipulate the powerless but they are also used by several different institutions
to maintain social unity and to prevent themselves from falling apart due to the challenges of
rapid social change. The essays in The Invention of Tradition analyze a few traditions that
were invented quite recently; the authors explain how the traditions were invented and why.
They also point out that many groups can benefit by understanding the real history of their
social practices.

II. Body
In Chapter 1, author Eric Hobsbawm, analyzes his concept of 'invented tradition'
which includes those traditions invented, constructed, and formally instituted which are tied
to false histories and have contemporary origins. The overtly or tacitly accepted rules that
make up a tradition have a ritual or symbolic nature that imbue certain values and norms
through repetition and try to establish continuity with the past. Yet this continuity is fictitious.
The apparent continuity is produced in the human mind by repetition of ritual.
Hobsbawm distinguishes traditions from customs. Traditions imply invariance, whereas
customs allow more fluctuation. Traditions are also distinct from routines; routines have no
ritual or symbolic function of significance. These routines, while invented, have a technical
rather than ideological function; thus, they are not invented traditions.
The term Traditions appears or claims to be old and are often quite recent in origin and
sometimes invented. The term “invented Tradition” is used in a broad but not vague sense.
This includes both “traditions” that are invented, constructed and formally instituted and
those that are emerging in a less easily manner within a brief and dateable period- a matter
of a few years perhaps- and establishing themselves with great rapidity. Such example is the
royal Christmas broadcast in Britain, second is the Cup Final in British Association Football,
this shows the appearance and the development of the practices.
Invented Tradition is engaged as a mean set of practices which often governed by
blatantly or implicitly accepted rules, the ritual or its symbolic nature, which seek to teach
values and norms of behavior by repetition, which implies continuity with he past. It is
possible that they normally attempt to establish the continuity with a suitable historic past. An
example of this the choice of Gothic style in the nineteenth century rebuilding of the British
Parliament and the decision after World War II to make the parliamentary chamber on the
same plan as before. The historic past into which the new tradition is inserted need not be
lengthy, stretching back into the assumed mists of time. The movements and revolutions
which break with the past, have their own relevant past. There is such reference in the
historic past, the uniqueness of “invented” traditions is that the continuity with it is largely
contrived. They are responses to novel situations which take the form of reference to old
situations, or which establish their own past by quasi-obligatory repetition.

III. Analysis
The "'invention of tradition' is a splendidly revolutionary phrase," but it "hides serious
ambiguities." Hobsbawm "contrasts invented traditions with what he calls 'the strength and
adaptability of genuine traditions.' But where does his 'adaptability', or his colleague
Ranger's 'flexibility' end, and invention begin? Given that all traditions change, is it possible
or useful to attempt to discriminate the 'genuine' antiques from the fakes?"
After reading this module reading it seems that the term and concept of “invention of
tradition” or “invented tradition” has become rather far removed from its original setting and
significance. I see two dimensions in this narrowing of use. It involves, on the side, the thrust
of unmasking, and on the other side that of manipulation from above. In both cases, the
emphasis is placed on “invented” on “invention”, and not on the tradition or ritual, let alone
on the functions and meaning of inventions of this sort. Invention of tradition thus receives a
rather derogatory context, and the falsification of history as well as that of manipulation. That
is not real; this is not that old; we go scrounging around in history without any acquaintance
with the real state of affair; as in the Boniface cults that has recently ben reborn again in its
full traditional glory in Dokkum, The Netherlands.