A Date with Myself: National Museum of the Filipino People

I had been sitting idle at home for the past couple of days and decided that enough was enough. I was going to get off my butt and go do something today. I have always liked going to museums and decided that this was the day that I am going to go to the National Museum. I called to verify that the place is indeed open and accepting visitors, got directions and off I went.

The front desk receptionist informed me that cameras were not allowed so I was a bit disappointed. Anyway, there are five floors in the National Museum of the Filipino People. I did not get to explore the first floor much as one of the galleries was closed to visitors but the glass walls enabled me to look through. Various baskets, wood works and the like were in the gallery.

The second floor were mainly relics from a sunken galleon ship called the San Diego and some flora exhibited as Linnean (for Carolus Linneus).

The third floor was my favorite. It depicted the various indigenous and historic artifacts from the real native Filipinos. Some interesting facts that tickled my fancy:

• Masuso Pots - these are earthen wares that had breasts as designs. The varieties include the 4 breasted pots and the 7 - breasted pots. Due to looting, these pots' cultural or ritual uses are not known. 
  
• Tabong woman - the oldest human remains found in the Philippine Islands is that of the Tabong Woman dating back to 22,000BC
• Surat Mangyan - this is the writing system of the Mangyan people used to document the Ambahan, poetry of the Hanuoo- Mangyan people.
• Kris - a lot of the Filipino soldiers preferred to use the kris sword in battle.
• The 45 caliber gun was designed specifically so that the American soldiers can kill the Filipino soldier. Apparently, even if the Filipino had already been shot, they would still be able to take down a couple of American soldiers. The American soldiers needed a weapon that can stop the Filipino soldier point blank, thus the 45. 
• The Filipino Snipers were called the tiradores dela muerte.
• Most Filipino soldiers preferred to go barefoot as they were not used to wearing shoes.
• Guardia Negra - General Antonio Luna's elite guards consisting of 25 soldiers.
  

There was a gallery showcasing how the olden Filipinos from different parts of the archipelago buried their dead. I actually had to go to this gallery twice as the first time I went, I got scared because I was the only one in that gallery. And the gallery had dimmed lights, lots of shadows, and all of these burial paraphernalia around. After seeing the other galleries in that floor, I kind of had to suck it in and go back to the Dead Gallery and see the items there. It was really creepy I tell you.

The other floors consisted of a tribute to one of the greatest Filipina couturiers, Salvacion Lim Higgins, more commonly known as Slim, a gallery of artwork and the place were The War and Dissent Lecture Series was shown.

The War and Dissent Lecture talked about the war uniforms, ranks and weaponry used by the KKK and Emilio Aguinaldo's soldiers who fought against the Americans in the Fil-AM wars in 1897 to 1902. The presenters were all dressed in the various uniforms in that era.

 

some of the presenters in their costume

They left us with this message: God made us Filipinos not by chance but by purpose, so lets do our duty to make our nation great and let our heroes feel that they did not die in vain.

Going through the museum invoked feelings of pride for being Filipino. I feel that it is a shame that this heritage that the Filipino people has is being forgotten as we become more westernized. I loved going around and seeing the diversity of our language, culture and history. Knowing that we have a very rich cultural background reminded me that being a Filipino is something to be proud of.

I am patting myself on the back for overcoming my idleness today and going to the Museum and even taking a walk in Luneta.

the Lapu Lapu statue