Two carabaos for a bead

Two carabaos for a single bead. That was the barter rate for a single black bead, albeit a huge one. It is difficult to imagine how that exchange was ever possible. Listening to the lecturer, Dr. Dave Baradas, talk about adornment and bead use in the Cordilleras made me wonder what life was like in those times. Carabaos were important for farming then, as they still are now. Perhaps identifying one's status through the means of rare ornaments such as beads, some allegedly from Egypt or Europe, was just as important. Then again, things are not that much different now. Wealthy women put themselves on waiting lists to buy bags as expensive as a brand new entry-level Japanese car. Maybe human beings have always treasured what is rare as status symbols.

The lecturer brought a huge bag filled with various beads and costumes. I was fascinated by a necklace made of snake vertebrae. Dr. Barada said that the owner would cut portions of the bone and boil it and use it as medicine. The idea of snake vertebrae as ornament and as medicine reminded me of my grandmother. As a child, my grandmother used what she called "bato sa bitin" to heal me when I was stung by a bee. I never got around to asking where she got them and what other uses they had.

What struck me most, however, was how the lecturer was able to accumulate all the beads in his exhibit and what the stories were behind them. I have a nagging feeling that those were sad stories. After all, if those beads were precious to their owners, how could they have let them go? Also, if those beads were indispensable for rituals, how were the communities able to continue performing the rituals without them?

I am aware that collecting beads, costumes, and other "artifacts" from indigenous peoples can be useful, at times even essential, for academic study. I've also heard collectors argue that their buying of those items contributes to the preservation of the indigenous peoples' culture. Modernity, they claim, has rendered those objects obsolete to the younger members of the group. Collectors just save these pieces from those who would not be able to appreciate them. I am not always convinced of the soundness of this argument.

A few months ago, a controversy arose when an architect who helped a collector transfer old houses from different parts of Luzon to a beach resort with a heritage theme was invited as a speaker at a forum on heritage preservation. Some heritage advocates were aghast that this person was even considered a heritage conservationist. They felt that it was wrong to move heritage houses to another place as they would lose their cultural and historical context. The counter-argument was that if those houses were not moved, they would be destroyed by the elements or the original owners' lack to desire to preserve them.

I do not have clear-cut answers as to how these controversies can be resolved. I think that each case will have to be resolved based on all available facts. Just the same, I am happy that people are talking about these issues. I remember researching about these in the 1980s for my high school paper and feeling so frustrated about the lack of resource materials. Thanks to the growing interest in heritage conservation and the Internet, there is more information available now. I just hope that the increased appreciation for heritage conservation will actually lead to more cultural heritage being preserved.

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