Rayray ti Damilazan

        Damilazan is an Ilocano word for ‘sun’, its fate as a word was left on the mercy of passing time and got lost in the process. Many objects, traditions, and values of our own heritage as Ilocanos, like the word ‘damilazan’, are also being lost as time persists to pass by. We are obliged to protect the longevity of the things that make up our own Ilocano identity; our traditions, history, arts, values, and heritage; our own tawid.

        Kannawidan Ylocos Festival was launched in 2008 during the administration of former governor Deogracias Victor B. Savellano as part of his initiative to preserve the heritage of Ilocos Sur and commemorates the split of Provincia de Ylocos to Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte. Our province of Ilocos Sur has just turned 205 years old and yet many of its long-surviving treasures remain.

        Constante Varilla Castro is a hero whose name went unknown to the ordinary Ilocano up to this day. It was 1944, when the Japanese ordered the townsfolk of Lapog, trapped in the town church with a machine gun pointed at them, to reveal the whereabouts of their comrade, a certain Tomoyoki-san; no one spoke up. An 18-year old boy bravely stood up, whose name was Constante Varilla Castro, and revealed the shallow grave of Tomoyoki-san. All the townsfolk in the town church were then freed and thus saved from an imminent massacre, while Constante, was killed.

        Salvacion Ramos was the last remaining Ilocano weaver of burial cloths for the Kankanaey and Bontoc called Inuwes or Binaigan, she was awarded as one of the Ilocos Sur Living Treasures in 2009 but only five months after being awarded, she passed away at the age of 86. She fortunately taught one of her family members the essentials in the weaving of the cloth before she passed away and was able to pass on and give the opportunity to immortalize such a prideworthy tradition.

        These people, and the weight they bear to the heritage of Ilocanos which make up our identity as such is what gives Kannawidan Ylocos Festival its importance as a festival that seeks to do the sacred mission of our blood to protect the longevity of our heritage. Without historians, conservationists, and of course initiatives like the Kannawidan Ylocos Festival, these people would have been buried in the rubble of time, never to be heard of ever again, just like the word 'damilazan'. The increasing rate of these heritage being lost to time just proves that there is an urgency for us to preserve and conserve the living and surviving treasures of the province that still remain.

        We, descendants of Angalo and Aran, are the remaining rays of the sun, the last hope in preserving our dying heritage. As it would have been said in our local tongue; Sitayo ti namnama ti bukod tayo nga kannawidan; 

        Sitayo ti rayray ti damilazan.

        Let’s preserve our heritage, our own tawid! 🦖

        Thank you for stretching your attention span long enough to read until the very end! 🧡

REFERENCE/S:
    Real, J. (2023). [Tawid ken Kultura: Ilocos Sur Food & Trade Expo 2023 banner as seen near the Vigan arch.] [Photograph].
    Savellano, D.V. (2009). Ilocos Sur: An Illustrated History. Sanicua Publication.
    PIA Ilocos Sur. (2010, November 06). Constante Varilla Castro - An Ilocano Model of Bravery. PIA Archives. http://archives.pia.gov.ph/default.asp?m=1&t=1&id=5933&y=2010&mo=11
    Respicio, N. (2010). Tawid: the Living Treasures of Ilocos Sur. Sanicua Publication.