Sunday, April 6, 2008

The Last Ming Dynasty Gong in Kalinga



I am just wondering about the origins of gongs in Kalinga so i started to ask the elders during an "Am-ammong" a term use to describe a tribal community where they gather at night to tell stories in a fir place.

According to the elders they believed that their are 6 original (First to arrive in Kalinga as barter) gongs from kalinga which they name as Pusok, Bakaw, Tumiknag, Udo-or and the 2 is un named or maybe forgotten by this new generation of elders. The six gong is believed to arrived in kalinga during the Ming dynasty, if i am not mistaken , either 15th century or 16th (i think Ming dynasty lasted til 1662) century so with porcelains, and beads that is being bartered to the kalinga people.

Where are this gongs? Pusok is already broken, it was accidentally drop (Current owner: Mr Bayangan).. Bakaw is still existing (Owner: Mayor Rhustom Dagadag), Tumiknag is still existing (Owner: Dalanao Ayangdo (+) Macario Dalanao (+) but under the possesion of Judge Dalanao}, Udu-or can no where be found but they believed that it is in Sumadel Tinglayan Kalinga.. i Have tried to trace the two remaining gong but to no avail, i still believed they are being sold in the 1980's for the tuition of students and i hope they still exist within the philippines..

By the way if you are wondering about the prices of this gong. During the 1970's it cost 15 Carabaos each..

(The Pictures above are not the gongs i am referring, i have the gong tumiknag beside me but i forgot na pinahiram ko pala digicam ko kaya i can't take a picture of it.) I am not sure kung yung gong na hinahawakan ng son ko sa picture is tumiknag..i just can't identify it , cguro camera effects during the shot pero i am pretty sure the old gongs usually resembles a color with green and shiny gold type

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

wow, now I know! sana yung natitirang mga gong eh ma preserve pa...kung pwede ipunin na lang. hehe