Lesson 2

Activity 1

Let us see how many local artifacts you can name by completing this short and hypothetical
story. Given the choices below, what do you think are the proper objects to use using only context
clues? (Some of the objects may repeat)

Story:

One day, Maria went to the river bank to fetch some water. Josefina, her mother asked her to
use the banga so she can have some water as soup for her is cooking. When she came back home
to their humble nipa hut, she found her mother preparing and putting the palayok over the burning
hot charcoal. She gave the water to her mother so she can pour it on the palayok together with the
vegetables and meat. Maria was sweaty from the trip to the river so she decided to change her Tapis
and wrap it around her waist. “Oh, this tapis is just right for me, the length is not too long”. She
thanked her sister who brought it for her.

Soon enough, Ernesto her father came home with his catches from the hunt. He was wearing
the anting-anting to protect him from evil spirits in the forest. It is almost nighttime when the
youngest in the family, Danilo came home with his pasiking backpack so full of new items of trade.
Finally, the dinner was ready and everyone ate the hot sinigang soup that mother prepared.
Assessment

Go to your local museum or cultural centers or souvenir shops. If you have no means, go
online and have a virtual tour of the National Museum of the Philippines. Just pick one gallery of your
interest regardless of the historical period. Observe the items on display. Create a list of these items
and take photos. Ask some locals about the descriptions. Use these guide questions:

1. When did they start doing this or collecting the items? What were the time period/s if the works are
historical artifacts?

* The National Museum oversees and develops national reference collections in

fine arts, anthropology, and archaeology, as well as natural history (botany, zoology, geology,
and paleontology), and conducts ongoing research in biodiversity, geological history, human
origins, prehistoric and historical archaeology, maritime and underwater cultural heritage,
ethnology, art history, and moveable and immovable cultural properties. Exhibitions,
publications, educational, training, outreach, and technical assistance are used to spread
appreciation of the Museum's collections and research discoveries, as well as technical and
musicological skills and knowledge. The Museo-Biblioteca de Filipinas, founded by a royal
order of the Spanish government on August 12, 1887, is the forerunner of the National
Museum of the Philippines. It first opened on October 24, 1891, at the Casa de la Moneda on
Calle Cabildo in Intramuros, which was also the home of the Philippine Mint at the time, before
moving to Calle Gunao in Quiapo. The Museo-Biblioteca was decommissioned in 1900, at the
start of the American occupation of the Philippines, and the Insular Museum of Ethnology,
Natural History, and Commerce, which is considered the direct forerunner of the National
Museum, was established under the Department of Public Instruction by the Philippine
Commission on October 29, 1901. The Insular Museum was established in part to supplement
the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes, and it was later merged with the Bureau of Ethnological
Survey under the Department of the Interior.

2. What are the primary materials of the cultural items and/or art forms?

* Tools, weapons, utensils, machines, ornaments, art, architecture, monuments,

written records, religious images, clothes, and any other ponderable objects produced or used
by people are all examples of material culture. Nonmaterial parts of culture would vanish if all
human beings on the planet vanished.

3. Who and what are the influences of the designs?

* The National Museum of the Philippines (Filipino: Pambansang Museo ng

Pilipinas) is a government umbrella agency in the Philippines that oversees a number of
national museums, including ethnographic, anthropological, archaeological, and visual arts
collections. Since 1998, the National Museum has served as the Philippine government's
regulatory and enforcement agency for the restoration and preservation of key cultural
properties, sites, and reservations around the country.
4. Who are their target markets if the items are for sale? If for display only, who are the usual visitors
and what are their primary reasons for their visits?

* Creating a physical profile of the audience that you most want to engage with
can be useful is visually assessing your target audience. Sussing out the key characteristics in
either current visitors or future hopeful visitors will aid in defining your audience and is
essential for intuitive marketing.