In this modern world, there are challenges that indigenous peoples face. In the Philippines, there are numbers of different indigenous groups who chose to retain the old and ancient ways of life as live by their ancestors.

A good example is the Igorots. For more than 2000 years, this people has maintained the ways of their ancestors since they first came to settle on the Cordillera mountains. Their history is carved in their homes like the Banaue rice terraces, Sagada's hanging coffins and so much more.

Today's world present numerous challenges to being an indigenous. The world advances at a pace that makes their ways of life obsolete. The Igorot tribe has thrived through this changes.

Society also reduced the indigenous peoples as a minority. While the notion that being non-indigenous is being civilized, this created a divide that puts down the indigenous brand.

Being able to retain the old ways of life makes the indigenous appear as backward.
The indigenous is also synonymous to being nature lovers, close to nature and to nature their lives depend. Modernization is a averse to the natural. So the world must be modified to suit the modern man. If the indigenous fights for the preservation of nature, they are tagged as anti progress.

It is a difficult discussion to stand up for the humanity of the indigenous in this modern world. But despite the changes, when modernizing has reached its end, the indigenous will continue to uphold their old ways, one with nature, practicing the truest essence of humanity.

#BeingIndigeneIsaBlessing #Igorot #indigenous
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(c) David Galas