Mahalin ang Ating Kultura: Senator Loren, Kultura, and the tradition of gift-giving

MANILA, Philippines - As with most Filipino families, gift-giving is a special part of the Bautista-Legarda clan’s Christmas tradition.

“After Noche Buena, my brothers and I are always excited to open our gifts,” Senator Loren Legarda fondly recalls. “To our family, gifts are very personal. We usually send it with personalized cards and letters.”

Along with these gifts come heartwarming family values that Senator Loren cherishes until this day. During Christmas Eve, for example, “We not only exchange gifts, but stories. We would stay up until past midnight with our kwentuhan.”

Likewise, she learned from her parents that gift-giving should be rooted in the spirit of generosity and compassion, not materialism. “My father, Antonio Legarda, whom I call Papa, is the kindest and most generous father, not in material things, but in serving his children,” she explains.

And she has certainly learned many lessons from him. “There’s a sense of happiness you get from gift-giving,” Senator Loren says.

As the only female senator to top the Senate race twice, with more than 15 million votes in 1998 and 18.4 million votes in 2007, Senator Legarda has been at the forefront of many landmark legislations. But as chair of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities, it has been her advocacy to revive the Filipino’s interest in our own culture, heritage and tradition.

Not only did she showcase various traditions of different indigenous communities in the country through exhibitions in the Senate — “Isang Habi, Isang Lahi,” “The Mangyans of Mindoro,” and “Panay: Memory and Enchantment” and her most recent initiative, the “Hibla Pavilion of Textiles and Weaves of the Philippines” at the Manila FAME Design and Lifestyle Event 2012. She also established the country’s first textile galleries, the “Hibla ng Lahing Filipino: The Artistry of Philippine Textiles,” at the National Museum, which exhibits the different weaving practices in the country.

 “Our identity as Filipinos is embedded in our culture,” she says. “Our pride in being Filipinos fundamentally begins with the awareness of the beauty of the Philippines — the land and its people. This is our heritage, our pamana, which we must pass on to the next generation.”

Today, she practices the same Christmas traditions she grew up with — family togetherness, Simbang Gabi, exchanging gifts, and Noche Buena — with her two sons, Lanz and Lean, and her Nanay Fely whenever they are in the Philippines.

“Ever since I was a child, we would all go to our ancestral home in Malabon, gather around the family table and eat our simple Noche Buena,” she muses. “When Mama, the late Bessie Legarda, was still with us, she prepared ham, callos, queso de bola, pandesal, hot chocolate and fruit salad. My Lola Mameng would also treat us with her famous spaghetti salad.

“By the example of my Mama, I learned the importance of attending family gatherings,” she adds.

Gift-giving is an important Filipino Christmas tradition for the senator. “As early as October, I already create a gift list, usually thinking of presents that would suit each person. It makes gift-giving more personal.”

Her thoughtful gifts — indigenous crafts, homemade and meaningful items, and recycled materials — offshoots of her Solid Waste Management law — reflect her many advocacies. Her picks include “Banawe rice wrapped in handwoven textiles by the handloom weavers of the Cordilleras, black rice from the Lumads of Bukidnon wrapped by the scholars of the Libro ni Loren Foundation, textiles as well as arts and crafts by indigenous groups, and organically grown products from my home province of Antique Development Foundation.”

During a recent visit to Kultura store in Makati, Senator Loren was happy to discover great gift ideas for Christmas. “The various items in Crafts for a Cause would definitely top the list,” she says. “I am happy that some of the micro enterprises that I have been supporting for years can now be found in Kultura.”

One example would be the “beautiful and well-crafted religious icons made by the scholars of Fr. Dennis Paez in Ginto Foundation. I also like giving shawls and handwoven bags to friends.”

These skillfully crafted products can be found at Kultura Filipino stores in SM Makati, SM Megamall, the SM Mall of Asia, SM City Cebu, SM Lanang Premier, and in selected SM stores.