Coskultura

I have often seen children or young people congregate in schools and malls and present themselves as various personalities by dressing up as those characters. They also appeared to have loved this particular experience because it allowed them to communicate with their classmates and talk about how they come up with their ideas.

Cosplay, which usually refers to costume play, is a performance art in which the participants, known as “cosplayers,” typically wave fashion items and costumes to depict a certain persona. Cosplayers even connect with one another to develop a community, and the term can also refer to role acting.

A person dressed as a folklore hero or festival queen, which is significantly different from the typical cosplay events that we have seen in malls, is probably something we have not imagined. But this time, it’s not simply a costume; culture is being displayed with a contemporary touch!

In reality, this is what took place --a celebration of culture, art, heritage, and history for Cebu City Arts Month, Buwan ng Mga Wika, and History Month serving as a judge in a cosplay competition known as coskultura.

Young participants were taught how to construct their own Visayan blades in just one day by veteran prop maker Ranrick Diaz of Karakoa Productions and owner Bardge Restauro of Bardge Costumes and Props. As participants created their selected characters, Minxie Villaver, a co-founder of Karakoa, and Sharrie Villaver, an illustrator and lecturer for the organization, gave each participant a free crash lesson in precolonial Visayan garb. Steven Alconaba Atenta of Doce Pares HQ provided an arnis workshop where participants learned the art of fighting, and Seigfred Enero of Team Class S taught them the art of skit performance.

Our youth see cosplay as a way to escape their identities, a way to grow their self-awareness, as well as a significant chance to forge new relationships. They got started with their behavior by mimicking made-up people, who were ideally thought to be the products of their imaginations, and by admiring anime and manga characters. They fully replicate the characters as a result of internalizing these values into themselves on a physical and non-physical level.

On the other side, coskultura offers young people enjoyable experiences, memorable moments, self-gratification, and personal fulfillment. Cosplayers can temporarily escape reality by participating in this activity and entering their imagined world, changing their roles and identities from ordinary persons to superheroes, from game players to performers, and from adulthood to childhood. The potential for your young to experience and showcase a culture that they can genuinely claim as their own, though, is unique to coskultura. It is an encounter that reveals more about our particular identity, valuing the great contributions of the past to what the present has become and can offer.

ARCHcon Cebu headed by the Events Director Jose Luis James Escaño, the Cebu City government, the Cultural and Historical Affairs Office-Cebu City and Cebu City Tourism deserve commendation for their efforts, and to Vice Mayor Alvin Neri Garcia for his support to local heritage, culture, and arts.

Mabuhi ug padayon ta sa paglambo sa atong kultura, alampat, ug kabilin!