Ethnography of the Traditional Knowledge and Healthcare Practices of the Ayta Communities in Pampanga: Its Contribution to the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library on Health

Abstract

The younger generations of Aytas are now transitioning from the use of traditional knowledge and practices to contemporary healthcare practices. The lifestyle change of the younger generation of Aytas is influenced by modernization, technology, government and non-government support, and incentives for the healthcare system. Such declining interest and discontinuance of their traditional healing practices threaten their traditional knowledge and practices on health that their ancestors have developed through centuries. A systematic and comprehensive endeavor to assist communities in documenting and upholding their healing traditions may be valuable in addressing this situation.  Earlier documentation on traditional knowledge and practices can be enhanced with this project to cover the breadth and depth of the body of Philippine traditional knowledge and practices on health. Supportive mechanisms such as documentation of ethnopharmacological information, crafting of the photobook, collection of herbarium vouchers, and the data templates are very timely not just to preserve the remaining traditional knowledge and beliefs of the Aytas but also to uphold the community’s rights to their healing ability and practices on health. The gathered data in this project are accessible in the Philippine Traditional Knowledge Digital Library on Health (TKDL). The Philippine TKDL on Health is the national repository of information on medicinal plants, and traditional healing practices, including rituals, plant compendium, traditional healing terminologies, and a library of traditional healers gathered from the Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) and the local communities.