LANDSCAPE Just when I was beginning to feel like  Scrooge of Charles Dicken’s “Christmas Carol,” a group of young people sent me an email asking  if they could serenade me with the season’s well-loved songs. Humbug! Scrooge would have screamd. But I am not like him, I am always interested in what young people are up to these days, Christmas or not.  So, I happily set the date for the virtual serenade of the MACC, the Mindanao Arts and Culture Council. Intriguing, isn’t it? The “Rationale” of the MACC gives you an idea of the brainstorming sessions they must have had to formulate the following: “With  the coming of our colonizers, the whole of the Philippine archipelago has been forcibly subjugated to diverse influences of Hispanic, American, and Japanese  cultures,  while  keeping an  Indo-Chinese-Malay way of life . The pluralistic identities that ensued  have brought about a complex evolution of change in customs and traditions among Filipinos  in their  communities and tribes. In time, the diversities in culture have found distinct expressions in the arts. But still, we remain   divorced from one another; there is no  understanding  nor  acceptance of one another’s uniqueness. Each tribe from the three islands of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao is asked to participate in this endeavor  to  understand each other’s state of existence through the use of the arts. Taking this  path draws focus  on the nuances of Filipino  identities and steers us away from excessive political agenda.“ Here are MACC’s vision and goals:” It is the vision of MACC to open the door wider for  cultural exchanges, and make  concrete galvanized avenues for income generation through the arts. We  are going to  send messages with  vital universal themes like  family values, sovereignty, preservation of identities, love, fostering friendships, cultivation of patronage.”  The  MACC  goal is—“to bridge cultural gaps through visual arts, music, film, performing arts, literature, fashion,  culinary arts, digital arts, multi-media, and martial arts, workshops, seminars, conferences, etc.  “ The MACC  songs and singers of my Christmas Present are the following: 1) Oh, Holy Night-- JM. Remolado, 2)Feliz Navidad – Limeya  Escabante  and Jude Redoble, 3) Bibingka – Jay Abcede, 4) Carol of the Bells – Jude Redoble, 5) Give Love on Christmas Day and I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas –  Ivan Eblamo, 6) Silent Night – Elena Lopez. There was group singing as well by Ivan Eblamo, Joy Artieda, JM Remolaldo, Elena Lopez, Limeya  Escabante,  and Jay Abcede. They sang 12 Days of Christmas, Kumukuti kutitap, Frosty the  Snowman. The finale was, of course, We Wish You a Merry Christmas! Identity problems? I do not think so.  This is how MACC describes their identity.: “We are an independent, heterogeneous tribe of social entrepreneurs and cultural activists who create opportunities for personal and societal positive growth in the wide aspects  of visual arts, music, film, performing arts, literature, fashion, culinary arts, digital arts, multi-media, and martial arts.“ They also intend “to position arts and culture of Mindanao as a central element in community development and planning,  in order to make  pathways by creating opportunities and  complementing academic and professional learning. We also aim to reinforce collaborations in the multi-sectoral and socio-cultural -economic local development.” How does this group of Gen Z and millennials assess  life after the pandemic, what we call the new normal? This is their world view:  “The cost of thriving in the new normal means   the renumeration of individual net worth, the aggregate value of our skills as a people, our physical attributes, numeric assets, estates, acquired tastes, and natural gifts that will save us from the invisible foe that wants us wiped off the face of the earth.  Our creative selves are called upon to come out and work hand in hand in fighting the face behind the strange and  formidable adversary, and dismantle its invisible layers of greed, corruption, and insuperability. We need to take stock of our wrong doings to nature, understand how our footprints in the name of advancement have caused irreversible damage…. The  idea of lording it overnature, snatching  the power of the Divine have made us want  unnecessary things…. We could be facing the end of our lineage, the annihilation of our values and traditions, the loss of our humanity by compelling us to surrender our freedom, our rights, all in the name of survival…“ Thank you, MACC, for sharing with me your dreams and lofty goals. May you all have a blessed Christmas and a glorious New Year. ([email protected]) (gemmacruzaraneta.com)