‘HistoEx’ offers lectures, workshops, interactive activities

AUGUST has not ended yet, which means the celebration of Buwan ng Wika at Kasaysayan continues!

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) hopes to conclude the month with exciting yet informative activities where Filipinos will have a deeper understanding of their motherland’s history and heritage.

Teaming up with various organizations, the NHCP will hold “HistoEx: Where History and Experience Converge,” the largest gathering of history and heritage groups in the Philippines.

HistoEx is an exposition showcasing the country’s historic and cultural treasures through various activities including exhibits, special performances, talks and lectures, trivia games, and reenactments.

There will also be book sales and souvenir shops.

The event will kick off on Friday, August 23, and end on Sunday, August 25, at the Quantum Skyview, Gateway Mall 2 in Quezon City.

Lined-up activities

The NHCP has released a calendar for HistoEx, filled with “fun side quests and events.”

On Friday, the event will start with a uniformed demonstration and close-ordered drill by Historia Viviente Manila (HVM). This activity will showcase HVM’s Batallón Manila performing demonstrations of authentic late 19th-century close-order drills by the Army of the First Philippine Republic.

The historical reenactment group will also install a mini-booth and exhibit uniforms within the Nilad Community booth at the expo.

There will be documentary screenings of “Ang Santo Niño sa Kultura at Kasaysayan ng Pilipinas” on Friday, “Kaagi: The Philippines and the First Circumnavigation” on Saturday,” and “GOMBURZA” on Sunday.

Attendees will enjoy exploring history through “History Games” and “Gameshow: Reyal or Fake.”

They can also enhance their skills by participating in a Baybayin workshop, free live sketching, and a sketch crawl.

The three-day event will not be complete without HistoEx talks to be led by guest historians, artists, and cultural workers: filmmaker Jose Lorenzo “Pepe” Diokno, political analyst Richard Heydarian, choreographer and director Dexter Santos, artist Emmanuel Garibay, historian Dr. Michael “Xiao” Chua, and  NHCP senior history researcher Ian Christopher Alfonso.

Among the topics they will discuss are history in film, theater, and arts, as well as the West Philippine Sea.

A meet and greet with book signing will also be held at the expo.

Celebrating History Month

History Month is celebrated every August in the country, as declared in Proclamation No. 339, s. 2012. This coincides with the Philippines’ celebration of Buwan ng Wika.

For 2024, the NHCP kicked off History Month with the theme “Salaysay ng Bayan, Saysay ng Bansa.”

Buwan ng Wika, on the other hand, has a theme of “Filipino: Wikang Mapagpalaya.”

Before HistoEx, the NHCP has lined up several activities for the whole month of August, including the opening of “Tagubilin: The Life Lessons of Gregoria de Jesus” exhibit, which featured 10 paintings of her pieces of advice, in Manila City Hall on August 5.