Museo Pambata Explores Singapore

Singapore brings to mind many things – Hainanese Chicken Rice, Sentosa Island, The Midnight Safari, Universal Studios, Radish Cake, The Singapore Flyer and a curious scarcity of chewing gum. This shining gem of a country with rich and myriad ethnicities showcase an amalgamated heritage of Chinese, Malaysian and Indian culture that sets it apart from its other Southeast Asian neighbors. To celebrate and share its heritage, the Singapore Philatelic Museum has entered a venture with Museo Pambata to display its traveling exhibition – Explore Singapore! – Colors of Heritage.

This exhibit, which officially launched on September 5, 2012, will run until August 2013 and will highlight aspects of Singaporean history and everyday life for children of all ages. Visitors will have the opportunity to interact with the various costumes, props and artifacts on display.  Here are some of the highlights:

Journey Through Singapore With Stamps – The Singapore Philatelic Museum’s forte is, of course, stamps. This section of the exhibit features key historic sites and famous attractions in Singapore that are reproduced in miniature through their stamps. The latest series of Singaporean stamps is also on display here.

The People – Here’s a glimpse into the stories of the earliest immigrants of Singapore, those who are responsible for its multicultural background, their purpose and their ultimate contributions. Authentic traditional costumes of Chinese, Malay and Indian origins are presented here, such as saris and cheongsams.

Festivals – Holidays and holy days such as Christmas, Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa and Deepavali are given a more tangible form through an interactive cabinet display. Customary artifacts, food and images can be viewed here, along with detailed explanations for their function and significance. Visitors can admire examples of these artifacts here, such as Malay sandals, Deepavali clay lamps and Chinese dumplings.    

Food – Though Singaporeans come from three very different nations, they all share a common fondness for eating. After all, who hasn’t heard of Singapore’s famous street hawkers and their tasty delicacies? This facet of the exhibit gives greater depth into the origins of iconic dishes such as Satay, Hainanese Chicken Rice and Ice Kacang, as well as their ingredients, preparation methods and cultural importance.

Vanishing Trades – With technological advances and shifting attitudes towards business and industry, this part of the exhibit aims to expose visitors to Singaporean traditional crafts that are now slowly dying away in popularity. Among the items shown here are items that represent aspects of clog making, spice manufacture and a Chinese apothecary.

A Year Long Calendar of Activities – By far, the most significant aspect of the exhibit is a twelve month program of assorted events connected to the subjects of Singaporean culture and aspects of philately. The various activities include flag making, dragon puppet crafting, stamp collecting, postcard making, letter writing, games, toys, cooking demos and food tastings. Workshops about stamp collecting, dance, storytelling and the preparation and purpose of Singaporean celebrations are also included. For details, visit the Museo Pambata website link at the end of this article.

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Philately – An Unconventional Hobby
With things like email, text and social networking sites, it’s hard to imagine waiting longer than a few weeks to get a response from someone via snail mail. One inseparable aspect of that is the postage stamp. This tiny square of paper has gained significant importance for more than a hundred and fifty years now as a general indicator for where a letter was supposed to go, and whether the proper amount of money was paid to send it there. Like coins and paper money, stamps were given decorative art, featuring animals, plants, locations and famous people, commemorating their importance to the countries they were from. This, in turn, gave rise to the now venerable pastime of stamp collecting. Amateur and seasoned philatelists prized stamps according to the beauty of their artwork, rarity and age. Although considered a quaint but minor diversion, there are many benefits that can be gained by taking up stamp collecting.

With the Explore Singapore special traveling exhibition on display in Museo Pambata, this is an opportunity to positively expose your child to an interesting and relatively established hobby. Little philatelists can learn lots of trivia about the various plants, places and animals depicted in their stamps and may be interested in doing more research on their origins via Google and Wikipedia. Museo Pambata has also enlisted the assistance of groups such as the Filipinas Stamp Collectors Club to teach children about the various aspects of stamp collecting through the workshops in the calendar of activities. Some include learning how to properly handle and care for stamps (including what tools your child needs to start a proper collection), how to store them, where to purchase them and a primer on understanding the value of stamps.

Many aspects of stamp collecting translate to learning how to manage and acquire other kinds of collectibles and memorabilia such as comic books and collectible cards (the preservation techniques for all these items are very similar). What your child can learn out of philately can eventually translate into something that they can use later on, if they wish to collect other things. Also, it is a fairly unobtrusive hobby as stamp albums don’t take up too much space and are actually a joy to behold when proudly displayed like a baby book. Who knows?  Some very rare stamps may eventually become a valuable part of their collection!  

Museo Pambata is located at Roxas Boulevard corner South Drive, Manila, Philippines. Operating hours are 8am-5pm from Tuesdays to Saturdays (with a lunch break from 12pm to 1pm) and on Sundays from 1pm to 5pm. The museum is closed on Mondays and selected official holidays.

Admission fee is P100 for children and adults. Faculty and employees of other museums may enter free of charge. Manila residents with valid IDs may enter free of charge on Tuesdays and may enjoy a 50% discount on other days.

Call (632) 523-1797, 523-1798, 536-0595, 400-7558 or fax (632) 522-1246. You can also visit www.museopambata.org.

Photo courtesy of Museo Pambata