by: Felisa daskeo
I was still a very young girl when I learned the value of each grain of rice. Being farmers with narrow rice fields terraced on the mountains, rice was never abundant in my hometown.
The rice harvest every year was just enough consumption for the Igorot families before the next harvest season came.
So when we dropped a grain of rice while eating, my mother’s father would always remind us to be very careful not to drop any grain of rice because rice is very important. It was a big sin to my grandfather to drop rice on the floor.
I was still a very young girl when I learned the value of each grain of rice. Being farmers with narrow rice fields terraced on the mountains, rice was never abundant in my hometown.
The rice harvest every year was just enough consumption for the Igorot families before the next harvest season came.
So when we dropped a grain of rice while eating, my mother’s father would always remind us to be very careful not to drop any grain of rice because rice is very important. It was a big sin to my grandfather to drop rice on the floor.
My grandfather valued rice just like how the modern woman values diamonds. He never wanted to see rice scattered on the floor or the table; not even a grain of rice. Igorots are heavy rice eaters because they are hard workers too. They need lots of energy to till the land that produces rice.
Rice is the staple food of Filipinos, especially the Igorots who work so hard every day in those days tilling mountains and building them into rice terraces. Perhaps the new Igorot generation would even wonder how the rice terraces were built because today, most of the young Igorot generation has evolved into the modern world of technology and they are now outside the mountainous confines of Mountain Province, enjoying an air-conditioned room.
Looking back and reminiscing about the past with my grandfather brings me back those fond memories and those words that were so valuable to me. When I look at the present situation where hunger is rampant in many areas around the world; I always think of my grandfather’s teachings when we were kids. “Do not waste anything because everything has an end.”
True as my grandfather said, life is getting harder and harder and food is getting scarcer and scarcer. Hunger is experienced in many countries, especially in the third world countries, and I always remember that “ONE GRAIN OF RICE” is very important. If each person could save a grain of rice a meal, then it means there will be more people to have food.
My grandfather was right, and I will always treasure his teachings.
Copyright 2011 Felisa Daskeo
Copyright 2011 Felisa Daskeo
I'm guessing what type of rice that you have been eating as a young girl - red rice! I also love it for its nutritional value!
ReplyDeleteI think wasting a grain of rice isn't only practiced in our igorot culture but on other countries as well. A grain of rice wasted becomes a mole on a relatives face - I'm not sure which group of people believed in this.
I'm guessing what type of rice that you have been eating as a young girl - red rice! I also love it for its nutritional value!
ReplyDeleteI think wasting a grain of rice isn't only practiced in our igorot culture but on other countries as well. A grain of rice wasted becomes a mole on a relatives face - I'm not sure which group of people believed in this.