Begnas,an Igorot Celebration

by: Felisa Daskeo

Begnas is pronounced as (buhg - nas)

 This is an Igorot celebration before harvest time.  The old men have the greatest influence on the celebration.  They plan and decide what must be done.
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Begnas is an Igorot community celebration with offerings and sacrifices believed to cause an abundance of harvest.  This is usually celebrated before the harvest time.  Being mostly farmers depending on crops, the Igorots have their own beliefs and practices that make harvest season productive. 


Begnas practiced by the Igorot ancestors was handed down to the next generations who have inherited such practices and even this new technology has not impeded the Igorots to celebrate Begnas.  Just like other cultures, Begnas is as important as life to the Igorots.  This is one of the most important celebrations that Igorots celebrate up to this day.

The Begnas starts with prior meetings of the headmen (composed of the oldest men in town), to plan the different activities of the said celebration. 

Every family head is involved and contributes to the animals to be sacrificed.  The celebration is a community event that involves every household in the community.  Whatever expenses incurred are shared by the community.

At the appointed time, usually before the cocks crow at dawn, people bring their shields and spears and head to the designated place for the purpose on the mountain peak.   A mock tribal war will take place which sometimes cause injuries but treated with unconcern because it is considered a blessing. 

After the mock tribal war, the participating group will walk back to the community while they beat their shields and chant the victory ballad.  At the crack of dawn, the men are already gathered in the Ato, (a special place of meeting for celebrations).  This is the starting place of the Begnas where everyone in the community or barangay is invited to join.  Men, women and the children can participate in the merry-making which includes beating the gongs and dancing the native dances.  Some gather around the Ato and chant the ballads.
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Begnas is one of the most important celebrations in the community or barangay and where every family household is expected to give contributions such as food and wine.  The Igorot wine is called Tapey- wine made from fermented rice.

The celebration usually lasts for three days but it could be extended for days depending on the quality of the pig’s bile which is inspected by the pagan priests after the pig is butchered.  The signs are seen in the bile of the pig according to the pagan priests. 

If the bile shows good signs then the festivity is over but if the priests declare a negative sign, the festivity can extend for a few days with one pig sacrificed every day until the desired bile is seen.

The Begnas requires strict rules.  Nobody is allowed to go to work or leave the community until the bile of the pig meets the satisfaction and judgment of the pagan priests.

Begnas is still celebrated to this day in Igorot communities and barangays.   

Important words:

ato - this is a place in the community used asa venuee for rituals.

begnas - special Igorot celebration as an offering before harvest time.

Copyright 2012 Felisa Daskeo

The Way we Were as Igorots

by: Felisa Daskeo

If you live in the mountains surrounded by rich nature; you will not think of anything else but toil the land to earn a living and live a simple life that you are content with. What makes the Igorots live the way they live is the geographical setting of their place plus the traditions they had inherited from their ancestors.

Igorot villages called barrios or barangays are built away from their places of work. I remember when I was a little girl in the sixties; my parents woke up as soon as the cocks around crowed. When the cocks crowed, every house came alive because they had to cook breakfast early so that they could go to work before sunrise. Rice fields and farms were kilometers away from home and it took the workers some time to trek their way to work. Work included digging the earth to build the rice terraces, planting, weeding, and other farm works.

My father and mother used to go to the farm with my elder siblings very early in the morning. I was left with my younger siblings at home. Another elder sister helped me take care of our younger siblings while the other members of the family went to work on the farm. It was only when I was about nine when I experienced helping on the farm.  And when I did, I enjoyed every bit of it when we weeded the crops, planted rice, corn, peanuts, and bananas and gathered them too when it was harvest time.

My family owned a few heads of cows and goats when we were kids plus a good number of rice fields scattered in a few places. That was a good enough life for an Igorot family in those olden times. I learned life the hard way, ; although we were still very lucky because we never experienced hunger of any kind during those days because we had more than enough crops to last the whole year-round. I remember the first story of our house that was used as a storage room; this room was always full of rice and other harvested crops from our farm. I couldn’t remember how my parents earned money to buy our other necessities, but my guess was that they sold cows or goats. I wasn’t sure. I could still remember the coconut shell that my parents had used as a piggy bank. It was full of old coins and I couldn’t even lift it when mother used to bring it out if she wanted to get something from the old trunk. I’m sure the coins were very valuable.  

My father who used to work in the mines also knows gold panning.  When we went to the farm or to the field, he would stop by a river and try to check the sand if there was an indication of gold presence.  I don’t know how he did it but after some time; we saw some small pieces of gold that he already cooked and was kept in the trunk. 

Igorots are very hard-working people because they had been used to working from dawn ‘til sunset. When we were kids, our parents woke us up before the sunrise. It was considered a sin to wake up at sunrise, and worst if we woke up after sunrise unless we were not feeling well or we were sick. We weren’t allowed to sleep early in the morning except for nap time but even nap time was not a practice of the people in my hometown before.

Igorots love the simple and frugal way of life and the simple things that go with life but they always want a sturdy house and something durable. They do not cater to fashion, arts and anything they consider is just a whim. But where education is concerned, parents could afford to go without shoes or new clothes just to let their kids go to school and finish a degree in universities.

The priority of Igorots is education, a good enough sturdy house, food on the table and land to till. Although land in the mountain provinces is nothing compared to what the lowlanders own; the small piece of land that an Igorot family has is considered a treasure.  This is because our place is mountainous and the narrow terraces were very precious.

There is no doubt that Igorots are one of the most hard-working and frugal people. Although of course, the young generation has now a new lifestyle that they follow. They are already influenced by a lot of factors and they have a life of their own that sometimes go against the old Igorot traditions.

Copyright 2012 Felisa Daskeo

A Glimpse of the Igorot Way of Life

by: Felisa Daskeo


Igorotsare Filipinos who live in the northern mountain provinces in the Philippines but they have their own culture that is a little different from the other Filipinos. Known as very hardworking Filipinos, the Igorots have long been admired worldwide for the work of art they have built in the mountains. The rice terracesthat have stood harsh times for thousands of years are still being built today by the Igorots because this is part of their culture.

In this modern age when most people are using the latest methods of farming, the Igorots are still rooted in the primitive method of farming where they use crowbars and hoes to excavate the mountains in order to terrace them so that they could plant crops of different kinds.

One of the unique characteristics of the Igorots is their skill in building stonewalled rice terraces. In their expertise with the craft, the rice terraces have stood earthquakes and typhoons without being eroded.  Most of the rice terraces have not changed since they were built by the Igorot ancestors, and they are still beautifully crafted around the mountains up to this day.

The Igorots are one of the most versatile people around that you can see.  Known as uncivilized, ignorant and tailed people to some Filipinos, the Igorots take the discrimination lightly and instead take it as a challenge.  

Although Igorots still embrace their culture, their lifestyle today has switched to different flow and follows a modern way of life.  The young generations are not anymore keen on observing the traditions, practices, and beliefs.  They are now modernized and live a life just like the other Filipinos.

Except for the rice terraces and some primitive practices, the new Igorot generation has blossomed into the new world and transitioned to a modern lifestyle.   You could go around the Igorot communities and find the new generation using the latest model iPhone, iPod, cellphone, and laptop.  And to top it all; in every household, you can find diplomas crowding the walls.

The Igorots are one of the groups of Filipinos who can speak the English language very well. And what’s very surprising, the old men and women speak better English than their Filipino language.

It seems ironic that the Igorots who are often branded by other people as the ignorant and primitive have the knack of the English Language and to top it all, the elderly people have a more understanding of the English Language than the Filipino Language. My grandfather, who was born in the late “1880s and died in 1971, loved to read books. I could still clearly remember how he used to sit at the foot of our ten-step stairs holding an English pocketbook and reading it while we played with grasses, flowers and other things available around. That was in the 1960s and ‘70s. My father’s uncle who died at the age of more than a hundred in the mid ‘90s was still a puzzle in my mind. Although he could not read books and magazines, he loved holding them and scanning them.

While Igorots are discriminated up to this modern day, they could gladly say that they have a lifestyle that they can proudly expose to the world.  The knowledge that Igorots have are far wider than what other people know.  They are educated, learned and modernized.

And I am reminded of my late father and I smile when I think that in the middle of the rice fields where he used to work, my father used to bring with him an English magazine that he read when he had his lunch break from excavating the mountain to build the rice terraces.  And this was not the year 2012, but in the 60s.

Copyright 2012 Felisa Daskeo

BINANGI - the traditional Igorot House

by: Felisa Daskeo

The traditional house of the Igorot, called the “BINANGI” is a thatch-roofed 4 poster house that has no windows except for a small opening at the roof just in front of the door for the air to pass through.  The interior of the house is dark made even darker by soot caused by smoke from the hearth and the kind of lamp being used.

BINANGI- the traditional house of the IGOROTS

In the olden days, Igorots use the “Saleng” a kind of wood from an aged pine tree that works like the torch, for lighting purposes.  This is why the walls of the houses are black with soot.

Today, almost everything traditional has been wiped out by the new technology.  Nobody is using “SALENG” anymore, not even the very old folks in town are using saleng at home; instead, electricity has made lighting the house very easy with just the press of a finger.  Flashlights came also very available.

The houses today inTadian are like this.

What’s very sad, I only saw two “BINANGI” houses in town when I visited our town last May 2012.  This means that the Igorot traditional way of life is already vanishing and the new technology is taking place.

This is sad because the coming generation does not know anymore what life was all about in the olden days.  Culture is very important as a part of life and supposed to be preserved for the future generation to see.  The “BINANGI” that are left standing will perhaps stay for as long as the owners will not replace them with concrete houses.  But if the thatch roofs are not replaced, the roofs will fall down to the ground after many years.  And that will be the end of the “BINANGI” in my town.  

People of today love to live in houses that are big and sturdy.

I have never experienced living in a BINANGI.  I was born in the 60s but our house was already a two floors house built with lumber and GI sheets.  Our neighbor who used to live in a BINANGI loves to tell us that their house is warm when the weather is cold and cold when the weather is hot.  She was right and I had proven it true when I went inside their BINANGI house and I sniffed the fresh cool air.  

The thatch roof plus the walls and floors made of thick lumber is what makes the Binangi house cool.  Having a Binangi house today is next to impossible because everybody loves concrete houses embellished with all the beautiful materials inside.

As for the two binangi houses, I’d be very happy if they are left to stay and preserved for the future generations to see and appreciate.

by: Felisa Daskeo
Copyright 2012

The Footprints of Kabunian Embeded on a Rock in Tadian, Mt. Province

by: Felisa Daskeo

Tadian, Mt. Province is one of the very quiet towns in the northern part of the Philippines, this is the place where Kabunian- the Igorot God was believed to have stepped down because he left footprints on a big rock.  Just like the many other towns in the Philippines, Tadian has also its share of folktales, beliefs and practices.  Because the olden times were primitive times, people didn’t write stories.  They were merely related from mouth to mouth.  Most of the stories were told by the old men and women and nobody dared wrote them and made books about them.

Look closely at the center part and you can see the a pair of footprints.  The left footprints have the holes on the toe part.

The Footprints of Kabunian (The Igorot God), has been told and retold several times by the old folks of Tadian Mt., Province.  

The story goes that, in the very olden days some old men who were gathered in a place called Bimmukod witnessed a very strange sight.  The old men gathering in a certain place is a normal situation in Tadian as the old men often gathered together in a certain place in order to settle disputes or talk about some very important matters because in those olden times, the old men were the law and they were the wise men who talked about problems in the community and offered solution or else settled them.

If you look closely, the footprints are there but they are obscured by the dirt.

It was told that suddenly, the men were disturbed by the sudden appearance of a man from out of the blue.  He was a very strange man; described by the old men as foreign looking, tall, huge with a very fair complexion.  The man just came out from a place they called “Liang”.  Liang means a very shallow cave.  There is a big rock here and below it is a very shallow cave. 

Look at the little holes.  Those are the toes.

No one saw where the stranger came from, but they spotted him first in Liang.  The men merely watched in awe and shock as they were blinded by the glittering hair of the man and his shining clothes.  With a walking cane and a dog, the men recognized him as Kabunian.  The stranger walked to the rice paddies with fast strides, then disappeared in the woods and was never seen again.

Shocked but still conscious, the men went to see the big rock where the man was first spotted and to their amazement; they saw fresh footprints embedded on the rock.  The man left footprints on the hard rock, which was impossible for an ordinary man to do.  This time the men have proven that the man was no ordinary man and that he was Kabunian because what normal man could leave footprints on a rock?  Only Kabunian, their God, is capable of leaving an indelible sign.  There were big footprints embedded on the rock with the traces of the dog's footprints too and the cane being stuck on the rock.  All these were tangible signs of Kabunian's visit to the place.

And so the story of the old men who witnessed the passing of Kabunian and his dog in Tadian was handed down from generation to generation until I heard it and I thought it was worth writing for the people to learn that there are some events that are like fairy tales but there is proof that the story of the strange man has really happened a long time ago.

The footprints on the rock are still there, ; embedded and had stood the harsh times but marred by the passing of time.  When we were small kids, we always went to play on the big rock and I can still remember clearly that the footprints then were still clearly embedded on the rock.  The last time I visited the place in May 2012, the footprints were not any more prominent.  They were obscured by accumulated dirt and weathering, but the big footprints are still there and you can notice them when you look closely.  The sizes of the footprints are too big for a normal Igorot man.  The footprints are too large.

Kabunian who was believed to have stepped down in Tadian, Mt. Province may have been watching the place for a long time until he finally left the place for good.  Where?- nobody knows but the people believe that Tadian, Mt. Province is a blessed place visited by Kabunian.  

The strange man was never spotted again and the people concluded that it was really Kabunian who passed by the place.

Basing from the many stories that circulated for perhaps hundreds and hundreds of years, Kabunian always held a cane and was always accompanied by his dog.  

Copyright 2012 Felisa Daskeo