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

The Enchanted Eels of Cagubatan

by: Felisa Daskeo

The place looks like the place in a fairy tale with fogs usually covering the place especially during cold days plus a mountain peak towering it.  Cagubatan, Tadian Mt. Province is one place that you should go and visit for a change.  A peaceful Igorot village in an equally nature-rich place, this is the perfect place to unwind and be closer to nature.  Now that it is 2012 it is easy to reach the place through land transportation; unlike when we were kids when we needed to walk to reach the place.

Mugao- Cagubatan, Mt. Province

 

Cagubatan is what we call Sunnyside.  It is where Mr. Sun shines first and where rain often comes from before it reached our town.   When I was a kid, we often raced with the rain coming from Sunnyside. Once we heard the sound of rain rushing to our town, we ran as fast as we could to our homes before the rain-soaked us. Sometimes the rain came but sometimes it just stopped and didn't reach our place.

Rice Terraces

Towering the place is a mountain peak called Mugao believed to be once upon a time an active volcano.  It has died and been extinct for perhaps hundreds or thousands of years- nobody could tell even the oldest man that I have spoken to said that Mugao was already there when he was born.

Read what the Cagubatan people have to say about the eel or DALIT.

 In this high-tech world nobody would believe in superstitious beliefs and tales from the old men and women.  Back then, I have always heard of stories from my grandparents, my father and other old men and women.  These stories had circulated for perhaps hundreds or thousands of years and had been handed down from generation after generation perhaps some were true- who would have known, all those who have told the stories were already long time dead and silent in their graves.  But Mugao is still standing as powerful as it used to be like a monument guarding the place.  

You can poke a stick with a bait to let the eel come out.

Back home, when I was a little girl, I often watched Mugao in our window.  It was like a painting on the wall and I loved it.  

There, you can see how big it is and how healthy.

What’s more interesting is that at the foot of Mugao, there is a creek inhabited by eels that people believe are enchanted eels.  When I was a young girl I heard a story about a man who tried to catch one of the eels and ended up only hurting the eel. The eel survived but became blind in one eye.  The man who hurt the eel they said died.  Another story goes that there was a family who ate an eel from the creek and they also died.  From then on nobody ever attempted to hurt or catch the eels for food.  The creek was opened to the public for eel viewing only.  If you poke a stick with a bait, the eels come out and show themselves to the viewers. 

Have fun viewing.

Some people believe that the eels have wings and that they travel at night to other places.  There was one time when one eel was found in another village which was several kilometers away from the said creek.  The question is, how could the eel have possibly traveled that distance when it has no wings?  This is the reason why people strongly believe that the eels have wings and that they are enchanted.  The scientific explanation of the event is the possibility of the eel having traveled that far through the water table.  Whatever is the answer, the folks around the creek strongly believe in the eels being enchanted.  The eels are believed to have lived hundreds of years, which validates their being enchanted.

Cagubatan’s eels will live years and years and people will keep visiting them.  Enchanted or not, the truth remains that the eels of a long time ago are still there and alive.  The strong belief of the people around that these eels are enchanted and must be left alone to breed in the creek is what is making the enchanted eels safe and alive forever.

Copyright 2012 Felisa Daskeo

One Grain of Rice Means a Life Saved

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.

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

The Importance of Rice Wine to the Igorot Family

Making rice wine is one of the important chores that an Igorot must learn in the olden days.  Not so much now because there are already too much wine in the stores that could be bought for consumption.  The rice wine is one of the necessities that an Igorot family must have in the house.  This is part of their tradition.  As a custom, the rice wine is used when old men and women pray to the spirits.  It is very important then to have rice wine always ready.  The belief that the spirits around have something to do with circumstances happening in the community is part of the Igorot life and those who are rooted to the beliefs and practices never forget to talk to their dead when someone gets sick or something wrong is happening.  This is where the rice wine comes in handy.

I often thought that the rice wine that my parents dutifully made when I was a young girl was only for drinking but I soon realized that it is more than just that.



Being an educated woman didn't change my beliefs as an Igorot.  There are some practices that I cannot forgo because I believe that they are very useful in my daily life as well as they seem to protect  me from the evil things around.  I am a Roman catholic but that doesn't mean that I have forgotten my own pagan beliefs.

I grew up watching my elders pray to the spirits we call "Anito" and to our dead ancestors and relatives.  Perhaps it would sound weird and to some funny and primitive but I have strong faith in the power of what people believe.  My father always prayed for us using a glass of rice wine or any wine available when we got sick.  And it really worked.

These plus many more practices, beliefs, traditions, customs have become a part of my life that even when I moved to the city and finished my college education, I still made them very important part of my daily existence.

A Beautiful Mountain Peak believed to be Once a Volcano

I grew up believing that the mountain below my hometown was once a volcano.

We call it Mugao in our dialect which in English means a "PEAK".

It is an extinct volcano according to our old folks and in fact even our old folks who have reached hundred years and have already passed away a long time ago haven’t seen the mountain peak alive to prove that it really was a volcano once.

 Perhaps it was once a volcano that became extinct hundreds or many thousands of years ago.

The mountain stands proudly overlooking the many villages surrounding it.  In fact it is here near this mountain peak where a small pond with 3 eels believed to have existed hundreds of years. 

Design

When we were kids, we loved to go to the place and watch the eels swim and hide from us.  They seem to know when people were around them.  People around the place took care of the eels very well and forbade kids from hurting them and fishing them for food because they believed that the eels were spirits that cast spells to people who hurt them.  These eels are enchanted according to the villagers.

The people around the place almost adore the eels.

The mountain peak is not so high but it is a lovely peak which is a good climbing spot for mountain climbers.  The mountain is a rocky one so it is impossible for big trees to grow and only shrubs and grasses could be seen on it.