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.

The Igorot Headhunters: Are they really headhunters?

Igorots are known as the head hunters of the Philippines.  They have been mistakenly recognized also as the people who have tails.  By that, people perhaps mean the G_strings that the Igorot men had worn many years ago.

Today, in this modern world, you seldom see any man wearing the G-string except for especial occasions when it is a must use costume..  The G-strings are now considered a thing in the past to the new generation who have never worn the G-string. 

In the olden days, there were parts of the cordillera region where even other Igorots feared and considered places to avoid because of the tribal wars and the belief that some residents kidnap people who are strangers in their place.  We call them "BUSO" which means headhunters who prey on the residents of other places.  There were cases when people just disappeared without a trace and that was what we always feared when we were kids. 

In the 60s up to early 70s, we weren't allowed to travel to distant places except with the company of elders or other people.  There was always the fear of someone waylaying travelers on the way.  It was not advisable for a lone woman to travel.

If you want to read more about headhunting, here’s a link:

The Headhunters of the Cordilleras

The Igorot Tradition for the Dead

Igorots keep the coffins of the dead open until it is ready for internment.  The coffin is usually made by the men from wood materials around.  There are no funeral parlors so the family and the people around help each other in taking care of their dead.

 Different rituals are done from the start of the wake.  Old men have their own way of praying for the dead with the use of rice wine and meat.  The moment the men start their ritual; no one is allowed to talk or even stand up.  It is a very solemn moment and only the men praying could be heard.
 

 We call the blanket PINAGPAGAN.  This is one of the most expensive blankets for the dead of the Igorot Tribes.

The internment:  A priest blesses the dead before it is laid into the resting place.

During the wake, pig is butchered and prepared to feed the people but the most important part here is determining if the bile shows signs of a good omen for the aggrieved family or not.  Only the old men could read what the bile would indicate.  If the men sees something negative, another pig should be butchered.  This is very important since the family of the dead will suffer whatever consequences if the ceremony is  not properly done.   Silence must be observed strictly as the men are performing the ceremony.

Women are in charged of preparing the food to be served.  

Although gambling seems an inappropriate way to raise money to help the aggrieved family. It has become part of the wake.  This is where most of the money comes from.  The percentage cut from the winners is a big help to pay for the expenses incurred.  I will at least lessen the burden of the family.

Nature at Its Best in Mt. Province

As the name implies, Mountain province is a mountainous region rich in natural resources.  The forests are thick with pine trees and other shrubs.  Most of the mountains are still unadulterated.

In my home town, Tadian, Mt, Province, logging is strictly prohibited.

When I visited my hometown in May, 2012, I was amazed to see that it has maintained its green environment when I left it more than thirty years ago.  The pine trees have become thicker and the place was green with vegetation.