PEDO

Pedo speaks of disaster that elements bring in response to human misbehavior, e.g., “Onpedo kono’y mengi-ngi-an ira’y sibibiag’ga kompormi.” (trans:  Making fun of any living animal can cause disaster) or “No mapkes i shagem’ma ayshi’y oran, shaka ikowan, “Pinmedo emo.” (trans:  If there is strong wind, without any rain, they would say, “It’s probably provoked by what Tokshol did.” (Ibaloy, 2011).  In Dr Pungayan’s Baguio Midland article (July 7, 2013), when the powek (typhoon) goes beyond its "regular" behavior, it is already called pedo.  Pedo has more rain, stronger wind, and longer duration than the powek, resulting in floods, slides, etc. as it sometimes lasts for weeks, or even months.  The Pedo is interpreted as an ‘expression of anger’ by the Unseen One over some misdemeanor committed by children (or adults!) in some games; or while playing e.g. ‘cruelty’ to a captured rat, laughing at a pitiful cat, ‘setting-to- combat’ two innocent spiders, etc. To this, adults would say, “Karajo ngi-ngi-ngi-an ga! Onpedo!” (Don’t you laugh at it, onpedo!). 

A farmer somewhere in Benguet has a farm where some of his not-so-good neighbors steal some of his organic produce.  He did everything to shoo away the thieves but to no avail.  One thing he did was to put snakes into his farm, but the snakes later left one by one either in search of a more forested area, or the neighbors ate them, too!  Pulutan!  So he thought of other ways.  One day, when he went mountain climbing and saw a cave of skeletons, he got some of it and placed them in a sack and brought them home. He hang the skeletons in his fruit trees and in other inconspicuous areas. True enough, while one of the neighbors tried to pick some oranges one night, he saw a skeleton staring at him and ran for his life.  The skeletons succeeded in driving the thieves away.   However, not many days passed when it started to rain in the area, then it rained some more, then the rains lasted 3 months, non- stop.  Pinmedo.  The farmer got scared to death as well so, he returned the skeletons into the cave where he got them.  Some Ibalois would have set a canao to express their apology but anyhow, the rains stopped.   

KALON

If a man happens to like a woman, he asks the help of the elders in the community then they go to the woman’s house and the elders help convince the woman to marry him.  Or the elders may ask a man whom he wants to marry and they go to that woman's house.

In the woman's house, the elders take turns in persuading the woman to accept the man for a husband. They stay for hours and would not leave until the woman accepts the man or until they are fully convinced that the woman is serious in turning him down.  The elders would be drinking wine (to keep themselves awake, too) while persuading the woman and would ask her to drink, too.  If the woman accepts the glass of wine and takes a sip, it is as good as saying that she accepts the man, even if she is not aware about what it means to take a sip.  So, for some mothers, they would warn their daughters about it, especially if they know that their daughter does not want the guy.   

Some people would jokingly say that in order to make the woman “say yes,” the elders do the kalon at night and stay until the wee hours of the morning so that when the woman nods off to sleep in her seat, the elders would take it to mean that the woman agrees. 

 As soon as the woman says yes, the traditional marriage rites, caIled ngilin, is done right away.  Pigs and/or a water buffalo or a cow is butchered.  During the ngilin, the elders do the bah-diw where the elders ask the spirits, the ancestors, and the gods to bless the marriage. They also chant their advice to the couple on how to keep their marriage.

In other communities where the ngilin is not done right away, the elders agree on the date of marriage but they still butcher a pig.  The butchering of the pig 'seals and celebrates the deal'  and I think that it also announces to the community that the woman can’t be courted by anybody else anymore.  If, days before the wedding, the woman changes her mind, she has to pay the pig that was butchered during the day of kalon.  I am not sure though what happens if it’s the man who backs out of the agreement.

I witnessed a kalon in the 1980’s. One time, my cousins and I were in a relative’s wedding where we had conversations with a guy from a neighboring town.  The following week or so, I saw the same guy in my cousin's house.  He brought with him some elders who helped him persuade my cousin to marry him.  They stayed until the wee hours in the morning until my cousin finally consented to the betrothal. They  then butchered a pig and agreed on a wedding date. My cousin was about to go abroad during that time so she requested the guy to wait until she comes home. As of this writing, they have three kids and two grandchildren.

These days, kalon is no longer practiced, or at least none that I’ve heard of since the 1990’s.  Young Ibaloys can now choose who to love, court, and marry.  I wonder if kalon would work better at keeping marriages than love marriages.  What do you think? 

ADIVAY

Adivay is to pay one a visit, have fellowship with, keep someone company, have fun, and/or the coming together of (Ibaloy dictionary, 2011).  Adivay happens in weddings, ritual feasts, wakes, festivals, etc. where people stay in groups and share a good laugh over their jokes, stories, and anecdotes, they talk about genealogies, tease each other, discuss social issues or current events, join in the bah-diw, dance in the Tayaw or Bendian, sing songs, play games, etc.    Adivay brings people together.  It strengthens relations among relatives and the community. 

When somebody visits a sick friend or a relative whom he hasn't seen for long while, it is also called adivay.  My mother used to say, "Nak ka adivayen si auntie Mahaysha." and she would bring balat (bananas), pangshan (pineapples) or pising (gabi leaves) with her.

With the advancement of communications technology and with the "busyness of life" however,  people rarely visit each other and make adivay.  Relatives and friends are now just a text or phone call away and adivay also taken a new form - conversations on facebook.  When in a good and/or funny thread, an Ibaloy would comment, "Mapteng adivayan jo'd jay a." (You have a good adivay here).  There are fewer and fewer canaos being hosted by families as well, it being expensive and for others, it is against their faith.  

To give the Benguet people more opportunities for adivay, the Benguet Adivay festival is held every November and the municipalities hold their own Adivay festivals as well.  I-Benguets abroad also synchronize their Adivay fest to that of Benguet's back home. Clans also stage reunions for relatives to meet at least once a year or once in two years and make adivay.   This way, the best practices in the Ibaloy culture remains among the Ibaloy children (I hope).  Kalejo, man-aadivay!

OWIK

photo courtesy of Et-chel

Owik is the ceremonial way of killing a pig, thrusting a pointed stick (also called the owik itself)  into the side of the pig and into his heart (Ibaloy dictionary, 2011) so that the blood comes out.

When the pig is butchered, the pig has to face towards the east (badalan).  The reason could be the same reason as the Muslims face the east whenever they pray and the Ibaloys believe in it, too. 

Owik signals the beginning of the ritual feast.  When the owik gets into the pig’s heart, the pig is supposed to “cry” out loud (onpalak) and produce a lot of blood, otherwise, it is a bad omen for the ritual and for the hosts, so the mambunong would ask for another pig to be butchered, unless he has prayer that will soma (antidote) the bad omen.

The cry of the pig is also a way to call the neighbors.  In the past where there were no mobile phones and the nearest neighbor could be 1-hour’s walk away, it takes a lot of time to invite the nearest neighbor.  So if the neighbors hear the pig’s cry, they go where the pig’s palak is coming from, not only to eat but to help in the preparations for the feast, to take a share in the watwat and most importantly, to mingle with their kaits (meki-adivay).

SIMENG

To lose one’s way, get lost, as one who walks in circle in a forest (Ibaloy book, 2011).

Ibaloys do have plenty of stories regarding angel/banig (ghosts), timongaw (malevolent spirits), ampasit (spirit owner/nature spirit), or eg mah-sas (unseen) and a lot of Igorot rituals have something to do with these suprabeings.  There’s this one kind of spirit that causes one to get lost, going in circles in one place even though the person is very familiar with it.  Old folks say, if one experiences this, he has to take off his clothing then he’ll find his way.

I heard a lot of stories on simeng and one of my brothers experienced it when he was young.  He used to taunt ghosts, saying he was not afraid of them. One night, as he was on his way home, he suddenly couldn’t find his way. Apparently, he had been going in circles at one place until he remembered he had to undress.  As we couldn’t find an explanation to this, some say that when one undresses, the banig would laugh at the naked man and would forget about what he has done to him.  It might be a joke but true enough, my brother suddenly found his way as soon as he was naked.  He never taunted ghosts after that.

MARAPAIT

Whenever I’m on a bus winding up or down Palispis Highway (formerly Marcos Highway, the La Union part is called Aspiras Highway), I enjoy looking at the mountains and count how many colors there are. There are lots of embasa/aneng/malapising (green), of course, and patches of pakak/sampiro/biyolik (violet), agay/nak-kit/kakaw (brown), embalenga (red), empoti (white), aposas/afosasa (pink), and plenty of diyaw/shoyaw ( yellow), courtesy of the wild sunflowers or marapait as we call it in my hometown. In contrast to the sunflowers grown in homes, wild sunflowers are highly branched with small flowers.  Of course, wild as they are, they are not grown in Igorot homes but are just enjoyed as seen in mountains or along the road. 

Farmers say that marapait kills other plants around them because of their high acidity content.  Some organic farmers chop the leaves and stem and use it as fertilizer.  Back in my grade school days, we used their leaves to make our classroom floors shiny.  When we didn’t have a supply of floor wax, we would get marapait and “whip” them on the floor until the floor becomes really shiny and slippery.  I wonder if this may be reintroduced in schools as a part of “going back to basics” and in helping preserve the environment? J

WILES/GWILES/PEKPEK

Gwiles or Pekpek is a ritual carried out when a couple had sex before their wedding ceremony or ngilin (traditional wedding). It is performed by a mambonong (ritual priest) away from the site of the ngilin. A dog or a piglet is butchered (and a prayer is said, of course) (Ibaloy book, 2011).  In the absence of a mambonong, any elderly may lead the ritual.

Recently, in some Ibaloy communities, it is done on the day of the wedding itself.  In the 1980's, I’ve seen such ritual at my cousin’s wedding.  They butchered a botbotog (piglet) where the sakmaw was (temporary shelter; in weddings, it is  used for dancing), which was about 50 meters away from the bride’s house.   I heard another cousin tease the bride saying, “Ngantoy jen wara’y pekpek? (Why was there a pekpek?) so I suspected that my cousin was pregnant but I didn’t understand then what the ritual meant. When I asked Mr. Picaro, an uncle and an elderly in our town, to talk further about pekpek, he shared that a chicken or an egg may do these days, then they just bury the egg in the area where the ritual is done.  When one of my nieces heard our discussion, she mentioned that she didn't notice it being done during her wedding, then my brother exclaimed, "Oh, we did! I approached him (Mr. Picaro) and reminded him about it so we did, just the two of us, in one corner" to which my niece laughed and replied, "Ah-ah, salamat ngarud a, uncle!" :D 

Some people say that gwiles/pekpek means cleansing.  I guess its purpose is similar to a Catholic wedding where the couple is asked to go to confession before the ceremony takes place.

 Aside from cleansing, I think wiles serves another purpose which is to announce to the world that the couple had already had sex and that the bride might be pregnant so that when  she gives birth in less than 9 months after the wedding, people wouldn’t be surprised and talk about it anymore because everybody knows.  Wiles, therefore, prevents gossip among the Ibaloys and it preserves the good relations among them.  The community already knew and accepted the truth beforehand and there’s no need for gossip.  The wiles may not be a Christian practice but its purposes make a true and better Christian out of everybody in the community.

Notes:  Ngilin has other meanings aside from being a traditional wedding ceremony.
Pekpek is the term used in Sablan while gwiles in other Ibaloi communities.