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.

SHOTSHOTI

my nephew catching dragonflies in the fields

During my childhood, we used to chase and catch shotshoti* or dragonflies.  We would stick a grass’ stem into their tails so that they couldn’t fly as high and far any longer.  We would usually catch the small ones that fly low on the ground so it was more exciting when we’d see the bigger ones that fly 1-2 meters above the ground and there were plenty of them!

Whenever  our old folks see those dragonflies flying above us, they would say that rainy days are coming or a storm is brewing and I believed them.  Up to these days, whenever I see dragonflies, I am reminded of that old folks’ belief.

Years later, as I was talking with a Science teacher about animals and old folks’ superstitions, I told her about the dragonflies.  She then shared that whenever a storm is brewing or rain is coming, there is a strong pressure in the sky so animals like dragonflies couldn’t fly as high as they could.  Ah, so that explains my old folks’ beliefs.  I think they believed so because they have had years of experience and keen observation skills.

*other terms: sho-sho-ti, shoroti, pi-pi-ngew

OLIT NI NANGENOP

Bangon, bangon ka ina

Ka pan-okan ni ava

Sikdupen ko’d anufan

Isirak ni kovidan

Inaspul ko’s kapitan

Os piyan yos, Os piyan yos

Sedag, sedag ka’n bulan

Mo silvi’y nak pan-akshan

Bato-bato’y katinan

Bolo-bolo’y pashenan

Inteneng nen Kabunyan

Os piyan yos, Os piyan yos

Mahevas’sa mateba

Inenufan ko’d uma

Esemsem si kapitan

Imbetbet to’y kampilan

Avadak i etam-an

Os piyan yos, Os piyan yos

Manbejokbok e shala

Bintik ko’y shenget nen ina

Inufop ko’d ejam-an

Palado’y nangis nen ina

In-avigan to’s kapitan

Os piyan yos, Os piyan yos

In-ayag sha sun Kabunyan

Makavas sha imbungan

Sininop sha’y kaidian

Eshadsak sha impangan

Engkikan pay si kapitan

Os piyan yos, os piyan yos

The song speaks of a hunter who asked his mother to wake up and cook ava (gabi) so he would have a sikdop (packed food) to eat with a meat of a kombilan (female deer) as he goes hunting.  Along his way, he met a kapitan. 

It was early dawn so he had to ask Kabunyan to make the moon light his stony and weedy path and Kabunyan heard his prayer.

He was able to catch a healthy deer and the same kapitan he met earlier got mad (esemsem) (I don’t know why) and hit him with his kampilan.

The hunter was hit in his shoulder.  He then ran for the shenget (headdress) of his mother and used it to stop the bleeding.  His mother cried hard and cursed (in-avigan) the kapitan.  

The people were then gathered and offered a makavas (deer?) to Kabunyan. The people ate well, so did the kapitan.

The Igorots referred to a Spaniard as kapitan. The use of the kampilan by the kapitan in the song proves that the kapitan was not a fellow Ibaloi.   A kampilan is a saber/sword used by 19^th century Spanish soldiers (Ibaloy book, 2011).   If the kapitan was a fellow Ibaloy or a busol (enemy from other Igorot tribes), he would have used an Ibaloi’s sholos or etak (bolo) or other hunting weapon by other Igorots.  

Apart from Dr. Pungayan's article, this is how I understood the song. In this day, the case would have been attempted or frustrated murder(?) and so back then, the leaders of the community had to settle the case. They needed to butcher an animal for the settling of the case that was why the kapitan was also there and ate with the community.  The people were invited to witness the hearing of the case.  The fact that the kapitan ate with the people and with the victim meant that the case was settled and all was well.  That was how the Ibaloys settled cases in the past and to this day in some Ibaloy communities.  This song might have also been written in the latter part of the  Spaniards’ stay in the Philippines where some Spaniards were able to get through some parts of Benguet and settle  with the Ibaloys.  Otherwise, had it happened in the earlier times when the Ibaloys were more aggressive and resistant to the Spaniards, the kapitan (and his men) would have gone to the lowlands without their heads.  Yes, the early Ibaloys were also headtakers, but that's another story.

DOKTO

dokto she dangaja

In the distant past, the staple food of the Igorots was the dokto (sweet potato). Whenever there is a ritual feast, dokto is served as a pintang, followed by a grilled and chopped pork as the demshang.   The rituals usually take time to finish so lunch is, almost always, served late thus the need to serve pintang and demshang.

In households, when there was no available rice, they made do with dokto for a meal(dokto e mayshenon), probably, together with its otdo (tops).  When dokto was not available, aba (taro), ube (purple yam),or katimoro (cassava) may also be used.

Those who were born earlier than the 1970s would claim that they grew up with dokto on their table.  They must have had pitied themselves then for having grown up poor and having eaten less, but now that only a few plant dokto, the Ibaloys crave for it.  So, those who came before us must be luckier because dokto is now rarely served in Ibaloy ritual feasts, weddings, reunions, and other gatherings. Nowadays, some Ibaloy kids eat French fries in fast food restaurants and dokto might be unknown to some of them. 

Dokto is called the ‘sound fruit’ or 'musical fruit' because it makes one fart often.  But isn’t farting one sign of a healthy body?  Whenever somebody is hospitalized, the doctors and nurses would ask, “Have you farted yet?” several times to the annoyance of the patient. 

I remember in classrooms then, whenever a student wasn't paying attention, the teacher would say "Go home and plant camote!"  I say, well, let's plant and eat more dokto indeed! 

Pintang – meal composed only of staple food (inepoy/rice, aba, dokto with no vegetables nor meat (merienda for some)

Demshang – meat eaten alone without rice nor dokto (pulutan)

INENI tan KINAFAS

INENI.  Ineni rice varieties have long stalks and take longer to grow before harvest.  When it rains hard just before the harvest, the rice plants may lie closer to the ground (mayjepes) and it makes it harder to harvest them.  It is more backbreaking to harvest a nayjepes because one has to bend a little to reach for them.  Unlike when they are standing straight, then it is more comfortable harvesting just standing. 

DAKEM.  A small sickle used to harvest the ineni. The dakem cuts one or two rice stalks at a time.  One can just imagine how long it takes to harvest a sankavaneng (one rice field) especially when it is nayjepes.  It usually takes two to three days of aduyon to harvest about 20 kavaneng (20 rice fields).  This might had been one of the reasons that Ibaloy farmers then had big families so that they have had a number of children to help in farm work. 

TINAN-AY.  A bundle of harvested rice or pagey (with its stalk) is called sahey tan-ay tied with the use of a banban (bamboo strip).  The tinan-ay (bundles of rice) are then stored in a daktang (platform made of bamboo) built near the ricefields.  When the tinan-ay are already dry enough (which also means lighter to carry), they are brought to a rice storage near one's house.

AKSIW/SAKWIL/SAKSIL.  A neck yoke: a bamboo bar with its ends a little pointed but blunt, used to carry the tinan-ay from the field to the house (or watwat from the  feast to households).

SAFATAN or ALANG.  The tinan-ay are then brought to a safatan or an alang.  Safatan is a storage above the shahidan (cooking area) where the rice is further dried as it gets heated every time somebody cooks.  Alang or rice granary is a small hut or one-room house separate from the main house. 

TALTAG - When the family needs rice, they bring out some tinan-ay and pound it on a katat (dried cow or carabao hide) or on the ground (concrete for some in the 80’s) until the rice grains get separated from the stalks.  This task is called the taltag. 

TAAP OR TAAPAN.  To make sure that there is just the rice grains (now called irik), the others mixed with it are cast away using a kiyag/digao (winnower).  The waste also now called taep/taap and the rice stalk now called arutang.  The taap and arutang are actually not waste but are used for other purposes.

KU-DAS

KUH-DAS.  The irik is then put to a bajoan/desong (mortar) and pounded again using a bajo/da-do (wooden pestle) until all of the rice grains are peeled and we now have the rice (bekas) separated from the rice hull.  When the taltag is done by two or more persons together in one desong, it really is a sight to see because it creates a rhythm. To cast away the rice hull, one has to use the kiyag again. 

All of the above-mentioned tasks are done by the family members together.  They pound rice together so one household has three to four da-do, otherwise, they borrow from their neighbors.  

KUMPAY

Until the early 80’s I experienced harvesting an ineni rice variety, but with the advancement of Information Technology comes also the advancement in rice technology.  Today, farmers rarely plant an ineni variety but now use a kinafas variety.  Kinafas only takes about three months (or less) before harvest.   The kumpay now takes the place of a dakem.  A kumpay cuts one handful at one time.  Then there’s a machine called a tilyar (thresher) where the rice stalks are fed to it and it does the job of separating the rice stalks and doing the taap as well.  The irik that comes out is already just purely irik.  Then the dried irik is brought to a milling place to separate the rice from its hull.  The harvest of a kinafas rice only takes one day of aduyon, half a day of separating the rice grains from the stalk (TILYAR), one day drying the irik (BIDAG) (if the sun is out the whole day, that is, otherwise, the irik has to be dried the next day again), a few minutes to few hours of bringing the irik to a milling machine depending on the distance of the milling machine from the house, and a few minutes of milling (KISKIS). 

KAFAS

As one might notice, the ineni takes much more number of days to complete all tasks than the kinafas does.  HOWEVER, longer hours and days of work also mean longer hours and days of conversations or adivay.  A lot of conversations go on especially the ani or harvest.  For children, they must have been learning a lot from the exchange of ideas, jokes, and banters from the old folks and farmers.  The kinafas means that work is done faster and everybody works fast to get the job done fast but it also means a limited time for conversation.  Kinafas means that there is time for other tasks in the farm like planting and tending to other crops, having leisure time, a second crop for rice, etc but it also means that there is no longer a need for a dakem, da-do/bajo, katat, desong/bajoan, arutang, taap, aksiw, daktang, koh-das, taltag.  A few more years and all these words will disappear from the Ibaloy language, unfathomable by Ibaloy children.  Worse than this, I think, is that, just like the effect of staying long on facebook and texting the person next to you instead of saying it to his face, Ibaloy families and neighbors have less and less time for each other and no longer find time to REALLY talk to each other.

May the Ibaloys continue to share such stories to their children and grandchildren, not only to preserve the terms but more and hopefully so to make the children appreciate the hard labor their parents and ancestors had gone through, to make them appreciate the blessings they are receiving today as most of them no longer experience such labor in the farm, to have more reasons to talk about and to each other, and to make them be prouder of their Ibaloy heritage.

ADUYON

Aduyon is the system of mutual and reciprocal work (Ibaloy Dictionary, 2011) as when a farmer schedules a day for planting rice (toned), he informs his neighboring farmers about it so they go to his farm to help get the job done in one day, if possible.  He compensates the neighbors’ help by going to their farms on their scheduled day of planting as well.  When there are two heads from a certain household who went to help, he replaces it either with a two-days’ work or sends two persons at one day.  The host of aduyon has to feed those who came, of course,-- morning and afternoon snacks, lunch, and sometimes even dinner.  Other Ibaloi dialects may call it obowan or inatang (from the root word, atang, meaning “help”).

Also synonymous to aduyon is kamal which is defined in the Ibaloy dictionary as a “kind of cooperative work – a gathering of neighbors to help someone who has a heavy-labor project,” as in demolishing a house to build a new one.  The host has to feed the people, of course.  It may also be a community project like road-clearing as weeding or clearing of a landslide after a storm, repair of broken pipeline,  or cleaning the community’s water reservoir.  All these with no pay nor compensation at all.  The food may come from anybody’s contribution.  Aduyon and kamal may be used interchangeably in some Ibaloy dialects.  In the Tagalog language, it is called bayanihan.  In elementary textbooks, this is shown through a picture where the community helps carry a nipa hut that needs to be transferred to another location.

Today, whenever there’s a need for road repair or clearing out the weeds, there’s a cash-for-work project by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) or by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), if the community is lucky, that is.  The government either pays the workers a minimum amount or gives out free food, usually rice from the National Food Authority (NFA) and canned goods and/or noodles (I wonder if the Ibaloys consider the food lucky though, unless the brand of the noodles is Lucky. :D).

In case of farm work, when there are farmers who are done with their toned ahead of the others, they can help out in other farms but then they ask for cash payment since they don’t need help in their farm any longer.  This is called pordiya, maybe from the English term “(paid) per day” or Latin “per diem.”

This is another practice that is slowly disappearing not only in the Ibaloy communities but in other Filipino communities as well.  We observe it though during calamities when there are casualties and Filipinos come out of their way to donate goods and services to those in need.

I hope that the Ibalois and other Filipino communities still practice the bayanihan, aduyon or kamal, even without calamities and tragedies, where we continue to prove and sustain our community spirit.

BA-DIW

BA-DIW SHE KASAL

by Gamboa Alumit in Traditional Beliefs and Practices in Benguet by Biano L. Baucas)

                                                                                  English translation:

Sih-kayo men nan-ngilin,                                          You who are now wedded,                                

It-itneng jo’y bilbilin.                                                Hear all the pieces of advice.                             

kayo on-gasagasat,                                                     You shall have fortunes,

Kayo on-gabagabay.                                                   You shall be progressive.

Angken wara’y nowang,                                             Even if there is a carabao,

Eg mebagke’n ma-owang.                                          It can’t be sent alone to work.              

Angken wara’y baha,                                                  Even if you have a cow,
Eg met laeng mabegka,                                               It cannot be sent for an errand,  

Shi piyan ondawan to.                                                 In places where it should go.

Angken wara’y kabajo,                                              Even if you have a horse,

Eg mabegka’n manbajo.                                            It can’t pound rice for you.

Angken wara’y molmol mo,                                      Even if you have pigs,

Eg mabegka’n mani-mol.                                          They can’t feed other pigs.

Angken shahel i kanshing,                                         Even if you have goats,

Eg ira met mamising.                                                 They can’t cook vegetables for viand.

Angken shakel i manok,                                             Even if you have chickens,

Eg ira mabegka’d Antamok,                                      They can’t be sent to Antamok
Eg-mansayo ni balitok.                                              Where they can pan pieces of gold.

Egto inges i anak,                                                       You cannot compare to children,

Kamon manbu-bongakngak,                                      If they make rhythmic sounds,

Kita ka mandaddadsak.                                              They make us very happy.

                                         

Ba-diw is the most important and most common of the Ibaloi songs and chants.  It is a leader-chorus form of poetry or group prayer where a chant in near monotone is given by a leader and the rest in the crowd repeat some of the leader’s words in a laryngeal, undulating tone, called the etob/asbayat.  The language of the ba-diw uses ancient Ibaloi words and ancient pronunciations.  It also uses synonyms, poetic language and figures of speech.  At festive occasions, it can take the form of repartee.  If someone understands the figurative language of the ba-diw, he might take it up and respond.  A ba-diw should fit the occasion, otherwise, those in the crowd will not do the asbayat but reprimand the leader instead (Ibaloy Dictionary, 2011).

Ba-diw is done on various occasions as weddings, wakes, and ritual feasts.  In ritual feasts and wakes, Kabunyan, the ancestors, the spirits, and/or the dead relative(s) are asked look over those whom the dead has left behind, or the descendants of the ancestors. Elders pray for health, prosperity, longer life, more blessings, more animals to care for, etc.  In weddings, the elders ask Kabunyan and the ancestors to bless the newly-wed. They also share pieces of advice for the couple thru their ba-diw.  Some ba-diw may be funny but given much thought, they may have a deeper meaning. 

NASPET

Children playing in a field of beray grasses.

NASPET –  old enough to be trusted to walk around on one’s own, unwatched – spoken of children; also perhaps figuratively applied to teenagers (Ibaloy dictionary, 2011).

When an Ibaloi mother has to go somewhere and has to leave her baby in the care of a relative, she does so only when the baby is naspet already because she is sure that her baby wouldn’t be crying the whole day looking for her.

But beyond naspet children and teenagers, the Ibalois are truly and fiercely independent and free.  An Ibaloi can build his home on an area where his nearest neighbor could be an hour’s walk or three mountains away and he can survive.  He is not afraid of wild animals (if there still are up to these days) nor of any visitors.  He diligently tills his land quietly and by himself.  He helps his neighbor if he can and asks for help if needs to.  He is free to come, go and do as he pleases, in his own time, in his own space.

As  Claerhoudt had written,  “How peacefully  lives the Igorot in the wild mountains and the hills.  His song may well repeat what the Flemish farmer sings of his misty meadows and fertile fields:   “My land is a land of peace, and of nature – lonesome but free!” (The Songs of a People:  Igorot Customs in Eastern Benguet, 1966).

SALAW

Tapey in a salaw.

SALAW. a porcelain and earthenware jars or pots that were part of a trade from China and mainland southeast Asia to the Philippines over many centuries.  These ceramics were brought up to Benguet from the La Union and Ilocos coasts.  It is especially used not only for making rice wine (tapey), but also for cooling water and salting meat (Ibaloy Dictionary, 2011).

Nowadays, however, less and less Ibalois make their own tapey.  The salaw is then used for other purposes.

Salaw used as an added feature in a garden.

When we entered a small restaurant, we were happy to see this salaw, thinking we could drink fresh and cool water from it.  When we asked for a glass, however, the owners told us, the water there is just used for washing hands.

I hope the Ibalois find the importance of the salaw they have at home and preserve them.

I wonder what the Ibalois used to keep their tapey before the salaw came.

DESIDERATA (Ibaloi version)

Desiderata

Max Ehrmann 1927

 This is my own Ibaloi translation:

DESIDERATA (Ibaloi version)

Pan-ejeng ka she kawa ni nuteng tan biyes, et nemnem mo’y kapya’n meb’din ja wara’d kinek

No mebedin, karaka on-ekdas. Mapteng ni ulay e peki-adi-adivay mo ni emin’na too,

Malodop mo'n ikowan i pudno reshan; tan itnengim e eshom’ma to-o,

Tep angken harama kowan'ey ayshe ashal sha, wara ngo'y ibingay sha.

Kareka mekiadivay she toro’on ngalawngaw tan memassig, ensalipoteng bengat era.

No i-inges mo’y bakdang mo ni eshom, endastog uno mesaktan ka bengat,

Tep wara ni olay e ekah-kah-jang tan ebab’bava say sihkam.

Kenakenas mo’y siged ja dingkam tan shima dag-en mo fay nem kabasan,

Pan-imdeng ka ni olay she obdam, angken ebava;

Siged’da kinabaknang itan she manbaliw ne olay'ya timpo.

Pansilib ka she emin’na dag-en mo, tep napno e duvong ne mapedalo’n too;

Ngem egka kuma mekorab et asen mo pay laeng e mapteng,

Asdeg to pay laeng e mahinpiyan ne masiya et angken towa’n sokong, napno pay laeng e biyag ni kinamaksil.

Sisiged ka.

Importante’n eg mo ipah-din e semek ni to-o son sih-kam,

Tan karam esekshal e semek; tep angken shi sangab ni bitil tan dismaya, wara ne ulay e semek.

Ashal mo e ka-ituro ne endavas’sa timpo et  ibih-jag mo’y kojen ni kaaaneng.

Pakedsang mo’y nemnem mo tep sih-kato’y almas mo no wara’y digat;

Nem egka ngo eshan mannemnemnem ne ngangaaw,

Kelasi’n kinakelsit e dafo’d bedey tan amtiyeng.

Importante nem siged ja disiplina, semek mo e bakdang mo.

Anak to ha ni duvong,  Inges ira’nma kiyow tan talao, wara’y karbengan mo’n wara’d jay.

Mepoot man sun sih-kam ono ayshe, manka-oyad latta e duvong.

Nahol ne mekisaksahey ka sun Kabunian, nganto man ono sifa e pengavat mo sun sih-kato.

Et no nganto man e digat tan kogkogip mo she menuteng ja asangao ni biyag,

Kapya kuma ni ulay e wara sun sih-kam

Angken shahel e oowap, digat tan esharal’la kogkogip, siged latta iya duvong.

Pansilib ka. Pan-imdeng ka!

Iba Loy 2012

Note:  In some versions, instead of "be careful," they have "be cheerful" in the second to the last line.  I followed what's in the video, "be careful."

WATWAT

WATWAT
Inomsiangak jen ekibihat

Balang wa’y may-ahad ja watwat,

Say wara’y isagpaw ni pising

Jen sikdopen ni aanak.

Eki-adivayak iran’ma nangkaama.

Nantetnengak ni bah-diw sha.

Nanbujaak ni tayao tan sarong sha.

Imparas ko fay enolibaw tan engalsa.

Idi inmaharak, kak dinibkan ima watwat

Ja shi sengeg ni kape nak inba-jat,

Nem naha nemnemnema ima adivay ko’d nangkaama

Asdeg to ngo reshan ima watwat jen in-ahan sha!

photo courtesy of Et-chel

Whenever an Ibaloi household hosts a ritual feast, there is usually a WatWat.  The meat is sliced into big chunks and boiled without salt then come eating time, people line up for their 3-4 slices of meat as their viand.  People bring home their leftovers because the WatWat is more than one can eat in one meal.  Then there is the raw meat, called boki,  which is distributed to the whole community whether or not they are in attendance.  Those who attended the feast are asked to deliver the boki to their neighbor who did not attend. 

The WatWat stands for sharing of one's blessings so everybody must bring it home to their own families. It should not be stolen nor given away because everybody in the community gets a share, whether one attends the feast or not. It should not be gambled away either because it is a disrespect to the blessing that is shared. Of course, we also get a lot of takeaways when we have conversations with the community during the feast.

 

I do wish such practices stay with the Ibalois for more centuries to come because we still have a lot to discover and learn from our culture.

watwat/gwatgwat/vatvat/batbat - the distribution of meat to the attendees and non-attendees but are within the community (ka-boki) or are the relatives of the hosts (in this context), it is also one's share of meat itself
boki - raw meat distributed

bihat/bikat - large, prestigious feast