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).