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.