Like Manny Paquiao, I am a Filipino but I think I am much better in English than him hehehe... I was born in Baguio City, Philippines. The Philippines is an archipelago country located in South-East Asia. It is made up of 7,107 islands. It is the 12th most populous country. It is a former colony of Spain and the United States. There are many languages used by the people but the primary language used is Tagalog. I speak 3 languages- Tagalog, Ilokano and English. Spanish language was also the language used and taught to the people here in the past but it was abolished and instead the English language was chosen to be taught as another language to the people. Baguio City is located in Benguet and Benguet is a part of Cordillera Administrative Region or CAR. CAR is a mountainous region. It is composed of five states namely Benguet, Ifugao, Mt. Province, Abra and Kalinga formerly called BIBAK. They changed Bontoc to Mt. Province.
Baguio City is originally built by the Americans. It was declared the Summer Capital of the country. The weather here is cool and cold. I don't know but when I was a kid, they say it has won the "cleanest and greenest" title among the cities of the country. There are many tourist spots that you can go here. You can find the "Banaue Rice Terraces" in Ifugao which when I was young, I think it was considered one of the seven wonders of the world.
The "Ifugao Rice Terraces" was originally hand-made by intelligent people called "Igorots". During the Spanish regime, almost all of Philippines was colonized except the Cordillera which was home to the Igorot people. Igorots have big and muscular bodies. They are strong and ferocious at war which made them hard to be colonized by the Spaniards.
The Igorot people of Cordillera is composed of many tribes. I know some of their cultures like the "Caniao, Fegnas, Dono and tribal wars. In Caniao, Fegnas and Dono, they butcher animals and prepare for a feast for the people and they perform the sagni or their cultural dance with the sounds and beats of their gongs. Igorots are rich in culture. I know because I'm an Igorot myself. Once, I went to Sadanga, Mt. Province in a place called Betwagan. They are having a Dono. They invited people from different tribes and they butcher carabao's, cows, chicken, pigs and some native dogs but not foreigner dogs. They let the people feast and let them drink rice wine or basi- it is dark in color and makes you drunk when drinked heavily. There were many people in Betwagan that day. We went house to house even if we don't know who the residents were and in each house we were welcomed and they served us food and drinks. I was very full that day. My teeth was aching because of eating too much meat. It was a great day but the only thing that is different which caught my attention is that I saw that the heads of the animals they butcher were left hanging in posts beside their house. I think if a house has many animal horn or hunger pang bones like the carabao, pig, native dog or a cow, it shows their status in the community.
What I know about the tribal war culture is that it is a war between two tribes because a people or a person from another tribe killed someone from another tribe or a tribe is claiming a part of a land which is not theirs but they insist that the land is their land so the tribe that owns the land declares war. I think they call tribal war between two different tribes as "bodong" and if it is a war amongst the people of the tribe because of a misunderstanding, it is called "peden or pechen". Tribal war will be over when there is what we called "peace pact" where both tribes who were at war gather in peace and feast and they declare a peace pact between the two warring tribe. I think some parts of the Cordillera still have tribal wars but the local government is trying their best to stop this culture and instead promote peace to the region.
One of the famous tourist spot here in the Cordillera is the Hanging Coffins located in Sagada, Mt. Province.
Another tourist destination is Mt. Pulag in Benguet. You can see the top of the mountain here on this pic.
What I know is that there are many hot springs here in Cordillera. I have been in "maatong" in Sadanga. Their are many caves and waterfalls also that many tourists visit. Their are also well preserved mummies that can be seen on ancient burial sites. I think there is a Cordilleran Museum in Baguio City where you can study and watch about the Igorot culture.
Aside from tourist destinations, there are also many festivals done in the Cordillera. One is the famous Flower Festival named "Panagbenga" done in the month of february in Baguio City. They have many programs done in february in Baguio City. One is beauty pageant contest, body building contest, battle of the bands, selling of different things, street parade, flower parade, etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment