This morning we slept in after dancing until midnight at Club Filipino, then closing down our Shangri-La Hotel night club. To our surprise the Club Filipino had a live band, a large dance floor, nine chandeliers, and lots of fun, friendly people. We learned some interesting dances from watching them; like the Paso Doble Line dance, Polka Philippine style and the Chicken dance, yes, the good old chicken dance with proper timing to the music (and we don"t mean "chicken adobo!!"). Also found Argentine Tango to be exceedingly popular in Manila (like every 3rd or 4th dance). We didn’t have a chance to try out the local DIs ( Dance Instructors ) as they were particularly busy that night. For those unaware of the local customs, the clubs employ, what they loosely call, “semi-professional” dancers to dance with the patrons. Nancy danced with one of the DIs who had competed at the Philippine Star Ball, at Maria Handl’s party which she threw at Byke's to celebrate Valentine's day, Chinese New Year, and Lucas’ birthday. The DIs are quite good and keep their un-partnered dancers busy and entertained on the floor.
Now let’s go back a few days, back track and describe what took place starting Tuesday February 16th. After an early breakfast we were whisked away in a van containing all the jolly souls namely, Marie, Paul, Connie, uncle Wes, aunty Sandy and us. The van headed north to the Village of Banaue in the Province of Ifugao, about 217 miles, a nine hour trip on a two lane somewhat mountainous terrain. Having made a few pit-stops along the way, we saw many small towns populated with small mom and pop shops selling their goods. Even though the people in the rural areas seemed poor, but from looking into their eyes one could see their beauty, charm and zest for life. Even the animals seemed happy, as we heard the pigs, dogs, chicken and roosters, yup, beautiful roosters who communicated with one another. Of course, Ivan took the liberty to communicate with the roosters by letting them know who was the biggest rooster of them all! - Ivan did great rooster crows and those fighting cocks were ready to go!!!
As we approached Banaue, we were stopped by Philippine Military Police for a spot check. The police shouldered guns and randomly checked vehicles . But Marie didn’t seemed to be phased by their presence, in fact she asked them if we could take a group picture with them, to which they obliged with smiles on their faces.
We got to Banaue Hotel a bit past 7 PM. This hotel is perched on top of a row of mountains that overlooked expansive rice terraces and valleys - a postcard view. The Banaue Hotel has been operated by the Philippine Tourism Authority since the mid 70’s .
The reason for our trip up north was twofold, first to see the 8th Wonder of the World, and secondly to view the legendary Hanging Coffins of Sakada, a town 3 hours from Banaue.
After checking into our hotel room, we immediately headed for the hotel restaurant for a buffet dinner since we were told that there was to be a performance by the indigenous people of Banaue. These descendants are of the people who first began cultivating rice on the side of the mountains. At about 9:45 PM, 3 older men dressed in their bright red with black and white striped g-string attire came out along with some ladies in their beautiful bright wraparounds, while one lady explained each dance that was to be performed. The dances depicted either a happy occasion like a marriage ceremony, or a victory over an enemy who might have caused them much harm , in which case they would bring the head of one of the enemies which would later be kept in the possession of the family towards whom the atrocity was committed. They also danced to pray for the health and welfare of a sick member of a family. The dances were performed clock-wise in a circle and then counter clock-wise. All done to the beat of tin pans and instruments we weren’t familiar with. The dances usually culminated in a sacrificial offering of some sort of animal(s). Later, they invited certain members of the audience to join in the dance. Of course they could not resist Nancy’s golden locks and quickly pulled her up to dance. those who know Nancy know she is like a sponge, and she was able to carbon copy their footwork and body gestures, like "arm-farting," yes, the good old arm-farting we used to do when we were kids. It was hilarious ! We then called it a night since most of us were tired after the 9 hour-long ride from Manila.
After about 3 hours through a rough ride in the mountains, we finally reached Sagada. Sagada is located over a beehive of caves and tunnels. Each family have their own designated cave where they bury their dead in hanging coffins. The Igarot ritual is when the person dies, they sit the deceased on the chair in front of the door so that the dead person can see the people that come to pay their last respects. The family sacrifices 21 pigs to feed the visiting friends and relatives, as per our tour guide.
They carry the coffin down to the cave entrance in the morning. Later in the day after the visitation, the body is brought and placed in the coffin and a fetal position so that the dead goes out the same way they came into this world. The coffin must remain near the entrance of the cave so that light reaches the spirit of the deceased in order for it to be re-incarnated. This ritual is performed even today !
After the caves, we were ready for a snack. Our guide Luis Santiago took us to Sakada's only bakery, the Lemon Pie House, for some tasty lemon pie and lemon tea, a well deserved treat after a long hike to the caves and the ride through the winding and rough road in the mountains. It almost felt like we were at an English tea party!
Thursday was our last day in Banaue, and after breakfast, we were introduced to June, a local tour guide of Ifugaon descent. He led us to the back of the Banaue Hotel to a village named Totam-An. We walk down about 300 feet to the sound of roosters, pigs and goats. Yes, more roosters for Ivan to crow back at!! As we enter the village, we spotted a couple of dwarf goats resting on the stairs, and Nancy couldn't resist petting them while Connie squealed that she had these very same goats for pets when she was growing up! Marie took a detour around the farm animals, careful not to stampede them! Aunty Sandy was watching her step, careful not to fall while the leader-of-the pack, Uncle Wes blazed forward through the trail. We walked between a mother hen and her 2 day old chicks, and a few village people.
The guide explained that the huts in the village used to be built from local pinewood trees grown in the forest including the straw thatching the roofs. But since over time straw became a shortage, the roofs are now made of tin. The hut was made up of a main floor and an attic. There was a portable ladder to climb up into the hut, inside to the right was cooking area above which the rice was stored to dry with the heat generated from the cooking fire. There were huts where parents and young children slept, while separate huts housed the adolescent girls and boys. During the day, everyone gathered to work in the rice terraces or performed daily chores in the village. We observed that there were some unfriendly pets, particularly the dogs trained to keep guard. Nancy concluded that perhaps the pets sensed that some day they will be sacrificed as an offering to the gods so they were not too happy. Also, we speculate that probably people didn’t want to form strong bonds with animals they freely cooked up for the dinner table! Yipes!
We were invited into a hut where we gathered and June began describing the clothing worn by the Ifugaons. He said that the brighter the colors, red being prominent, the richer the family, the poor usually wore black. This was visible in the dance we saw at the Hotel a couple of days ago. June then asked a young lady of the house to bring out a bag of ancestral bones. She pulled out a bright colored bundle carefully unwrapping the g-string, then unfolding the bright red with black and white striped locally woven material to expose the bones, supposedly of her grandfather.
June explained that the Ifugaon's ritual is to bury the deceased and then dig them up after 3 years, wash and clean the remains and wrap them in blankets to keep them warm and tie them with G-string. After repeating this ritual 3 times, they are buried for good. Each viewing is accompanied by the sacrificing of chickens. If someone in the family falls ill, a shaman is called to diagnose the problem. He will ask to view the skeletal remains of the deceased if he senses the deceased relative is uncomfortable in some way . He will ensure the remains are aligned properly, making equally sure that there are no insects such as cockroaches infesting the remains. If the remains were not be properly aligned, (meaning the skull, shoulders, the vertebrae, ribs and hips bones should be in proper position), if anything is out of position or not cleaned properly, they predict that one of the living members will suffer some form of illness. We were then asked to present a monetary offering which would help the family buy chicken to sacrifice for the souls of the deceased.
The following day, our last day, was spent rallying with vendors for the best bargain - it was shop till you drop at Greenhills before we rounded up to return to our "Shangrila" in Manila. That evening we hit the dance floors of Club Filipino to the tunes of Manila's Big Band!!!!! Can you think of a better way to end our trip than dancing?
THE END !
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