Celebrating merry March and April

HAPPY WEEKEND

Gina Dizon

I like the months of March and April. It’s the time of the year when the first rains come.  It signals spring when leaves turn green and the once dreary look of the dry months of November to March become lively again. 

                Rain water brings joy to plants  and washes dirt off backyards and front yards which have gone unwashed for quite some time.  The first rains also wash off dirt and stench on the streets and pathways.  The air smells cleaner and the world becomes easier to breathe and meditate on.

                With spring comes festivities.  It’s a time to rest, give thanks to God and celebrate. I guess town fiestas and festivals which fall March and April have something to do with agricultural cycles when the planting season begins and ends and signals a time to celebrate the ending or the planting of crops.

                March and April signal the time when rice plants have already been transplanted and have these ready for harvest come July. It’s a time to celebrate the customary ending of the planting of rice at the time of the year for the first cropping for those who have two croppings. 

                First rains during these months also mean planting beans and corn and peanuts.  It’s a time to celebrate the planting of seeds to be harvested come August or September.

                And so we witness in March, festival celebrations  almost simultaneously observed in Besao for their  town's Ubaya festival, Sabangan for their  Gagayyam  Festival, the Begnas Festival in Bauko and the town fiesta  celebration and Ayyoweng  Festival in Tadian.

                Natonin also has its Sas-aliwa Festival in April and so with neighboring KadaklanBarlig which observes its Menaliyam Festival third week of April.  For Ifugao, Ducligan Barangay of Banaue has its Ayangan Summer Festival on April 16 while the municipality of Banaue has its Urpih Ad Banaue April 26-27. The town of Kiangan holds its Gotad Ad Ifugao and its town fiesta  end of April to first days of the week of May. 

                Neighboring Benguet also holds its Adivay festival March third week and Kabayan its Bendian Festival April 28 to 30. While other  municipalities must have been influenced by other  events like the presentation of  Jesus Christ at the Temple done simultaneously with the  celebration of Sagada’s town fiesta every first  week of February  now called  Etag Festival.

                And for these early months of the year, we have also witnessed the coming together of tribes of Mountain Province. The first week of April coincidentally falls at a time when the Lang-ay celebration is co-celebrated with the foundation day of Mountain Province April 7.

                Five major tribes of  Mountain Province- Applai and  Kankanaey from western Mountain Province, Baliwon and Balangao of eastern Mt Prov, , and Bontoc tribe of  Bontoc and Sadanga- come together during this  wonderful time of the year when  Mountain Province  historically  was made a separate  province from the old Mountain Province composed  of  the six sub-provinces of   Benguet, Kalinga, Apayao, Ifugao, Amburayan, and Bontoc-Lepanto.It’s a sight to see cultural farming practises and crops  equally showcased in cultural presentations during this one  week event first days  of April. 

                April is also a coming together  of this year when the Igorot Global Association met for the Igorot International Consutlation and the different tribes of the Cordillera had their togetherness at Baguio Country Club ‘where only the can-afford  can enter’ last April 12-14 this year. With nearly 250  Igorots from the different parts of the  world coming together and  enjoying the company of   ‘kaka-ilyan’, a friend commented that  it could have been better if the IIC  was held in  Baguio-based Easter School  where  more Igorots  could have joined such event.

                Comes now another  merry month of May and it’s a time for weddings aside from April events where couples choose to celebrate their joyous oneness with  God and the community.  Here in Sagada, the community already saw five weddings this  renewing month of April.  Sagada witnesses wedding celebrations usually celebrated April, May and December and the community partaking in the festive moment dancing  the  ‘ballangbang’ and ‘palakis’ with the rhythmic playing of gongs.