Melodies of the Binangi

HAPPY WEEKEND

 Gina P Dizon

The ‘panag-atep di binangi’ held February 26 highlighted the launching of the Ayyoweng di Lambak Ed Tadian celebrated March 6-8. The event let media practitioners from Baguio and Mountain Province see for themselves the covering of the roof and the building of the traditional house locally termed ‘binangi’.

Called inatep, binatang, gino-on, or sinebey to other parts of Mountain Province, the  ‘binangi’ measuring 20 ft high composes three levels from the basement serving as receiving porch to the second level which is the enclosed four by four meter structure serving as the cooking and sleeping quarters. The second level is reached by climbing on a tetey (ladder) to the cooking and dining area.  Above the cooking area and that part below the roof locates the section where palay is stored.

The binangi tells of harmony  and consistency with nature. Materials used are sourced from the community resources, from plants grown in the forest and other materials the household needs. The locally grown and produced materials are sustained in their growth with nature taking care of nature and the people taking care of the very materials used for their very own housing. 

Every material used in the construction of the ‘binangi’ is indigenous to the community from the posts to the sidings to the roofing to the materials which bind materials together. There is no nail to keep wood or bamboo together. “A binangi does not find a single metal”, said Tadian Mayor Anthony Wooden. No metal is found to fasten wood together or cover any part of the house. Must be that there is nothing metal in an indigenous world.

The sidings of the house  is made of  bundles (betek) of cogon grass locally called ‘go-on’ fastened together in sticks called ‘pa-o’ the strips  or ‘la-ut’ done by men in an act  called ‘owasan’. (I did not see women stripping)  The cogon grass changed at least every after two years makes the house always durable in whatever weather be it hot or cold or in extreme conditions.

“When the weather is sultry warm, the inside of the house is cold and when the weather is cold, the inside of the house is warm”, said binangi researcher Fortunata Guiamas. There must be something in the cogon grass which makes the temperature inside the house adaptable for the household dwelling inside the house.

The organic way of life the binangi tells is simple, uncomplicated. Much as the house is simple life is simple for  indigenous peoples with sustained relationship with the very resources in the forest  they source their livelihood from- rice growing, producing organic legumes and crops and animal raising to include cattle, pigs, and chickens- with the values of culture intertwined in everyday activities and living.

‘The doors are not locked and there is no story of stealing’, Guiamas said.

The house tells of contentment. Every part is devoid of anything consumerist or luxurious. Each part of the house have a functional and practical use and nothing spoilt or whimsical.  

Inside the enclosed part of the house serving  as the dining and sleeping quarters finds compartmentalized sections where the  dapowan (cooking hearth) is found. Located nearby the ‘dapowan’ is a clay pot for drinking water. Compartmentalized sections adjacent the sidings locates compartments inside the structure where clothing and blankets are kept. A long shelf surrounding the inside structure is  built atop the compartments fastened close adjacent the sidings of the house used to place anything be it left overs or pots and plates.

The dining area has double function with the ‘det-a’ or flooring used to sit on when eating and the floor also used as space for sleeping at night.

A very small opening is located above the entrance to the second floor  enough to keep air coming in and out with other openings in the cogon’s natural aeration spaces. Above the cooking/dining/sleeping area locates the rice granary where palay is stored.

The binangi tells of unity and cooperation of the people in the village.

We attended the ‘segep’ where construction of the binangi lasts a day with the community helping the household put up the house. The materials brought in by the community people have already been prepared by the household who stays in the forests for sometime collecting the materials until these are ready for building the structure. The women of the village bring the cogon and the sticks from the forest and the wood and ‘losongan’ or mortar carried by the men. Women bundle the cogon grass fastened by the men to the sticks wound tightly to accommodate the bundled cogon grass. Other men strip bamboo ropes and both men and women hand over the bundled cogon to men who climbed atop the second level of the structure to do the fastening. Towards the finishing of the binangi,  the men climb up the roof and fasten the stick frames with bundled cogon.

After half a day of work, we had lunch of  miki and vegetables for viand coupled with rice.  Everybody was happy with everyone taking part in the construction. We had our role of doing the documentation of the binangi completion and  the press conference with the LGU officials.     

After the ‘segep’ the community celebrates the ‘ubaya’ signifying thanksgiving and completion of the house structure with the butchering of a pig  and the people partaking of the meal. 

“There are only two binangi left in town”, Kayan councilor Joseph Cawilli said.

Binangi for a house these days?

Mayor Wooden encourages this and likewise open to the idea of binangi as home stays or cottages for visitors.

Tadian abounds with a cultural and natural resource potentials beckoning ecotourism at its doors. 

With business and commercialization knocking at the doorsteps of Tadian, what is the response of the people?

“This will be defined by the community’, Wooden said.

The values of the binangi remain open to the village and who will embrace and live this with, beckoning  living with community, working  with the community,  eating with and  defining what life is in this contemporary world where information technology, tourism and business is taking its toll.