Banaue makes Imbayah fest annual event

BAGUIO CITY -- The grand Imbayah festival of the municipal town of Banaue will now be celebrated every year starting this year to save the “dying cultural heritage.”

Banaue Mayor Jerry Dalipog said that town officials made a bold step in making the Imbayah a yearly celebration from its original celebration every three years.

According to Dalipog, there is need to revitalize old customs, traditions and other cultural practices of the people of Banaue slowly disappearing especially  among younger generation.

He said even their very own people are not practicing some of the customs and traditions passed on by older generation.

“The decision to hold it every year is in order for us to remind our people especially our young generation of our customs and traditions including indigenous sports and games, traditional songs and dances and other rituals and practices,  which are part of the rice terraces cycle,  that  are rarely practiced now,” said Dalipog in Baguio press briefing.

These practices he said, would be shown during the Imbayah Festival this year  scheduled on April 26 to 30.

The word ‘imbayah’ comes from the Ifugao word bayah or rice wine, which signifies nobility and high stature in the community. During the festival, rice wine from antique Chinese jars overflows and a banquet is arranged for the mortals and the gods. The Ifugao elderly say that this celebration has been their way of thanksgiving and is a season of fun after a bountiful harvest.

Since 1979, Imbayah has been celebrated every three years and it is based on an old ritual celebrating the ascendancy of a commoner and his family to the ranks of Kadangyans or the Banaue elite.

Celebration would go on for 13 days with a rich couple playing host. The festival  would start with the whole community gathering firewood, with gongs ringing to signal the start of a feast. In the evenings, people  would gather  and dance.

With the theme “Celebrating Imbayah’s Best: Upholding Banaue’s Ingenuity, Identity and Progress!, the local government unit of Banaue is hoping that  this year’s Imbayah Festival  marks the  start of the revitalization of the customs and traditions of Banaue and Ifugao as a whole. -- RedjieCawis