Agricultural rituals of Sabangan

Francis B. Degay

SABANGAN, Mountain Province -- Like other communities in the Cordillera region, villagers of Sabangan  annually perform their traditional beliefs and practices that make them healthy, give them abundant harvests and sustain peace and order.

In their agricultural calendar, lepah is a ritual that is performed after the bundles of palay are piled (kapin) in the rice granary or agamang of each household or family.

Each household butchers and cooks chicken and pot of rice. The family members eat together and share bygone stories.

In the village, a bigger affair is held at the ato (hut where important matters are discussed or where rituals are held). Lemdang is part of the rite where dried beans are collected from each household. Rice and beans are then cooked separately at the at-atoan.

The elders butcher a chicken in the ato. Before it is sliced and cooked, an elder “reads” the position of the bile.  If the bile reader proclaims the sign is good then a chicken is butchered and offered to Kabunyan (God) for prosperous agricultural harvest and healthy people in the village.

Before and after eating, the men and boys play the gongs while women and girls dance.

All the people of the village partake of the cooked food in the ato compound. While eating, the people exchange pleasantries. 

Begnah is another agricultural ceremony.

A day before this is celebrated, an elder or a community crier shouts in the village proclaiming that begnah will be celebrated the following day. The same day is declared by the community elders as tengaw or rest day.

During the tengao, some community elders sleep in the ato. In the early morning, the men walk to a mountain where they usually see and hear the sound of the labeg, a type of a bird.

If the sound is positive, the men who heard it shout so the other males who went to another direction are informed of the good sign.

They come together and proceed to the papatayan, a place in the mountain, where the old men butcher a chicken. The chicken meat is offered to Kabunyan and deities for the good sign that the labeg imparted.

After chanting, they go down to the village. As they come nearer, they beat (pakipak) the wooden shields while they shout a lo lo lo lo to signal the people in the community that the labeg gave a positive indication for the people to continue with the ritual. 

The villagers bring with them sweet potato (lokto or ubi) or boiled or wrapped sticky rice in the ato as snacks. While the people are being gathered, elders with the help of younger men butcher a pig.

As the pork meat and rice are being cooked, the takik is played. Gongs and other musical instruments are played by men, a man dances the tayaw while the women and girls dance the salibi. Every after the takik, an elder chants the basabas, where the elder requests Kabunyan for more blessings, abundant harvests, good health and peace and order. 

After the pork meat and rice are cooked, the elders perform chants or prayers to Kabunyan for prosperity. All the villagers partake of the food afterwards.