Melodies of the Binangi
>> Thursday, March 5, 2015
HAPPY WEEKEND
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.
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.
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