Lusong, lalu, bayo, museums and cooperatives

CULTURAL NOTES

Richard Kinnud

Those who grew up in the nineties and earlier times especially in the rural Cordilleras probably have as part of their nice memories the mortar and pestle. 
    In may native Tuwali language, they are called luhong and lalu respectively.  They have similarly sounding terms as lusong, lusongan, al-u, lal-o, and all the like in other Cordillera languages.  The lalu is made of wood while the luhong can be of wood or stone.
    They are used to process food and grains.  One is pulverizing roasted coffee.   Another is to make corn mill or even camote flour and glutinous rice used in making binakle (suman).  Also, they are used to mash boiled kamoteng-kahoy and mix sweeteners to make it more palatable.
    A lot can be processed with the luhong and lalu.  But the primary and most often is for pounding rice.  That is to separate the hull from the edible kernels.  Bayu is the local term for this.  In our elementary days, this is a house chore assigned to children.
    The process taught to us is first to separate the rice panicles from it base.  This is called mun-ulut or simply ulut on a ligau (winnower).  The indigenous way of harvesting and storing rice (at its unpounded stage is called page) is by bundling as it is cut from about half a foot before the primary branch containing the panicles. 
    At times, the whole bundle can be placed directly into the luhong.  But the process is necessary to retain the bundle of ulut (stem and branches without the rice grains) as these are necessary implements used in different ways - as broom, as strainer in the process of making wine, as warmer of a chicken or duck’s nest, and many others.
    After the ulut is the actual pounding in the luhong using the lalo.  There are stages of this.  First is the polag.  That is when the panicles are separated from the stem.  Sometimes, the pounder can proceed to the next stage without winnowing. 
    But when it is determined that some panicles does not really contain kernels, the pounder has to winnow it first to separate the kernelless hulls.  The next stage is the hulhul.  This is when the pounding is half-done.  When about half of the kernels are opened, the pounder takes them out and sift out the separated hulls.  This is necessary to avoid the done kernels from being extremely crushed. 
    The final stage is lopah.  That is when almost all the kernels are done.  When the pounder determines so, the process is finished by winnowing to ensure that only the edible grains remain on the winnower.  Even the overly crushed grains – called the muting – are separated. 
    The undone grains – called the ota – are also cleaned out and the pounded rice, now referred to as boga, is cooked (cooked rice is called hinamal) or stored.
    The hulls separated with the winnower and the ota have uses too.  Those separated during the first and second stage of pounding called dugi is included in the compost.  The one separated in the final stage called upok is mixed with food for the pigs.  The ota and muting are for the chickens.  Practically, nothing is put to waste.
At these times though, technologies have replaced the bayo, luhong and lal-o.  The luhong and lalo can now be termed as pang-museum (for the museum.)  But I bet most won’t go to the museum.  If it’s a stone, its most practical use nowadays is as a seat outside the house.  If it’s a wood, it can just be left rotting. 
    In earlier times, luhongs are used until its bottom has become so thin.  Wooden luhong when used up often becomes the body of the libbit, a native drum instrument.
    Those that gets to the museum, like the other items there becomes symbol of how it was in some past time.  It is fortunate if the viewers make them as a springboard of understanding life of a people.  If it is so, then they could be some instruments of unifying us living in the present to some particular roots.
    They teach us lessons.  For instance, the luhong and lalo illustrate the essence of collaboration.  One becomes useless without the other.  The process of using them itself teaches adhering to systems so that wastages can be avoided.  There are innate values like there should be no wastes and every thing that can be used has to be utilized.
    The luhong and lalo, and the process to which it used came to mind as some infographics pointed to two other important celebrations this month of October aside from it being Indigenous People’s Month.  October is  Museums and Galleries Month and also the Cooperative Month.
    We can learn from the luhong and lalu even if they are in our present time just for museums.  And the values learnt from them may well be applied in institutions such as cooperatives.  To advocates of and for these causes, Happy Museums and Galleries Month!  And also, Happy Cooperative Month.