Batad - Banaue

A travel blog of 4 students: Anjelikka, Diana, Regine and Vianca. SEA30 - THW2

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The Women in Batad

On our village interviews, we met Ate Sela. She is in charge of manning one of the guest homes in the village. She is pleasant, have a calm and composed voice, as well as some stories to share. I asked about some of the roles women played in their village. 

In Batad, women do a lot of work. In their homes, they are in charge of taking care of the children, cooking, washing, and other usual household chores. Apart from the usual house hold tasks, these mighty women pound rice, sift through them and prepare firewood to boot. In the fields, they plant and harvest. 

Also, women play an important role in cultural rituals and festivals; they dance with traditional costumes, as well as participated in the chanting. 

Women serve an important role in the community, not only those bound at home but in the whole community, too.

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Food

The way they season and prepare their food is simple. They only use what is found in the surroundings. They mostly just use salt to season their food. This is because trading was very hard back then. Even though transportation and trading have improved now, their taste remained the same. They have and always will love food that is prepared with simple ingredients. 

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Religion and Other Beliefs

The Ifugao people now are mostly Catholic. They were once pagans who believed in the spirits of nature. Some still remain pagan but only a few of them. 

The pagans believed in a deity called a bul-ol. It is the guardian of the rice granaries. 

Source: Jerome Orejana

They do not believe in aswangs. It is because aswangs were a concept made up by the Spaniards and since the Ifugao region was not really as penetrated by the Spanish culture, the belief in aswangs never reached Ifugao. 

Their pagan roots are still evident in their daily lives. For one, they display the bones of the animals they have hunted because they believed that the spirits of the animals will protect their house

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Traditional Clothing

The Ifugaos have a unique way of dressing. Their clothes are made from bark cloth and are woven into many different patterns and styles. The woven cloths are then worn around the waist and serves as a skirt. 

Women wear necklaces and earrings while men wear headdresses made of chicken feathers. Accessories symbolizes the status of a person in the group.

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Icons and Rituals

One of the famous icons in Batad, just like in other municipalities in Banaue is the bul-ol. It is believed to be the one responsible in guarding the rice terraces at all times. According to the residents of Batad, it is believed that when a bul-ol gets older, the possibility that a spirit dwells on it becomes higher. Moreover, this icon is said to be used by pagans in their rituals.

Source

Unfortunately, there are times that the bul-ol goes missing. Some culprits become interested in offering it to other people, usually tourists, because of its high selling price. Because of the loss of the bul-ol, different unfortunate events happen to the terraces. To counter these bad happenings, a ritual is performed and something is sacrificed.

Source

In the case of building a house, for it to last a long time, sacrifices are being made. It can be in the form of a boar, a chicken, or other animals. The above picture shows a native house of the Cordilleras.

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Festivals and Celebrations

Festivals, in Batad people's perspective, are usually concerned with rice planting and harvesting. Most of which highlights either their aspirations for the proper growth of their plants or to their gratitude for a bountiful harvest. Unlike other festivals, those of Batad does not have any specified date, it just depends on the time of planting and harvest.

There are festivals held in their bayan where different people from different barangays gather to give thanks for an abundant harvest. There are also celebrations wherein a rice field owner, together with his/her friends and neighbors, go to the his/her rice field to kill a chicken, cook it, then eat it afterwards. However, this celebration is rarely practiced nowadays.

In inheriting a land, there is also a festival where the recipient of the land will let other people witness the act of inheriting the land. The recipient will invite his/her neighbors or other people, not relatives, to harvest the rice plants in the rice field. The owner of the land, as well as his relatives cannot participate in the harvesting of rice. Other people should be the one to do it, without any pay. It is necessary that all plants will be harvested within one day. After the harvest, a boar will be killed and cooked, and will be shared and eaten by all who took part in the festival. This celebration of Batad people resembles that of Bayanihan where people help each other to get things done.

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We went on another hike the following morning for our rice-planting activities.

It was warmer, trekking up the terraces in the morning. We started at about past 9 in the morning and the weather was blazing hot. 

We tried our hands at planting palay ourselves. The first dip in to the rice paddy pond was delightful. The earth beneath our feet was soggy but not uncomfortable.

We look up to these farmers. We appreciate what one has to go through just to harvest rice. We swore not to waste a single grain of rice again.

After months of waiting for the harvest time, rice plants are then harvested. Their outer covering are also removed to be suitable for cooking and human consumption. Here, we are taught how to remove an individual rice grain from long grains.

The removal of the rice grains’ outer cover was also demonstrated to us.

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Farming in Batad

Farming in Batad is the village’s primary source of income. Unlike Banaue’s where the terraces are made up of earth and a complex composition of soil, Batad’s terraces are made  up of intricately and carefully stacked rocks, which is said is more stable. But what makes Batad farming truly so interesting is its bountifulness of tradition and culture.

According to one of the lady farmers who instructed with planting the palay, fertilizers and pest control are organically based. The farmers do not spend a single centavo on commercially produced fertilizers and insecticides but instead, take mainly from plant and animal by-products. It is said that there were still farmers who support farming with religious rituals such as assigning a certain rice god or anito to watch over their crops.

Roles in Farming are divided between the men and women. The men are in-charge of bringing the palay up the terraces while the women plant them. In a day, the lady was able to fill about 3 of her rice paddies on the terrace steps. When it is harvest season, the men do the work as well while the women prepare for their coming back and the tradition of thanking the rice god.

Another thing unique about farming in Batad is their elaborately engineered irrigation system that tourists carefully jump over during hikes up their rice paddies. The water flows, coming from the tops of the mountains down to the lowest level of the terraces. This water is not just for farming however, it is advised to take some of the water to quench the hikers’ and trekkers' thirsts as well.

Batad is a beautifully conserved eco-system. It is said to be the most beautiful among the five in the cordilleras because of its remarkable amphitheatre-like formation in the middle of bundled mountains. It is not just farming that is guaranteed to be unique and impressive here but the crops as well (as they grow organic white and red rice). Although deforestation and slow modernization is threatening this well-preserved tradition, the culture of the people lives on from generation to generation.

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This was the closest we could get to the falls. The water was too cold for our warm and sweaty selves!

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Tappiya falls was amazing, the trek going there was very tiring and surprisingly difficult (especially for first-time trekkers) but very well worth it.

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A first look at the falls - we’re almost there!!

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The Hike to Tappiya falls was hot but the cool weather around the area was soothing to us. Everywhere you look, you’ll see green!

It took about 2 hours to get to Tappiya falls. 

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After about an hour’s trek to Batad, we arrive in Batad’s Rice terraces. 

We had a short rest after lunch to prepare ourselves for yet another trek up to Tappiya falls in the afternoon. 

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Moving to a higher area, we look at a more stunning, scenic view of the Banaue Rice Terraces.

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Our first view of the Banaue Rice Terraces! Here we had our delicious breakfast before our short hike up to Batad. We had red rice (an organic kind of rice grown only in Banaue).