LA TRINIDAD, BENGUET?More than thirty-seven days after a massive landslide buried the community of Little Kibungan in Barangay Puguis here, residents met for the first time last week to remember their dead relatives and face the uncertainty of finding new homes.

Seven pigs were butchered in a cleansing ritual for 77 people who were killed on Oct. 8 when a landslide triggered by heavy rains dumped by Typhoon ?Pepeng? swamped the village.

But Balili Gomez, the mambunong (native priest) who led the ritual chants, said the gathering was more of an occasion to tell grieving relatives that life must go on and that bad luck was finally over.

?Tears have to dry. The dead are already gone. The living must accept that and they must continue to live,? Gomez, a 62-year-old Kankanaey from Barangay Ambiong here, told the Inquirer.

The native black pigs were butchered simultaneously. Seven different iwik (tree branches sharpened to pierce the pigs? hearts) were used. The pieces of meat were cooked in seven different silyasi (large cooking vats).

Gomez said the number of pigs offered in the ritual was a coincidence and did not have special meaning. ?It just happened that there were seven pigs set to be offered,? he said.

But there must be one iwik for each animal. ?Once the iwik gets bloodied, it should never be used again,? he said.

Rev. Jonathan Obar, of the Anglican Church, led Mass after the ritual. In his homily, Obar said death would find its true meaning only if the living would find ways to live.

As if taking their cue, at least 15 children were seen playing near the creek at the bottom of the village where most of the bodies were retrieved days after the Oct. 8 landslide.

John Danglipen, a village leader, said despite orders from local government officials that Little Kibungan must be abandoned, residents have decided to return and rebuild their homes.

?They have nowhere else to go. They were already asked to leave the evacuation centers,? he said.

The landslide triggered by the typhoon destroyed 34 houses in the village.

In a resolution, the residents said the landslide that buried Little Kibungan came from the mountain along Longlong Road above the village.