Benguet gongs fall silent to honor disaster fatalities
GRIM TASK Volunteers and government workers help retrieve bodies from the site of amassive landslide in Itogon town, Benguet province, in September. —RICHARD BALONGLONG
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — The gongs were silent in this year’s Adivay Festival to allow residents to offer prayers for those killed in recent disasters in Cordillera, including the landslides in September that buried more than 100 people in Itogon town, Benguet province.
A thanksgiving ceremony for the year’s bounty, “Adivay” (an Ibaloy term for “coming together”) is traditionally a merrymaking event where rhythmic sounds of gongs, drums and the thumping of dancing feet echo across this capital town.
But only the squeals of 25 pigs, which were killed for a series of rituals, broke the somber mood at the Benguet athletic field here.
Elders’ decision
Gov. Crescencio Pacalso said the organizers withheld the “cañao” (feast) and “bendiyan” (celebratory community dancing) to respect the dead after consultation with elders.
The elders instead performed rituals for Benguet as well as for Baguio City.
“We cannot celebrate while many of our people are mourning,” Pacalso said.
Benguet is home to the Ibaloy, Kankana-ey, Kalanguya, I’wak and the Karao. Many Ibaloy still believe that their dead visit them in their dreams when the spirits are disturbed.
At a corner of the athletic field, provincial employees performed the “sangbo,” a ritual for seeking prosperity for Benguet.
Future promising
After the sacrificial rooster and pig were cut open, a “mambunong” (ritual leader) studied their liver and bile to determine if Kabunian (local divinity) accepted their prayers.
“The future looks promising,” Simeon Marciano, a mambunong, told Pacalso and other officials.
At noon, rice and meat were offered to the spirits of those who died during the recent calamities.
On Nov. 12, the mambunong performed the opening ritual “kading” where they summoned the dead ancestors to seek permission and blessings for the Adivay events.
They also performed “daw-es,” a cleansing ritual, on Nov. 23, the province’s foundation day, to relieve the souls of the dead of any paranormal burden that would tie them down to the mortal world.
