Reprint
Clan reunions replace
'cañao' tradition in Benguet
by Maurice Malanes, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 9 May 2000
TIME was when the mountains of Kibungan town in Benguet
would echo the beats and rhythm of gongs and solibaos (native
drums) and the cries of pigs and carabaos being slaughtered
and offered to the gods and spirits during traditional feasts
called cañao or pedit.
Abundant farm harvest and good swine and cattle production
would be enough reasons to hold the cañao.
In these feasts, members of the community would gather in the
home of the host family to dine and wine, to dance the sadong
(usually performed by girls and women) and the tayaw (usually
done by men), and to sing the day-eng (an extemporaneous
chanted poetry).
For the host family, the cañao was a way of sharing with the
rest of the community blessings the gods and spirits bestowed
or what may be considered the family's surplus. The cañao or
pedit is thus a thanksgiving feast.
In thanking the heavens, a traditional priest would pray: ''O
gods and spirits of the heavens, bless members of this family
(referring to the cañao's host family). Let their cattle and
livestock become more productive. Let their rice, peas, grains,
camote (sweet potato) and other crops bear good harvest. Spare
this family from ailments and bless the family members with
long, healthy lives. O gods and spirits, we are asking all these
so that tomorrow or one of these days, we can again celebrate
your blessings for this family and have the chance again to
honor you and pay our respects.''
As a community affair, the cañao or pedit had also served a
social purpose. Through this affair, each member of the
community, in the spirit of bin-nadang or cooperation, would
help out in all activities.
The whole community would gather firewood, pound rice, fetch
water, slaughter animals and cook, and would participate in
religious rituals, such as dancing the sadong and the tayaw,
playing the gongs and drums, and joining in the religious
chants. In the early days, the cañao had thus helped strengthen
community spirit and unity.
Also through the cañao, families and clans were able to trace
their blood lineage and family tree.
Vanishing tradition
But in Benguet towns, such as in Kibungan, which used to hold
traditional feasts at least twice or thrice a month until three to
four decades ago, the cañao is now slowly vanishing.
The reasons are both economic and cultural. In Kibungan now,
there just are not enough animals to butcher, unlike in the early
days when, as Lakay (old man) Paguli recalls, there were more
animals than people.
The mountain town, which is 67 kilometers northeast of Baguio
City, also used to be self-sufficient in staples such as rice and
camote.
These days, however, Kibungan folk have to buy their rice from
Baguio because of a growing population and the lack of
government support services, such as small irrigation systems,
to improve farm production.
Populated by about 16,000 Kankana-ey folk, Kibungan has also
been saturated by various Christian sects, some of which
preach that the cañao tradition is ''unchristian,'' if not ''the work
of the devil.''
But as more and more Kibungan folk are turning their backs on
the cañao tradition, more and more are also looking for ways to
restrengthen community spirit and family and clan ties. Clan
reunions have thus emerged in recent years.
Tracing ancestry
Like the cañao, clan reunions enable members to get to know
one another better by tracing common ancestors.
Unlike the cañao, however, each family head of the clan
contributes to the cost of holding a reunion.
In the recent grand reunion of the Gelwan-Dangsuyan clan, one
of the biggest in Kibungan, for example, each family head
chipped in P150 mainly to cover the cost of lunch and dinner.
Each one of the over 500 clan members gathered was excited
and happy about the grand reunion held in the home of Ganaya
Bay-an Bolislis, the only surviving elder of the Tamang
sub-clan.
But the grand affair apparently lacks the festive mood of the
cañao of yore. The affair was rather formal, complete with a
program of activities, during which all sub-clans were presented
on a stage installed with a sound system.
There was a spice, however, to all the formalities: each sub-clan
presented ice breakers, such as country and folk songs and
children's dances, which integrated traditional dance steps.
Folk singing
And the singers, mostly young men and women, were good at
aping the late John Denver, Kenny Rogers, Joan Baez and other
American country and folk singers.
Some elders did not want to be outdone. Gaerlan Wance and
Celino Cayad-an, both World War II veterans, sang songs they
learned from their American senior officers in the last war.
That American country and folk songs are tops in Kibungan
and other Benguet towns is an interesting subject for
sociocultural research. But that's another story.
What is clear is that cultural practices accompanying the cañao
tradition are now on the way out.
The mambunong (a traditional priest), who leads the religious
rituals in a cañao, no longer has a place in a clan reunion. In the
recent Gelwan-Dangsuyan grand reunion, for example, a young
Pentecostal pastor, who married a woman of the clan, led
members in a praise and worship rite.
Guitars and sound systems have replaced the beats of gongs
and drums. Hawaiian dances performed to the tune of ''Pearly
Shells'' and ''Tiny Bubbles'' and other dances, such as one
played to some weird beat called ''Dayang-Dayang'' have
replaced the traditional sadong and tayaw.
Hardly heard now is the day-eng, an extemporaneous poetry
that is sung by elders as they pass around a common cup of
tapuy or rice wine.
This poetry is also a form of discourse because one leads and
opens up a topic, and another responds by agreeing or
disagreeing through metaphors and lots of folk wisdom-laden
philosophical thoughts.
Cultural artifacts, such as traditional dresses and heirlooms, can
be preserved in museums. Not so with a cultural heritage such
as the day-eng, which has to be continually practiced for it to
continue to breathe life.
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