Sagada Folk Stories

Growing up in Sagada, my grandparents from both sides amused me with stories. My maternal grandfather told about Otot-otot (otot is the Kankana-ey word for rat), and his adventures. I remember my cousins and I sitting attentively, as he sat on his rocking chair in Bang-owaw, and told us about one adventure after another. In fact, my sons have listened to similar Otot-otot tales I've concocted on my own. I've learned to "modernize" my Otot-otot stories as well. I've told tales of Otot-otot and the Pokemon Trainer as well as Otot-otot and the Sith Lord.

My paternal grandmother also liked to tell stories. She called it her "story-telling-a-lie". I don't remember much of her made up stories. I don't suppose they were that interesting - what I really liked best about my grandmother were her stories about her childhood.

Sagada's older folks like to tell stories. The list of stories I have below are from a Dr. Henry Scott compilation of Sagada folk tales translated by Sagada high school students in the 1950s. If you have Sagada folk stories that you want to share with this blog, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you and enjoy the stories.

The Origin of Sagada
How Sagada got its Name
Why some are Pagans and some are Christians
The Origin of the Rocks of Sagada
Why the Spirits of the Dead Cannot be Seen
Why our Heads Cannot be Removed

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The Origin of the Rocks of Sagada

Many years ago there lived only a few people in this place. These people gathered one day and one of the men said, "Let's elect a man who is very brave to rule over us. But first of all, let that man fight the thunder."

One proud man rose and aid, "I had better be the one". Then he went home and got his big club and his stone ax and started on his journey to fight the thunder.

Not more than a kilometer away from the village, he remembered something that could anger the thunder. He came to the brook where there was a cave that was wide enough for his body to fit in and it was about ten meters long. As everything as now ready to fight that huge person who could shout and his voice could be heard to the corners of the earth, he went out and challenged the thunder. At his challenge, the thunder began to shout and come down from the sky and dashed at the cave where the man was hiding, but the thunder couldn't get him. A second time the thunder was successful and the man in the cave was smashed to pieces.

After this great but short war between these two, there grew along the brook many white stones like castles. These stone castles were the bones of the man who had been defeated in the fight. In these castles there were beautiful caves and inside them you could still see many beautiful stones hanging down. In addition to this, the blood of the man became the red clay that in this place is mixed with natural clay.

(As told by Alipio Owaten)

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Why our Heads cannot be Removed

A long time ago, when the world was young, people's heads could be removed. People could remove their heads to wash them. They did not have to bother anybody to look for their lice, because they could remove their own heads and see for themselves. People had lots of fun sometimes exchanging their heads.

But one day there was a girl who washed her head and when she finished washing her head, she examined it carefully and then hung it on the fence in front of her house to dry. Then she went in to cook. When she was inside, a dog came along. The dog thought that the head hanging there was a bone or a piece of meat so he got it and ran away. The neighbors did not pay attentiopn because they also thought that it was the hairy bone of some animal.

But alas! When the girl came out, she found that her head was gone. She knew right away that it was a dog that had run away with it. She cried bitterly and for the whole day she cursed and said she wished that the heads of people would not be removed. The god, Lumawig, heard her and pitied her so much that he granted her wish.

That is why our heads cannot be removed nowadays.

(As told by Maria Likigan)

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Why the Spirits of the Dead cannot be seen

Long ago, the spirits of dead people were visible. Men often wrestled with them. These spirits looked like human beings. Whenever they had a wresting match with men, they were defeated. Men always defeated these anitos or spirits.

Whenever these anitos or spirits were put down on the ground, they turned into what we call linesnes or camote vines. But the men saw that they always stood up ready to wrestle with the men again. This made the men very angry. So their quarrels never stopped.

Finally, the men used their heads. They started a fire near the place they had their fights. Then they fought those troublesome spirits for the last time to end their disturbances among the human beings.

When the fights began, the men directed the anitos near the place where the fire was burning. Then these anitos were thrown to the ground near the fire. Immediately the anitos turned into camote vines. Quickly the men got fire and burned the vines. Thus ended the anitos showing themselves to human beings.

That is why we people of today cannot see the spirits or anitos of dead people.

(As told by Edward Umaming)

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Why Some are Pagans and some are Christians

A good many years before Christianity came to Sagada, there lived in Tanulong two brothers. They were called Abaya and Dina-ongan. Abaya was the older and Dina-ongan was his young brother. At that time, people inhabiting that place were very few.

One bright morning they had started out for a place they thought would be better. That place was called Candang (which is at present called Candon) in the province of Ilocos Sur. So they set out on their journey. According to the story, they travelled for many days and finally reached the place where they were bound. But before they reached that place, they had to encounter difficulties on the way. At that time, there were no roads or any modern means of travel. However, that was fate so it did not matter to them. They didn't give up the journey. In spite of their difficulty and the heat of the sun, they pushed forward.

After a perilous journey, they saw many people busy tilling the soil of the mountains. Some were planting rice and some were plowing. The women in that province wore loose strips of cloth which hung down from the waistline to the foot, with another piece of cloth for the top. The lower piece was called pan de ling in the olden times. The men wore pants with their shirts not tucked in.

Upon arriving at that place, they had to make acquaintance for they knew nobody there. The people who knew Christianity invited them to their house. After staying there for some time, these Cambaba (or Christian people) began to ask for information about them. Upon learning that these two brothers were pagans, they began to talk of how to convert them to Christianity. The two brothers didn't know what was going to happen to them. However, the found out later. But on learning of the people's plans, they ran away for fear of God of whom they had never heard before. They had a god called Lumaig, too, but they worshipped in an entirely different way.

But the two brothers were followed by these Cambaba for the sake of making them believe and worship their God in their way. Still, they refused to be converted for fear of the Cambaba's God. So they were still followed. They were followed until they reached Kitang (a mountain just above Tanulong) and there they were caught. The Cambaba people got hold of Abaya, the elder, while Dina-ongan escaped and went back to his town and remained a pagan. But his elder brother was taken back to Candang and baptized. Thus some people came to follow Abaya, a Christian, and some followed Dina-ongan, the pagan.

(As told by Paulina Malugdas)

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How Sagada got its Name

During the Spanish regime, Sagada was settled by a group of peace-loving people. It was covered with forest, mostly pine trees. These early people of Sagada found some small people known as Negritos hunting in the forest. They drove the Negritos away and began a settlement in the lower part of the valley. These settlers wore the bark of trees for their g-strings and were otherwise entirely naked. They cleared the forest and began to raise camotes, a little rice and vegetables - just enough for their own use.

They increased their fields more and more till the forest was all cleared away but still the food which they raised was not enough for them. From time to time they were so hard up for food that it was necessary for them to import food from other places outside the valley. They had to import rice, salt, sugar and clothes from the lowlands. There were no roads in those days, so it was very hard for these people to bring food up from the lowlands to the Mountain Province. They were like animals going to the lowlands and bring up heavy loads of food.

Their chief occupation was fishing. They had a net called sagada for catching fish. This net is common here even now. The people came to think that it was necessary to call this place Sagada because it imported almost everything it needed.

(As told by Santiago Lominio)

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The Origin of Sagada

Generations ago, the town of Sagada did not exist. There were only hills and valleys around, but no town.

In one of these hills there dwelt a huge white dog that gave birth to a baby boy. The dog nursed the child and he grew up to be a sturdy boy. When the boy was about ten, he wandered off from their mountain home and got lost. He looked and looked for his dog mother but couldn't find her. When night came, he lay down on the soft grass under a tree and went to sleep. The next day, he renewed his search but in vain. At the end of the second day he came upon the opening of a cave and there he decided to spend the night. As he was looking for a nice snug place to sleep, he heard a voice. He turned around and saw a beautiful woman standing before him.

"What are you doing here?” she asked.

The boy told her the whole story, his dog-mother, how he got lost, and his fruitless search.

The woman, being kind-hearted, comforted the boy and said that he could sleep with her. She told him that she had a child too, a girl, and that she was probably asleep.

The next day, the boy wanted to go away and continue his search for his mother, but the woman bade him to stay, saying that he should stay in their cave with them because his mother had probably, in her anger over his absence gone off to another mountain to live. The boy was persuaded and so he stayed and lived with the woman and her child.

Years later, when the boy and the woman's child grew up to be a young man and woman, the woman told thay they must marry. They consented, married, and went to another cave to live. It so happened that this place was what is now known as Demang. Here, the first woman and man of Sagada dwelt. They begot many children, and thse in turn multiplied. They came out of their cave and built huts to live in.

That is how Sagada came to be.

(As told by Justo Dongail, Jr.)

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