Sagada Torch Parade

Around this time of the year, and if I'm not mistaken, on the 8th of December, Sagada's St. Mary's School hold their annual torch parade. My 3 older sisters have been students of Santa Mal-ya (the Sagada way of pronouncing Saint Mary) and as a child, I always look forward to this time of the year.

We would have our dinner early, and make the 10-15 minute walk from Nangonogan to the municipal basketball court to watch the event. We would be fully dressed up, jackets and all to counter the chilly December evenings. We would wait with a sizeable crowd at the basketball court and while waiting, it is normal for the townfolks to sing a song or two.

I have very vivid memories of the torch parades I've watched as a child. From a distance, we would see a long line of torches seemingly floating in the wind. It could be pretty hypnotizing seeing the torches snake their way from Tangeb, down to Dao-angan, and up to the town center. By then, silhouettes of students carrying the torches would be discernible. As the torch parade comes closer and closer to the basketball court, the gong playing accompanying the parade becomes louder and louder. Pretty soon, the students in the parade would go down to the basketball court where a program would start with cultural presentations and singing. Despite the very chilly night, the students in the parade would be fully dressed in Igorot costumes. The boys wearing only the wanes (g-string) and the girls wearing the traditional skirt and belt with white blouses. I believe there were also competition between the freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors of the school on who had the most creative torches and the best presentations.

One particular year I remember was when all my sisters were enrolled in St. Mary's. Our eldest was a senior, our 2nd was a junior, and our 3rd sister was a freshman. I fully remember the freshman class enthusiastically singing "KALAPATI, MISDA'Y KALAPATI" while the group joined them in the chorus. The seniors, who eventually won the presentation competition did the Balangbang, forming the letters of MERRY CHRISTMAS to the delight of a small but boisterous crowd from Manila. Somehow, the presentation of the juniors escape is not as clear for me, but I think they had some wonderful dancing from the Guina-ang students.

The last time I watched a torch parade was decades ago and I don't know if the Sagada Torch Parade is still being held in St. Mary's. I never participated in one because I spent my high school years in Manila. It would be a big loss if this practice stopped.These traditional events help link one's memories to their hometown, and for me, these are really fond memories to look back to and to share with my children.

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A Gay Bishop and the North American Anglican Split

As a baptized Anglican in Sagada's St. Mary the Virgin Church, I have always followed the interesting milestones in this denomination's history. It was in the 1990s that the Anglican church allowed women priests. In 2003, the Anglican church in the United States consecrated the first openly gay bishop. I remember that in exchanges within an Igorot mailing list, one Anglican noted that those who consecrated the first openly gay bishop did not believe in the authority of the Bible. This led to some heated exchanges for those who said they believe in the Bible but supported the consecration of the gay bishop.

I am not a practicing Anglican anymore, (if there is one such person) and I would classify myself as an evangelical Christian. And yes, I also find it hard to understand how the Anglican leadership in the US can consecrate a gay bishop and say they believe in the Bible as well. The Bible is very clear on how to select bishops. In 1 Timothy 3: 2-7, "The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach; no brawler, no striker; but gentle, not contentious, no lover of money; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (but if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) not a novice, lest being puffed up he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have good testimony from them that are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil."

Let me state that I am not a homophobic gay basher. I have close gay friends - two of my children's godparents are openly gay. And as a Christian, I am taught by the Bible to love all people as Jesus does - and Jesus died for the homosexual sinner as He did for me, a sinner too. But a bishop is a person with the responsibility of leading congregations - and if he falls short of the standard the Bible has, then he should never be put in that position.

Five years after the consecration of the gay bishop, traditionalists are moving to create a separate and competing North American Anglican church. In headline news the past two days, four breakaway Episcopal dioceses along with dozens of individual parishes in the U.S. and Canada with around 100,000 members announced the formation of a rival North American Anglican province. The group's constitution is looking to reflect the qualities of the new Anglican province which according to one its leaders should be "biblically grounded, Christ-centered, mission driven, outwardly focused, committed to evangelism and discipleship, and proudly Anglican."

The new conservative province already has the support of seven leaders of Anglican national churches including the archbishops of Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya and the Southern Cone, based in Argentina. Will the Episcopal Church of the Philippines, which the Sagada Anglican community belong to, take a stand in this divide? I highly doubt it, but I'd be very pleased if they do since I'm 99% sure which side they will be on.

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Bullying: An Issue in Sagada and Elsewhere

Lori Drew, a 49-year old Missouri mother was accused of cyberbullying a 13-year old neighbor that apparently led to the teenager's suicide. Drew reportedly targeted the teen after the girl had a falling out with Drew's daughter, and she set out to "embarrass her, to humiliate her, to make fun of her and to hurt her". She created a dummy MySpace account for a teenage boy and pretended to befriend the teenage girl and eventually broke up with her through an email. The teen was so distraught by what happened that she eventually hanged herself. See the full story on 'Cyber Bully' Mom Cleared Of Felony In MySpace Suicide Case.

This is such a sad case for both parties. You now have a dead teenager, and a mother who is going to jail for her actions. Two families are severely impacted by this bullying incident. What I cannot imagine is the hatred that existed in Lori Drew's mind. How can a mother do such a thing to another's child?

In the broader context, bullying - whether virtual or physical is a challenge for the children being bullied. As a student attending Bomabanga (Sagada Central School), I was also bullied by at least 3 boys who were much older and bigger than me. I was terrified meeting them on the school grounds, and as an adult, I can even remember the hurting taunts they'd tell when they see me. I was blessed to have had a loving family who raised me in an environment where my self-worth was not determined by what bullies thought. And later on, I learned to forgive these bullies. I was wise enough to acknowledge that I cannot control what others think, but I can control how I react to circumstances. Eventually, I would meet these bullies in the streets of Sagada when I was older. I'd greet them and smile at them as if nothing ever happened.

But that's me, and I'm blessed. There are other bullied children out there like the teen who created suicide and who may have allowed bullies to determine their self-worth. It is a common issue in schools and something that should be addressed by those in authority - whether this be in Sagada or in Missouri.

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Building my Igorot BlogRoll

I've had this blog for more than six months now but I still just have a few blogs in my blogroll. While I'm tempted to go over Bill Bilig's blog and copy his list of Igorot blogs, I decided to go the long route and enjoy the process of actually reading a blog before listing it here.

I've come across several interesting blogs written by Igorots. There is the fellow Igorot from Liverpool, UK who has written multiple encouraging comments on my posts. Kasta man kailyan - I'll never tire of these. This guy goes by the pen name "Manny, Manwer, Manwell "; very unique if I may say so. He has a photoblog and a blog for poems; the blog names are equally poetic. Check them out at Summer Breeze and Mildsummer Showers.

Kayni of Hawaii posted a note on my "Remembering Auntie Rhoda" post saying that we may be related. It doesn't happen often that you find relatives through your blogs. Its another example on how the Internet is making the world so small. She has her reflections documented in kayni's corner cafe.

Atty. Cheryl Daytec-Yangot's recent posts are on her trip with her daughter to Disneyland - HK. Her daughter's name, Gawani, is as Igorot as it can get. She did say that sometimes, "I am a busy person and she (the daughter) has to fit into my schedule". Ay, ay pay sa. Hope your grandparents don't get mad at you for such "busy-ness", hehe. Is she perhaps related to my friend Dina D? She blogs at Beauty Beyond Beauty.

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Increased Site Traffic, Most Expensive Coffee, Remote Town ATM, Rich Nurse

1. My fledgling site traffic suddenly went up by 2x the daily average after posting my second bloggables post on the "motit", Igorot bloggers and Sagada Hospital website. I was baffled by this, and checking my Sitemeter statistics, I noticed that most of the traffic was coming from emails. If any of my dear visitors can just leave a comment and tell me how they learned of this post just hours after I published it, I would really appreciate it. My Google Adsense earnings for today just increased by five times the normal average that I get.

2. I did some digging on the most expensive coffee in the world and found out that indeed, it is due to the motit or civet cat. Apparently, the motit partially digest coffee cherries and upon excretion, the beans are collected, cleaned, and roasted. The internal digestion is said to add a special flavor to the beans and these are sold for enjoyment at the price of $600/pound - that's around $50/cup, 10 times more expensive that Starbucks. I thought it's disgusting, but I guess if you're a true coffee drinker, nothing will stop you from trying this brew.

3. There's a comment in the Lakwatsero website that indicates there is no ATM in Sagada as recently as May 2008. That has changed earlier this week with the installation of an ATM at the Rural Bank of Sagada. Encash, the ATM network uses the Megalink group and has 38 rural banks and two nonbank financial institutions for its client base. This is definitely good news to all Sagada travelers.

4. Finally, I remember a story of an Igorot nurse who one time took hours to go back to the of relatives she was staying with, since she had to walk from her school. She comes from a poor family in Sagada and didn't have any money for jeepney fare. Eventually, her determination persevered and she migrated to the United States as a nurse. Now, she has her own huge house, and drives a couple of luxury cars - a great testament that hard work and perseverance do pay off.

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