As I have said I enjoy the Lang-ay and Am-among festivals of Mountain Province. This Am-among, we had a team here from the U.S. so I was really excited. I love learning and I love sharing what I have learned. I am a legend lover and collector of fun facts. Annalise can testify because she likes my stories and I like a listener. I especially like learning about the Igorot culture I am surrounded with.
We started early in the morning. I was anxious to get going. After breakfast and sunscreen, we hurried to see the street dancing. Already, the best spots were taken but we found a place where we could see. As a dancer passed by, I took her picture. I didn’t recognize her at first because she was so very serious focused on her dancing. Then she winked at me. It was laughing, smiling Cassey! I gave her thumbs up. Cassey used to be one of our SSM (student sponsorship ministry) students but I was really sad when we came back from furlough and she had moved back to her village so I couldn’t see her anymore.
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| Cassey Seriously Focused On Dancing on the Right |
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| Cassey as Her Normal Smiling Self and Adriana |
It was difficult to see the dancing from the street so we headed to the municipal plaza where we were ushered to front-row seats. There was a cute little girl sitting with her Mama behind us. Nanu was a perfect example of Filipino open friendliness as she sat on my lap and accepted a water bottle from Zach. Ate Arielle was also making friends with a little boy.
Zack and Nanu Making Friends
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| "And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”-Matthew 10:42 |
We learned that the cultural presentations would be held after lunch. We hurried home for our HAM sandwichs. I tend to get a bit excited about meat. No cheese, though, that would be way too expensive for thirty some people.
Unfortunately, lunch is not a definite time. Some people eat faster than others. We thought that lunch meant a hour or two later but we ended up arriving near the end of cultural presentations. People who eat fast do not like to wait for the people who don’t. Of course to be fair to fast-eaters, there is the fact that I stopped to say good-bye to Cassey as she boarded the jeepney home. But that was important. Very, very important. I just hope that I will be able to see her again soon sometime when she isn’t going somewhere, unless it would be our house.
The cultural presentations were good though. I always learn something new. This time it was about the sacrifices of rice planting. Unfortunately, the sacrifices are still real here as I have seen some of the symbols of the sacrifice in rice fields today.
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| I just love the sense of action and motion in this photo. |
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| Igorot Leap-Frog |
The best part for me seemed to be impromptu. The mayor and other officials began playing on the gongs. Then a general invitation to join the dance was issued from the loudspeaker. I wanted to so much. As Kuya Patrick and Ate Rufina had recently noticed that I generally dance when they get the gongs out at YWAM parties. Not the courtship dance though, I try to avoid that because I am still too young!) However, I didn’t want to intrude. I didn’t want to be thought of a big white American who comes barging in where she isn’t wanted and I know they would never tell me that I was doing. However the doctora came over and personally invited. Alayna, Ariana, and I eagerly accepted though Ate Bridget didn’t, even though she was from this area. She preferred to sit and watch us under the shade of her elegant umbrella. I enjoyed the dance. I was only told to stop watching my feet and to make my arms like carabao horns. I had never heard it described that way. Later, I thanked the doctora for inviting us because I wanted to dance but I didn’t want to intrude. She said I didn’t have to worry about that because I was “part of us”. That meant so much to me.
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| This is where the past and the present collide. The Mayor, Government Officials, Indigenous Dancers, and Police Officers All Playing the Gongs. |
Sorry about it being so late,
Love,
Adriana
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