Justin P.

dela Cruz G7-SSC Patriotism

WHY THE SKY IS HIGH -1-

ASSG: English I- June 6, 2012 Mr. Arsenio Rebollido

Idi un-unana nga aldaw, nababa pay idi ti langit ket dagiti tattao maisab-it da ti sagaysay, kuentas, tako ken dadduma pay nga alikamen. Maysa nga aldaw, nangrugi nga agluto ti pangrabii ti maysa a babai sakbay a sumangpet ti asawa na nga aggapu idiay taltalon. Adda met ti anak na iti indayon a sibibitin diay langit. Kabayatan ti panagbayo na, isu met ti panagsangit ti anak na. Dinardaras na ti nagbayo ngem gapu ta nababa unay ti langit ken matukno ti alo daytoy, saan na a mapardasan ti agbayo. Iti pungtot na, nakasangit a nagkuna, " No saan koma unay a nababa iti langit, naileppas ko koman toy panagbayok!" Saan na pay la a nalpas ti nagsao idi adda napigsa nga ungor ket nagpangato metten ti langit, nairaman amin dagiti naibitin sadiay, pati diay ubing ti indayon, ti banga ken ti apoy. Manipud idin nakangat-ngaton ti langit. Daydi banga ken apoy nagbalin nga init, ti sagaysay nagbalin a bulan. Adda sinantao iti bulan ta isu daydi ubing nga adda iti indayon. Nagbalin a bitbituen daydi kuentas. Daydi tako isu metten ti ammo tayo ita a "Big Dipper" ken "Small Dipper"
When the earth was new, the sky was so low that people could hang things on it. They hung their combs, necklaces, cooking pots, dippers, and other tools on it. One day, a woman was cooking supper for her husband. He would soon return home from the fields. She cooked while her child lay in a hammock, which was hanging from the sky. While she was pounding some rice, the child began to cry. She tried to hurry her pounding, but the low-lying sky got in the way of her pestle and slowed down her work. In her irritation, she cried out, "I wish the sky were not so low so I could finish my pounding." They words were hardly out of her mouth when, with a great rushing sound, the sky began to rise. All the things hanging from the sky went up, too. Along with the pot and the fire went the baby in the hammock. From then on, the sky has remained very high. The pot and the fire became the sun, the comb became the moon, and " the man in the moon" is actually the woman's baby lying in its hammock. The necklace became the stars, and the dippers became what we know as the Big Dipper and the Small Dipper. -2-

Noong araw, mababa pa ang langit, may dalawang magkapatid na ang pangalan ay Ingat at Daskol na naninirahan sa piling ng kanilang magulang. Si Ingat ay maingat sa mga bagay na kanyang ginagawa kaya siya ang kanang kamay ng kanyang ama. Lagi siyang tumutulong sa gawain sa bukid at labis na natutuwa sa kanya ang kanyang mga magulang. Sa kabilang dako, si Daskol ay walang ingat sa gawain. Dahil walang anak na babae sa pamilya, ang gawaing bahay ay naging responsibilidad niaya. Siya ang nag-iigib ng tubig, naglilinis ng bahay, at nagluluto. Siya rin

ang nagbabayo ng palay na inani ng kanyang ama at ni Ingat. Kahit sa pagbabayo ng palay, tamang-tama ang kanyang pangalan sa asal niya sa paggawa. Halos kalahati ng binabayo niyang paly ay natatapon sa lupa. Dahilsa likas niyang katamaran at walang tiyaga, ayaw na ayaw niyang magtrabaho lalo na ang pagbabayo ng palay. Isang araw, si Daskol ay magbabayo ng higit sa dami ng palay na kanyang binabayo. Naiinis siya, kayat sa bawat pagtataas ng halo ay tumatama sa langit. Ang kanyang pagkagalit ang nagdaragdag sa kanyang lakas at pagnanais na matapos ng mabilis ang pagbabayo. Kayat itinaas niya ng mataas ang paghawak sa halo at sa bawat pagbayo ay tinatamaan ang langit. At sa bawat pagtama sa langit, ito ay tumataas. Sa kanyang pagmamadali hindi niya namalayan na mataas na ang langit. Nang makatapos na siyang magbayo, tumingala siya at nalaman niyang itoy mataas na, tulad ng nakikita natin ngayon.
In the early days, when the sky was still low, two brothers named Ingat and Daskol lived with their parents on Earth. As their names indicate, Ingat was careful in everything he did and was, therefore, his father's right hand man. He was always helping with the work in the field, and his parents were very pleased with him. On the other hand, Daskol did his work sloppily. In the absence of a daughter in the family, the house work came to be Daskol's responsibility. He fetched water, cleaned the house, and did the cooking. He also pounded the palay that his father and Ingat harvested. Even in pounding, Daskol lived up to his name. Half of the grain he pounded scattered and fell to the ground. Being naturally lazy and impatient, he did not like the work of pounding rice. One day, Daskol had to pound a greater quantity of palay than usual. He was irritated because, every time he raised the pestle, it would hit the sky. His anger added to his strength and desire to finish the work quickly. So he raised the pestle higher, and every time it hit the sky, the sky would be raised. In his hurry, Daskol did not notice that the sky was rising. When he finished pounding rice, he looked up and discovered that the sky had risen, and that is why it is where it is today. -3Two Bagobo myths on Why the Sky Went Up: (a) In the beginning the sky lay low over the earthso low that when the Mona wanted to pound their rice, they had to kneel down on the ground to get a play for the arm. Then the poor woman called Tuglibung said to the sky, Go up higher! Dont you see that I cannot pound my rice well? So the sky began to move upwards. When it had gone up about five fathoms, the woman said again, Go up still more! This made the sun angry at the woman, and he rushed up very high. (b) In the beginning the sky hung so low over the earth that the people could not stand upright, could not do their work. For this reason the man in the sky said to the sky, Come up! Then the sky went up to its present place.

RICE LEGENDS -1The Origin of the Ipugo Rice Kabbigat and Amgalingan went to hunt in the skyworld (Kabunyan) and came to the house of the deity Hinumbiyan. They were served uncooked rice. Kabbigat and Amgalingan invited some of the Skyworld Deities to earth, among whom were wigan and Bugan. On earth, Kabbigat and Amgalingan made fire by rubbing two pieces of bamboo (mungkulilida). They cooked their food (rice but not the Ipugo variety) and the deities of the skyworld tasted it and liked it. Bugan of Kabunyan got some of the fire but then she burned her house. So Kabbigat and Amgalingan taught the skyworld deities how to use fire properly. The skyworld deities gave them in return the Ipugo (inanup, lit:what has been hunted) variety- the botnol and the ayyuhip. -2First Rice In Loo Valley Long, long time ago. Loo valley is a swampy place filled with sawali plants called tanobong. In its level portion most especially along the river, inhabitants subsisted on hunting for their viand and purely sweet potatoes (camote) for their staple food, there were no rice or any other grains then. As the years passed by, when more and more people inhabited the valley, the wild animals became scarce or have moved away to the mountain forest. The people then must have to engage in other means of livelihood in order to survive. They began to widen their camote plantation and to engage in back yard hog and poultry raising for their subsistence. In later years, the people began raising cattle and other animals. The valley is beginning to cleared of, for planting of other root crops. The portion of the valley is utilized for grazing lands. It is to be borne in mind that Buguias as a whole was known for cattle raising in the 18th and early 19th century. One sunny morning, a rabid hunter from the valley woke up very early with his hunting dog and proceeded to the mountains to hunt for wild animals. Dismayed because there were no wild animals to hunt, he went with his dog further and further and reached a mountain with a lake and its interior top, later on called the Mt. Data now. While the hunter was nearing the lake, his dog went directly to the edge of the lake and began barking. This lake is the source of the Agno, Amburayan and Chico River. The dog kept on barking and barking making the hunter wonder as to what the dog was barking at. There was only a bunch of grass growing near the edge of the lake, which seemingly was the object of the dog's barking. The hunter tried to direct his dog's attention to another place, but the dog insisted on barking. In his anger, the hunter pulled out the bunch of grass and put it in his backpack (pasiking). All of a sudden, the dog stopped barking and wagged its tail with happiness and contentment. Instead of looking for any sign of wild animals the dog led his master home. The hunter was upset and mad at his dog that upon

arrival, he got the bunch of grass from his pasiking and put it at the "so-olan" (a place for storing and drying firewood or meat just above a cooking fireplace). The hunters wife and children were not happy because there was nothing for viand except a meal of pure camote and "sabeng" (a native vinegar made out of cooked camote sauce called "si-it") It is mixed with proportionate amount of water and boiled for soup. While at the house, the dog went again on barking at the bunch of green grass at the "so-olan" in his anger the hunter got it and threw it out the yard. The dog followed the grass and got it by his mouth and went to put it at the watery patch where some gabi plants were growing, then began barking, the hunters wife out of curiosity, followed the dog and began to plant the grass one by one and amazingly, the dog stopped barking, making the couple to wonder more, as to what was the green grass about. After some months, the grass grew vigorously and later bore grains. The couple harvested the grains, dried it and for the sake of experience they threshed the grains by the use of wooden bowl (toway) and wooden spoon (saklong). The uses of mortar pestle were discovered later. After threshing a little of the grains, they cooked it and discovered to be a delicious food. Through the years the couple propagated the plants and neighbors were shared with it. This was the first rice in Loo, Buguias Benguet. This is kintoman (red rice) which was especially good for rice wine. In the early Buguias, rice is planted in Loo valley, along the riverbanks and mountain sides of the town. With the advent of vegetables raising now a days, almost all the rice fields and terraces were turned to vegetables and root crops gardens, because the later generate more income than rice growing. -3The Origin of Ricewine (Baya) In-uke, wife of Tad-ona of Kiyyangan went to dig camote in Malat-iti, their swidden adjoining a woodland. She saw some birds eating the fruit of the binwa tree. Then all the birds fell to the ground. Inuke gathered them and poured cold water over them. Suddenly, all the birds became alive and flew away. She got some of the binwa fruit home and told her husband Tad-ona what had happened to the birds. Tadona thought the birds must gotten drunk. He went to get sugar cane (Una) from their swidden, pressed out the cane juice into a jar and mixed the binwa. On the third day, they drank from the concoction and they felt good. Tad-ona got drunk. The Skyworld deity, Liddum the Teacher, came down and asked Tad-ona why he got drunk. Liddum then taught how to celebrate the prestige marriage feast, uyauy, where so much wine is served that people get drunk. cane juice. -4A long, long time ago, our ancestors did not know about rice. They lived on fruits and vegetables, which they gathered in the forest, and on birds and wild animals, which they caught while hunting in the mountain. Tilling the soil was still unheard of. In addition, domestication of animals was not yet practiced. At the same time Liddum taught them how to mix rice with binwa and the

Since our people depended on the food which nature provided and not on what they themselves grew raised, their stay in one particular place was only temporary. When there was nothing more to be hunted, or gathered in a certain area, they would go to another region where there was plenty of food provided by nature. Moreover, the cycle would continue. Despite the conditions under which they lived, our ancestors were proud, thankful, and happy just the same. They took pride in the things they had: their brown skin, the race to which they belonged, the customs and traditions, which they practiced. They were thankful to Bathala, their god, for all the blessings he had given them. They were happy in the simple and uncomplicated manner of living, which they led. On a typical day, the men could be seen going to the mountain or forest to hunt, while the women and children could be seen busily engaged in fishing, gathering fruits and vegetables, and other useful tasks. After a days work, all wild animals that had been killed in the hunt, and all fruits and vegetables that had been gathered, would be divided equally among all the groups of families which made up the barangay. Such was the mode living of our ancestors in those days. One day a group of hunters went out to hunt deer. In their desire to have a good catch, they traveled everywhere until they reached the Cordillera Mountains. Having traveled so far, and feeling dead tired, they decided to take a rest under a big tree. It was nearing noontime, and all of them were hungry. While resting in the shade of the tree, they saw, not far from where they were a group of men and women whose features were quite different form those of ordinary mortals. The hunters mistook them for fairies that lived in the mountains All at once the hunters stood up and gave the group respect. The bathalas were glad at this gesture. In return, they invited the hunters to join them in their banquet. The hunters accepted the invitation. Soon everybody was busy. The hunters helped in preparing the food. They butchered the deer and wild boar, and then placed them one after another over the live coals. In a short while, a servant of the bathalas got some bamboos and placed them over the fire. The bamboos contained small, white kernels shaped like beads. Soon after, the cooked kernels were placed in a saucer on banana leaves. The table was laden with roasted meat, cooked vegetable, and fresh fruits. Other bamboos were brought in and these contained what looked like pure water. The hunters soon learned that the crystal-like substance was not water but the wine of the bathalas. At first, the hunters were reluctant in joining the feast after seeing the small, white kernels. We do not eat worms, the chief hunter said. The bathalas smiled. These white bead-shaped kernels are not worms, replied one of the gods. They are cooked rice. They came from a certain kind of plant, which we ourselves grow. Come and feast with us. After we have eaten, kill us if you find anything wrong from eating rice. After the god had spoken, the hunters did not argue anymore. They feasted with the gods. They were satisfied and happy because of the energy they felt after eating cooked rice. Their weak bodies became strong again. After the feast, the hunters thanked the gods. Before leaving, every hunter received a sack of play from the gods. This is palay, explained another of the gods. Pound the palay, winnow and clean it very well.

Wash the rice with water and place the washed rice between the internodes of the bamboo with enough water to be absorbed by the rice. Then place the bamboo over the fire until it is cooked. The god paused for a while. Then he continued to speak: The sick will become strong and all of you will be satisfied after eating. Preserve some of the palay for your seedbed. Start planting during the rainy season. During the dry season, you can harvest the palay. Go now. Introduce the palay in your village and teach the people how to till the soil. You will find progress and this will stop from wandering from place to place. The hunters followed the advice of the gods. They taught their own people how to till the soil and plant it to palay. They also taught their fellow villagers how to cook rice. Of course, they introduced the eating of cooked rice to the people. After many years, the practice of eating rice and the art of planting rice become widespread. Many other barangays soon adopted the practice and art. Since then rice has become a basic food of our people. In addition, along with the tilling of the soil, our people have learned to raise animals and to construct permanent dwelling places.