Northern Luzon is a prime tourist destination in the Philippines.  The Cagayan Valley, with its rich cultural heritage and stunning geographic diversity  of scenic mountain ranges and valleys, is one of the most beautiful and exciting of these destinations and Nueva Vizcaya offers both man-made and natural wonders (the legendary Salinas Salt Spring of Bambang, the amazing Alayan-Kapisaan Cave System of Kasibu, etc.).  Its many cultures is also worth immersing into.   One such cultural heritage, that of the Kalanguyas, is showcased in Sta. Fe’s Kalanguya Festival.

Street dancing parade

The National Commission on the Culture and Arts (NCCA), through its Committee on Northern Cultural Communities, strives to promote and revitalize traditional culture and arts through distinctive or unique festivals that continue to be part of the local population’s life and culture.  For the second time around, the NCCA has supported, with grants, this festival which showcases the Kalanguya’s rich cultural heritage.

L-R, David Greedy, Leah Luna, Gerry Gracio, Nonoy Froilan and me

Yours truly was tapped to write an article on this unique festival held on the second week of March.  Joining me were NCCA Project Development Officer Ms. Leah A. Luna; NCCA videographer Mr. Nonoy Froilan; Mr. David Greedy of Getty Images; free-lance writer Mr. Gerry Gracio and COLORS photographer Mr. Joseph “Jay” Agcaoili.   We all left Manila by 10 PM via a Nelbusco bus.  The 216.85-km. trip took all of 5 hrs. (including stopovers).  It was a chilling ride for me as I forgot to bring a jacket, a regret that was to stay with me even during my stay at the town.  The 399.82 sq. km., pleasantly cool, fifth-class municipality of Sta. Fe is the first town to be traversed when going to the Cagayan Valley.  We arrived at the Golden Rose Hotel by 3:30 AM, billeting ourselves at 3 of the hotel’s 9 non-airconditioned rooms.  After a short 2-hr. sleep and early breakfast, it was off to work.

Kalanguya dance

The town has a 2,001 population of 13,942, 75-80% of which are Kalanguyas which inhabit 13 of the town’s 16 barangays.  The rest are Ilocanos and Tagalogs.   The Kalanguyas  occupy the mountain ranges of the Caraballo Sur and belong to the Igorot tribe which include the Ibalois, Kankanai and Karaw.  They are also found in the area west of Sta. Fe, the eastern portion of Benguet plus some areas of Pangasinan, Ifugao and Nueva Ecija.

The Kalanguyas were formerly called Ikalahans (from a tree having broad leaves), an ethnolinguistic  name first coined  by American anthropologist  and missionary Delbert Rice.  Pastor Rice maintained that Kalanguya was a derogatory tribal name, it being a contraction of “kelan ngoy ya?” which is best translated as “What in the world is that?,” an expression commonly uttered to indicate contempt.  This was contradicted during the Kalanguya-Ikalahan Tribal Consultation (July 6-7, 1993) which confirmed that the Kalanguya name is not derogatory but a word of peace.

The indispensable pig

The hardworking Kalanguyas are kaingin (slash and burn) farmers.  The delicious kamote (sweet potato), raised in inum-an (upland farms or swiddens), is their staple food.  They also raise the indispensable pig, used in almost all occasions like the canao (socio-religious celebration), wedding celebrations and tongtongan (a traditional system of settling disputes). Kalanguyas in Brgy. Imugan (the  Kalanguya center), also produce jams and jellies made from guava, santol, bignay or wild berries and Ifugao handicrafts like bamboo baskets, woodcarvings and exotic and beautiful handwoven fabrics (used as tapis by women and g-strings by the men).

Kalanguya kiyad

The Kalanguya Festival, held in conjunction with the town’s fiesta, was started in 1996 during the first term of youthful Mayor Teodorico DP. Padilla (of Tagalog-Ilocano descent) and elderly Vice-Mayor Donior Tidang (a Kalanguya).  This lowlander-highlander tandem were instrumental in dissolving lowlander discrimination and the prevailing differences  between these two peoples by presenting the culture of the Kalanguyas to the lowlanders.   The first Kalanguya Festival was a step in the right direction with its theme “Nah-Nah Yaw Ni Puli, Hak-Hakay Ni Manhilbi” (Despite Cultural Diversity, In Service There is Unity). The festival aims to conserve, preserve and protect the almost-forgotten Kalanguya cultural heritage, especially to the younger generation, amidst modernization and high technology.  Slowly, the Kalanguyas are being recognized as a component for society’s progress and a feeling of brotherhood now exists between the two peoples.  The festival also brought enormous progress  and development in the town and its people’s lives.

Sacrifice of a carabao

This year, with the Padilla-Tidang tandem still in governance, the 8th staging of this festival proved to be just as successful as the first. The festival proper kicked off with an early  morning parade of floats from Consuelo to the plaza coupled with street dancing by participants in native attire (g-strings for men and tapis for women). At the gymnasium, we witnessed a showcase of the cultural heritage of the tribe through displays and exhibits, songs and dances, chants and rituals (kiyad), exhibit of traditional arts and crafts, indigenous games and sports and sacrifices of a pig and a carabao.   In the evening, a performance of the play Ibong Adarna, featuring Wowee de Guzman, was held at the town gymnasium.  At 9 AM the next day, March 16, we all left Sta. Fe for Manila  via a passing Victory Liner bus and arrived in Manila by 4:30 PM.