There will be a virtual tour of the book : A Puppy, Not a Guppyby Holly Jahangiri which is scheduled in my other blog Jena Isle’s Random Thoughts on December 15. It's a collector's item, and you'll learn why on December 15.
To make it more exciting, a contest would be held; the detailed mechanics will be posted on December 14, 2009.
There would be four (4) winners of the contest:
1. Two (2) winners of the Contest proper, to be awarded by the book author – Holly Jahangiri.
2. One winner of a $10 prize (thru paypal) to whoever would be asking the book author the most interesting question. I will be sponsoring and selecting this winner. A link back to my blog, ( if you have a blog) would be the only requirement.
3. One free Inspirational Book (Anthology of Bloggers all Over the World) would be awarded to whoever has the most interesting comment on the blog post about the book tour.
More detailed information about the book would be posted at Jena Isle’s Random Thoughts http://www.jenaisleonline.com on the date scheduled.
Holly Jahangiri would be answering all your questions.
In the lowlands especially here in Pampanga, meat is cooked in various ways and in several different dishes that sometimes, the genuine taste of the meat is lost.
The natives of Taloctoc are usually vegetarians. There are special occasion however, that the butchering of pigs, carabaos and cows are considered appropriate. These are during marriages, peace pact agreements, and village fiestas.
Before the animal is butchered, certain prayers are done first by the “mandandawak” (village’s quack doctor.)
carabao Then the animal is cleaned through the use of direct fire and a sharp knife to scrap the hair out of the animal’s skin.
The “message” of the gods is then interpreted from the arrangement of the lobes of the animal's liver.
The blood of the animal is also spread through a portion of the ground as a symbol that the people are honoring the gods.
The meat is cut into medium-sized pieces, and then placed in a big "silyasi" (wok.) These are boiled in water until tender, over a stone stove making use of firewood collected from the nearby forest.
There are no condiments added; no salt, no vinegar, pepper or whatever flavor enhancers that we usually add to meat.
Rice would also be cooked in a big pot.
After everything is cooked, all of it is placed in banana leaves, where everyone would then squat to eat.
There are no plates whatsoever.
Everyone eats from the two, big serving plates - the banana leaves. One for the rice and one for the viand (meat).
I can tell you, I have never tasted meat so pure in form and flavor.
With the coming elections, the people of Kalinga are empowered to vote for their own candidates. Here they're proudly demonstrating their willingness to exercise their right of suffrage.
BIBAK stands for BENGUET -IFUGAO - BONTOC - APAYAO -KALINGA. These are the provinces in Mountain Province. These are the competent and able officers from these cultural minorities, who had brought honor and pride to their respective places.
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These are the "BER" months once again and Christmas is just two months away!
Celebrating Christmas in the village of Taloctoc had been a unique and wonderful experience.
I will always remember those cold mornings around the hearth, drinking a hot cup of coffee while the firewood crackled happily. Christmas mornings were always cold then. I was 10 years old then and life was going good for me.
After the morning ritual, I and my friends would run off to the woods and prepare our caroling ensembles. We would arm ourselves with bamboo flutes, a bamboo treble, and a drum made up of the carabao’s hide.
In the evenings, we would go from house to house singing our disjointed Christmas songs.”
Merry Christmas to you all. Merry Christmas to you all. Dong-dong ay si dong-ilay,Insinali –dumma-ay.
We went all night long doing the rounds of all the houses. There were, more or less, 300 households in that small village, and we visited them all!
The folks were very generous to us. We would go home with our arms full of fruits, candies, rice cakes, sugar cane, and yes, even coffee and mongo beans. It was very rare that a household would not give anything.
But there were funny instances when we sang a naughty lyric to those very few who were lazy to get up, and then we would run as fast as our small feet could carry us.
I still laugh when I remember a friend who got drenched by cold water because he poked a sleeping old man with a stick, in between the bamboo floor slits. Lol… I know now, it was not really funny, but at that time, the audacity of the youth in us, was given free reign.
Some folks became extra generous when they see me with the other kids “Sa anak mistala anna,” (She’s the teacher’s daughter.) My mother was the only female teacher in the nipa school and they respected her a lot.
There were adult choirs too who sang the English, Christmas songs beautifully molded into the native tongue, and their musical instruments were totally a blast. I have never heard since then, something even closely resembling them.
It was like music coming from the heavens.
Taddoks (Kalinga dance) are also conducted in the school's plaza where food, wine and celebrations went on until the wee hours of dawn in the blazing illumination of a bonfire.
From my Kalinga folks and me, I greet you, “Mambayo eh Krismas yo at de umali e December!” (May you have a merry Christmas this coming December )
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