Ifugao rice harvest festival

At the end of the rice production cycle, the Ifugaos celebrate the Bakle festival. It’s time to feed the bulul (rice god)!

Gongs are sounded and the villagers dressed in traditional g-strings and colorful woven cloth gaily make binakle (traditional rice cakes) and baya (rice wine). Through the help of the non-government organization Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement (SITMo), participants were able to witness one of the fourteen rice festivals celebrated throughout the year.

Last August 26-27, the Bakle’d Kiangan was held at Julongan village in the Ifugao province. Visitors, mostly photographers and members of the press, were given a firsthand look into the way of life of the Ifugaos.

When the palay becomes golden brown in color, the Ifugaos harvest the rice from the famous rice terraces and hold a festival to give thanks for their harvest. The villagers pound diket or glutinous rice to be made into binakle (a sticky rice cake wrapped in leaves). They also offer two kinds of baya: the red rice wine and white rice wine.

Division of labor can be seen during the making of the binakle. The men pound the rice by using a heavy pestle while the women are in charge of winnowing the rice.

The highlight of the Bakle festival is the ritual of sacrifice. In it, the elders pray to the gods and sacrifice a hen and rooster’s blood as an offering to the bulul. When the rooster was being offered, it put up a fight, causing it to upturn the container with the collected blood. The elder commented that the spirit was struggling and that we needed to pray to appease it.

Even though others might brand these rituals as being paganistic, most Ifugaos are already Catholics and they conduct these rituals in order to preserve them for future generations. They also do these in the hopes of receiving more blessings in the future. It is their belief that the entrails of the sacrificed chickens hold the key to having a blessed year. After the blood letting, the two chickens are cut open and the elders check to see if their gallbladders are in good condition. If the chicken’s gallbladder is intact, this signifies a good year ahead for all the participants. If not, the Ifugaos will keep on sacrificing chickens until the gods are appeased. Luckily for us, the gods were in our favor so they only had to sacrifice two chickens.

The culminating activity was a cultural night that featured young children and adults dancing the traditional dances of their forefathers.

The Ifugaos take pride in their rich culture and heritage but economic factors are compelling them to abandon rice farming and seek greener pastures elsewhere. But SITMo staff and volunteers are dedicated to preserving the culture that nurtures the Ifugao rice terraces – the 8th wonder of the world and part of the UNESCO World Heritage list.