A call to a Celebration of Thanksgiving

TADIAN, Mountain province – Another bountiful harvest, another festival it is for in Mountain Province.

The 19 barangays of this town celebrated the Ayyoweng di Lambak ed Tadian as a thanksgiving for another bountiful harvest.

The ayyoweng is a showcase of their cultural practices in dance, music and staged musical plays depicting leg-leg rain dance Bag-bago courtship dance, Tung-kala a fertility ritual for childless couples seeking Kabunyan’s (Kan-kanaey deity) intercession to them to bear children and Ta-dek the Kan-kanaey’s traditional dance. These are usually accompanied with the playing of ganza (gongs) and solibao (drums) with the dancers clad in their colorful traditional ethnic costumes usually performed during weddings, social events and during Begnas, a ritual and a festival after a bountiful rice harvest.

Rice wine is also brewed for the occasion; various root crops and few pigs are butchered and cooked to be shared among the townsfolk and their visitors.

Maintaining their unique cultural identity

The Ta-dek also featured the evolution of the Kan-kanaey’s traditional costumes from its early stages of clothing gathered and made from the bark (kuba) of the Sanglaw tree, before the introduction of the cotton fiber which was woven into colorful intricate design which was eventually adopted up to the present times.

Authentic Kan-kanaey’s cultural dances, music, sports and traditional costumes are showcased during the Ayyoweng di Lambak ed Tadian since its inception decades ago. According to Tadian Mayor Anthony Wooden, the Ayyoweng is a subtle and a powerful medium through which the “eTadian” communicate their varied emotions to the outside world. It is an avenue where the many beautiful value-laden cultural practices of the past, especially those that are almost forgotten, can re-surface to give inspirations especially to the young generation of Tadian.

“It will likewise help us trace our origin as a people and move on to purify and enrich our culture relevant with the needs of the time yet still stand out as “eTadian,” said Wooden, who also led a unique basketball game of g-stringed and barefoot players.

All of the other 10 municipalities of Mountain Province maintain their authentic cultural identity in the celebration of their cultural festivals added Rep. Maximo Dalog as seen in their celebration of Lang-ay, Begnas, Amamun, Sas-alliwa, Gaggayam, Menaliyam and Lambak cultural festivities. (Dave Leprozo)