Tara na sa Banaue Rice Terraces! Let's Go to Banaue!

1000 Pesos Bill At the View Point

The Banaue Rice Terraces is registered as one of the World Heritage Site.
The people here are different from other people of the Philippines. Culture and language and beliefs, well every Filipino are unique what to expect in 7100 islands.

For Two Thousands Years the People here cultivated the Mountains. here they plant rice.
I came from the low lands and I can see how it is very different their practices are.

In Banaue you can not see Carabao which is the beast of burden of the Filipinos, yet they can still do their farming.

The women are responsible for planting rice, while men are responsible for maintaining the rice terraces. It is like a division of Labor of long ago, men do the hunting while women attends the fields. Last Dec 2009 I join one the Study tour of ACCESS going to the Mountain Province. Here I had first hand info on how the local people lived.

When we went there the women are preparing the rice paddies. Cutting all the weeds, grass, flowers that are found near the paddies removing the branches because they are hard only the soft parts of the vegetation. They are composting , Organic Farming as I assume, these practice is being done since then. I also interviewed one Native Male who is carrying a big rock, he told me he will used that rock to be placed on the rice paddies for reinforcing the walls. The man also told me that they never burn the hay, instead they return it to the earth to decompose and becomes compost, completing the cycle of life. A proof that they do practice organic farming. In the low lands the left over rice stalks are piled in heap to be feed to cows and are usually they are burn, such a waste they do not like instant fertilizers.

The people here are so unique because during harvest, the women also do the harvest and they cut the rice stalk one by one and tie it in bundle. They use a special knife for this purpose of reaping.

A Bundle of Rice

Rice Bundle with the Reaping Blade

Mortar and Pestle

Me pounding rice ^^ pic c/o yuri chan

Aside from organic farming practices, intricate reaping of rice  and men and women division of labor it is also interesting to note that people there have their own god of fertility, and their own way of growing the seedlings. They plant their rice in columns and rows. To distinguish which variety they are planting they plant one column all horizontal, then vertical then horizontal.

Rice Seeds planted in rows and columns

Rows of Palay

Another variety of rice

Rice Seedlings

"Bulol" Fertility God

Native Bike

Me with the Ifugao Kid

Ifugao Youths

Native House

Volunteers of ACCESS VOA

VOA

At the Banaue View Point

Igorot Kids

Welcome to to the Rice Terraces