IGKHUMTAD TOUR

Igkhumtad Ad Majawjaw (pronounced as ig-k-hoom-tad) is the annual Town Fiesta of Mayoyao, Ifugao scheduled every April 25-27. It is a term used in the Hud-Hud (Ifugao Epic) to describe how the first five districts in Mayoyao manage to meet once in a year to compete with one another in terms of native games. Their usual meeting place is the center of Mayoyao known to be as Chu’likhan (Ducligan). During the olden times, it was Aliguyon who was known to be always winning in the games being played. Nowadays, the Igkhumtad is the equivalent of a Fiesta where people from the different Barangays of Mayoyao go to the Poblacion and compete with one another at the same time socializing with the people from other places outside their barangay.

IGKHUMTAD AD MAJAWJAW TOUR PACKAGE
April 27-29, 2007
Mayoyao, Ifugao


Package Cost: P3,200.00 per participant

Inclusions:

Transportation within the province

Tour Guide Fee
Meals (3 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 2 dinners)

Cultural night
Environmental Fee

Entrance Fees
Lodging (Inn accommodations and homestays);
Limited accommodations for homestays

Exclusions:

Transportation to Ifugao from Manila or Baguio (and back)
Travel Insurance
Snacks

Special discounts for students in group (minimum of 5 persons)

Day 1 of the tour brings the tourists to participate in the Igkhumtad by judging in certain contested ethnic games at the Poblacion grounds. The contested events/games will be ethnic games. In the afternoon will be a visit to the Marian Center where the Hidden Madonna Falls is situated. The participants will also visit the Abfo’or Burial Tombs where, during the olden times, the bodies of brave warriors were being buried. It is an igloo-type musoleum.

On Day 2, the participants will have a picnic at the O’phaw Mahencha (leap of Mahencha) Falls, with 1 ½ hours trek.

Day 3 will be more of sightseeing at Chu’it Viewpoint and Acacoy Park.. In the afternoon, the participants will proceed to Banaue for more views of the Rice Terraces, then departure for Manila.


ITINERARY

Day 01
6 a.m. Arrival at Santiago City
Travel to Mayoyao, Ifugao
Breakfast in Ubao, Aguinaldo (Ifugao)
9 a.m. Arrival in Mayoyao
10 a.m. Participation in the Igkhumtad
(participants act as judges in the different ethnic games)
12 n.n. Lunchbreak
1:30 p.m. To Abfo’or Burial Tombs
3 p.m. To Marian Center
5 p.m. Free time
6 p.m. Dinner
7 p.m. Rest or night out

Day 02
6 a.m. Early breakfast
7 a.m. Travel to O’phaw Mahencha Falls
(with I ½ hours trek)
12 n.n. Lunch/picnic at the falls
3 p.m. Travel back to Poblacion
7 P.m. Dinner
8 p.m. Cultural Show

Day 03
7 a.m. Breakfast
8 a.m. Travel to Chu;it Viewpoint
10 a.m. Travel to Acacoy Park and Nursery
11 am. Travel to Banaue
(with lunch at midway)
3 p.m. At Banaue Town Center
Travel to Banaue Viewpoint
Shopping of souvenirs
5:30 p.m. Departure of visitors


For reservation and inquiries, contact us:

THE POCHON GROUP
Poblacion, Mayoyao
3602, Ifugao
Tel Nos: +639064826300, +639214524262
E-mail: acer098@gmail.com

IPAD AD ALIMIT

IPAD ad Alimit
(March 7-9, 2007)

The Ipad is a prestige ritual among the Ayangans (a tribe of Ifugao) performed mainly to establish and maintain family prestige and status. It may come in the form of a thanksgiving festival in a native way, where the Ayangans come together as one butchering pigs, chickens, and carabaos for the occasion. In this ritual, the childless couples can also ask for children as blessings in order to establish a prestigious family.

March 8, 2007, 9:00 A.M…. Ate Bex and I were headed to Mayoyao, Ifugao (via Banaue) on board our motorbikes on convoy. I was to accompany Ate Bex (head of the Kataguwan Center- an NGO affiliated with the Lagawe Catholic Mission being its Social Action Arm) to attend the Ipad chi E-ajangan ad Alimit (Ipad of the Ayangans in Alimit- a far flung Barangay of Mayoyao)…. Then there was the rugged dusty road which occasionally bounces us off our motorbikes covering us with dust everytime we meet other vehicles traversing the highway. Though the rocky road between Banaue and Mayoyao is practically my playground, the newly-constructed steep road from the highway to Alimit is really new to me (since it was my first time to go to the place). We were then stumbling down the steep road (not to count the heat from the scorching sun at past 12:00 high noon!). But the bruises we sustained from the stunt were brushed aside, cured by the warm welcome of the people in the barrio. We arrived just 30 minutes before lunch will be served (during occasions in Mayoyao, lunch is usually served at 2:00 P.M.)

I was supposed to leave for a meeting of the Pochon group at the Poblacion in the afternoon that same day. However, I was told that the Fatong (Ipad proper) will be done at 12:00 midnight until dawn. I was in a dilemma then whether to push through with the meeting at 6:00 P.M., or to stay and witness the ritual (it was actually my first time to witness such a ritual of my tribe). So many things to consider: what’s more important, the Ipad or the meeting of the group?; there was scarce signal in the barrio (and I become restless if I didn’t text my hunny goodnight); it was my first time to witness such a ritual; that day is the first time that Mayoyao hosts such an activity; I would be missing the opportunity that I am in Mayoyao and that is the day the members of the Pochon Group are available for a meeting; and so on…one thing more is that Jeremy (our group PRO) is likewise with us in the barrio to document the said ritual being the Tourism Officer of Mayoyao. And he himself cannot attend to the meeting…. I finally made my decision: to stay and witness the Ipad and reset the meeting for another day (maybe the nextweek).

Afternoon came, there was a short introductory program where the rationale for the Ipad was explained. The different representatives of the delegates (Ifugao municipalities) were given a chance to talk and lead native dances completing their representation to the celebration. The host barrio likewise shared some of their breathtaking performances from the pupils to the women’s organization. The show was just entertaining…we forgot we were tired from the long travel!

Then evening came…we were now beginning to feel the fatigue. Sleep was likewise tempting. But we still continued to be entertained by the gong-beatings and the native dances (even ate Bex beat the gong!). In between the entertainment, I managed to send some texts to my hunny taking advantage of some of the signals that the wind brings. After dinner was served, we were told to rest and that they will wake us up when the ritual starts…and so, off we went to sleep (at the Barangay RHU).

We were awakened by continuous knockings at the door of the room where we slept. It was time to start the ritual… ate Bex and I sleepily slipped out of bed and followed the messenger to where the ritual is to take place. Luckily, I brought with me my Creative MP3/Recorder (and also I brought with me 10 spare AAA batteries), so I entered the native house along with the 4 native priests who’ll do the ritual and recorded every chants and prayers (for peace, thanksgiving, blessings, and protection). There were intervals when the native priests have to go out of the native house and dance the native dance outside and then enter the house again to resume with the ritual. The ritual took nearly 8 hours to finish. In the concluding part of the ritual, they butchered 4 pigs, one pig for each prayer (peace, thanksgiving, blessings, and protection for the Ayangan people and the host community). The ritual ended with at least 10 men clad in native attire dancing the native dance and then saying the last prayers in between. Then, there was the breakfast…

After breakfast, Ate Bex, Ate Gemma, Ate Juliet, and I went to the Alimit River to bathe as the sun was already high and the temperature was so convenient for a swim. Finishing our swimming lessons, we returned to the village just in time for the concluding program. Guests who were not able to attend the introductory program were acknowledged at the concluding program.

As for me and Ate Bex, we have toleave at around 1:30P.M. coz we'll be heading to the Poblacion for refueling before we depart for Lagawe. The travel was a slow one (we were sleepy then so we considered our safety first since we are the ones holding our own lives. We stopped at Tulaed (Toledo City- another Barangay of Mayoyao along the highway) for a merienda then continued on with the travel. We again stopped at the Habbang Bridge (boundary between Mayoyao and Banaue) for a short picture-taking and then proceeded on once again with the travel…it was already 6:20 P.M. and the sun was beginning to set down.

We arrived in Lagawe at around 8:50: in the evening, tired once again from the travel…we badly needed whole body massage (unluckily for me, my masseuse was not within the vicinity and that I still have to travel 8 hours maximum to get to her J). Either way, with or without body massage, I crept on to my mobile bed and slept the remaining hours away.

Waking up to a beautiful morning sunshine, I was still reeling from the adventure just 2 days ago. The experience was worth the sacrifice in going to the place, enduring the scorching heat of the sun, bruising some limbs from stumbling down the steep newly-constructed road, and sacrificing the supposed to be meeting of the Group (the meeting was reset to March 20, 2007). Had I not accompanied ate Bex to the place; had I left for the meeting; then I would have missed such an opportunity to witness a rare ritual of the Ayangan Tribe (to which I proudly belong). I was once proud to be an Ayangan…but I’m even more proud today knowing that our tribe is a treasure-box of unique cultures defining our identity as THE AYANGANS OF IFUGAO!.