When there is a wedding people gather to watch the dalan-dalan; or the groom’s entourage as these people walk in single file with the groom dressed in white shirt with a white turban on his head and he is at the head of the line. He walks under an umbrella held by the prettiest among the groom’s family.

In front of the groom is the man reciting the Dasang or the boasting in verses about how worthy a man is the groom. This includes his skills in hunting and fishing, his bravery in battle, his respect for older people and his true love for the bride. That is the only proper time when the Dasang is recited. At the head of the stairs of the bride’s house is a man reciting the Pangagda, an invitation to come up the stairs if he can afford it and the one reciting the pangagda will swear to high heavens that the bride is pure as a flower and white as cloud in her innocence.

Dasang and Pangagda are done only during asawaha or pagsalo (a wedding). To do otherwise is a cultural distortion and would be defying traditions. Let us not entertain foreigners and visitors in the wrong way at the expense of our cultural patrimony. Dr. Christian Alder, a German anthropologist wrote a book entitled: “Tourism: Cannibal of Cultures”. There must be a limit so that the indigenous culture shall somehow be able to retain its cultural flavor of innocence.

Meanwhile, what were the people walking in line doing as the Dasang continued? These people had with them all that they could afford to bring like: cash, rice wine in heirloom jar, mangad (bales of clothes), horses, cows for the kaula-an (bride price) and pigs to help the bride in the reception. Normally, in the Bukidnon culture the bride’s family gives and spends for the reception but if the groom can afford he must also give a pig or two for the bride’s meal preparations.

Reception in a native wedding takes place only after the taltag (accounting of the bride price) is finished. It takes three to four hours to do that and nobody shall take any food until the bride and groom have exchanged molded rice and inapugan (betel quids). Describing a native wedding is enough to make one master’s degree thesis so we cut off here.

Another instance of Kaamulan on the grassroot level is to gather for the purpose of thanksgiving and offering the new harvest to Magbabaya (God) the newly harvested rice or the binake (corn tamales) with chicken, rice wine, and boiled corn. This is the Lagti or taglagon.

The people in Sankanan, Lindaban, Kalugmanan, Tankulan, (now Manolo Fortich) Tikala, Moralom and all over Manolo Fortich including the Dumagats do this three times a year for the new corn tasting where the people serve langkoga (corn whine).

But when DMPI (Del Monte Philippines Inc.) rented all the corn fields in Manolo Fortich to plant tomatoes and cauliflower these happy traditions slowly disappeared.

The third occasion for home level kaamulan is the Pagtu-o, the celebration of any of the seven kaliga-on or an agricultural kaliga-on. The simplest kaliga-on-pagtu-o (celebration) is the Dag\ingon an agricultural religious rite celebrated in three nights. In any kaliga-on pagtu-o, the ceremonial dance Dugso is done with a dapulan (ceremonial fire in an earthen dish) in front of the dancers who are dancing in semi-circle. To describe the kaliga-on ritual is one doctoral dissertation. So we stop here now.

The fourth home level kaamulan is the panalawahig (pangampo and community general worship) a ritual done always near a river. Never in a plaza away from water. Panalawahig is a riverine ritual in honor of Bulalakaw, the goddess of all water forms like springs, rivers, and lakes. Wahig in Binukid means water in English. So panalawahig is always done near a river, the only traditional venue for it.

This is done so Bulalakaw will bless the streams and rivers with plenty of fish. People who live along big rivers do this at the start of the dry season when generally, people go to the rivers and streams to do the communal fishing called sagop. This type of communal fishing is diverting the flow of the river to one side rendering, the other half shallow. As soon as the shallow part is made, the people will drive the fishes in the shallow part where it is easy to catch them.

Another time for panalawahig is before the first flood comes after summer. People invoke Bulalakaw to give the balagil, bangay, salanaw, balabag, bu-o, and tapokan, plenty of fish to catch. All of these terms refer to types of fish traps.

At Sakob, the small waterfall below the Sawaga River in Malaybalay at the back of the old Buseco office is the traditional place of worship by Panalawahig (talangdanan). Apo Kapitan (Juan Melendez), Apo Ingas (Engacio Inicial) headed the Panalawahig at Sakob asking Bulalakaw that no drowning shall occur and that Sawaga River shall teem with all kinds of fishes like the tambilolo, pait, halu-an (mud fish), kasili (river eel), kulilaw, Ulang (shrimps), kayumang (crabs), and bakbak (frog). (The author has studied the Bukidnon tribe since 1968 as a special assistant for the cultural communities. An ethnographer and anthropologist, she is presently writing “The Ethnohistory of the Bukidnon Tribe of Northcentral Mindanao”, “Malaybalay: Then and Now: An Ethnographic and Historical Narrative” and other writings. Now 81 years old, she starts to complain about losing eyesight and other limitations to complete her manuscripts. However, she keeps her advocacy of helping mat and basket weavers consolidate their geometric designs.) 

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