Linda’s Story

I was born Linda Santa Maria Aguirre.

Born in Motag, Malay, Aklan on January 31 1936, this makes me 78 now.

My memories start when i was about 5 years old. My parents had 2 houses, a farm house in Motag and a house in Poblacion. Poblacion was the centre of the community and my father one of the community leaders.  As a child I would spend my time between the two houses.

I have experienced first hand the joys and the hardships of farming.

I remember there were no machines back then, everything was done by hand. There were very few people in Motag only my immediate family, parents, brothers, sisters, aunties, uncles and cousins.

When needed, we would hire the local indigenous people who lived in the mountains. They were called Ati. The Ati were here long before the Spanish arrived.

They would come and help us in the fields. They would plough using Carabao, they would create seasonal irrigation canals, unlike now where the canals for irrigation are permanent. To create the canals they would close off half of the river. I loved this time because the river came to us, we would swim and clean clothes and bath using Maria Maria leaves, this acts as a type of soap and lathers in water, all in the river that had been diverted. Using this diverted water they would create the rice paddies.

My favourite time was planting season.The land was divided into family plots, so we would work as a co-operative community planting and harvesting together. Now rice is planted three times a year but back in my day planting happened once a year in May. We would prepare the seed beds. This would be a field where the soil was dry and sandy, so seedlings were easy to transplant without root damage.

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I loved riding the ligis. This is a flat frame with bamboo spikes underneath drawn by a Carabao over the ploughed soil and used to even out the soil and loosen it up for planting. We rode on the ligis to give it added weight and make it more effective. Of course in those days we didn’t have cars or tricycles, so to us it was exciting and certainly not thought of as work to ride the ligis.

After one month the rice was transplanted into an irrigated field or flooded field, the Bati. (*2) The Sabodor seedling would be about 5 inches high and grouped into bundles. We loved getting into the mud to help the planters. We were also taught the correct way to throw the rice bundles or sabod so they landed root down and did not get muddy or splash the rice workers. The seedlings would be planted during “tig taeanom”, the planting season.

 

Playtime

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We did not have anywhere specific to play so we played in the fields the river and the sea side. We played our own games with the things we could find. Tubi Tubi a kind of tag chase, Pitik Pitik a game with sticks. Tamboo know known as jacks. Tuslok Tuslok a very early version of battleships.  Bug-oy a game with best shells called “Sigay” best shells “Pyangkok” come from Manoc-Manoc on Boracay”.  Also Liksi Liksi, skipping with a beach creeping vine called “Lagaylay” and of course siki-siki – coconut shell and for the bigger kids bamboo stilts.

 

Work and Sustenance

We would be assigned work every day. We would help with fishing this would be shore line fishing and in those days there was an abundance of fish. There was no market in these days so we ate what we had and what we could gather.

We would gather the food for the laswaor Tinoea in Aklanon and Tinola in Tagalog, a dish with vegetables and may be fish snails or meat.

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Some of this food you will see in the paddies today. Bangsod the black conical snails. We had tilapia, and Pantata a type of catfish which is still around though not in the quantity that was.

The native Ko-oe,  native escargot snail, a now rare and smaller version of the existing Kohol that you can see in the paddies, are the Golden Kohol of the former 1^st lady Imelda Marcos, introduced by her to impress the Japanese. Though edible we do not like to eat them.

We ate Puyo a type of fish (but this now is also on the verge of extinction)  and Haeuan or Pantat another type of fish which has also almost died out. We of course were not aware of the need for conservation back then, we were aware that we needed to eat.

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One of my jobs was to gather the drinking water.  We children would cross the Nabaoy river to a natural spring carrying our Sag-ob a hollowed out bamboo custom made to suit our height. The sagob would be approximately twice our height. We would fill the sag-ob  at the spring and walk across the narrow walk ways of the rice paddies.  This became difficult in wet weather and I would frequently slip and fall dropping and breaking the sagob and losing the water.  I came home often in tears worried that I would be told off by my parents because I had lost the water and broken the sagob. The consequences were never too serious and another sag-ob would be made for me so I could collect water the next day. Though some of the other children did not have such understanding guardians and would be punished.

We had a communal deep well call a Bobon. The whole community would use the water from the bobon for washing, cooking and bathing

I once died in our bobon:

I was about 5 years or may be six years old. Not old enough to go to school, we went to school at the age of  7 in those days.  We were playing “payag-payag” or play house and I was chosen to get the water for our game. Using the Batong “hungot”  a bamboo gathering vessel, I put it in the well but when it was full of water it was too heavy to pull out, as I tried it pulled me into the well head first.  I was submerged unable to get out due to the narrowness of the well walls. My tita or auntie who was in her bahay kubo, a small house made of bamboo and wood, noticed things had gone quiet. She asked my cousins where I was. An older cousin rushed to get me out.  Luckily he knew instinctively to do chest compressions because I had stopped breathing , he  managed to empty my lungs and bring me back from certain drowning.

The whole process of producing rice takes 12 weeks and harvest time “Tig-aeani” was the happiest time for every one. Particularly if the harvest was good.

Back then, to harvest, we would use a Pangayog (*10), a small tool used to cut the rice heads. These days a “pangayog” or scythe is used and all goes into a thresher, but back then we would only take the rice grain heads. These would be cut and put into a basket we carried on our hips called a Tabig.(*11)

The riceheads were hung up in the grain store  called the “pitakan” (*12) to dry a little before it was laid out on a mat “amakan”(*13) which is similar to banig but made of palm leaves. These mats would be laid on elevated ground  called pongtod and covered with grain which would be regularly raked to help it to dry. In this day and age you will see rice drying on the side of paths and roads as an alternative to pongtod. Once dried it would be stored in libon sacks (*14) made from buri palm.

There was usually a family snake a Baeayon (*15) house snake. who lived in the Grain store. I woke up one morning to find the one who chose to live with my family sliding across my chest. I do not know where he had been but I suspect he was going back to the grain storage.  They are harmless snakes about an inch in circumference and maximum a meter long.  They kept the mice and rats off what to us was a crucial part of our  diet and livelihood so no one minded about their Baeayon. I doubt very much if there is one living in the museum right now.

Harvest Time

We would celebrate harvest.  A party would be planned, because there was no electricity they were planned on the full moon or a large bonfire was built. Our family would feed the workers. We would eat Pinipig (*16) young roasted rice which is pounded and eaten as a snack.  The pounding of rice used to induce dancing depending on how many people are using a “Halong” (*17) a large wooden pestle in the “eongosong” (*17) mortar, the sound would dictate the dance as they danced to the rhythm.

Usually a pig was slaughtered for the occasion and slow roasted over an open fire. People would bring food and drink and share in the celebrations.

People would eat and drink Tuba (coconut wine) and be merry. There would be dancing, singing, storytelling, and poetry.

I would listen to the Ati in wonder as they got up and sang their songs and recite poems, this they did in their own dialect and I did not understand but they were so expressive I sat there in awe. Some would dance in the fire  “fire walking”.  One of the Ati  songs is still sung today “Kaming Maga Ati”, song for the Ati.

These are fond memories of those halcyon days.  My father became the first Mayor of Malay.

The Spanish relinquished its hold on the Philippines and the Americans took control.

The Second World War and Japanese came and went in times which were difficult, though that is another story.

But my early childhood was idyllic, though hard at times I probably had a happier and freer childhood than most children today, I can make fire, I can survive in the wilderness, I can sow seed, catch and gather food.  I can make shelter and I have had a good education, so in a lot of ways I am richer than my descendants.

I still live here in my 2^nd house in Motag  and I can see Motag Living museum from my little home. My Bahay Kubo.  I will leave you all wondering where I live. You might not be able to see me but I can see you and I hope you all have a lovely experience going back in time.

 

*1 The Ligis
Bamboo Harrow.

* 2 Bati or flooded rice field

*3 Liksi Liksi Skipping with a creeping beach vine

*4 Siki siki, stilts

*5 Bansod conical black snail

*6 Golden kohol Golden snail

*7 Sag-ob. Bamboo water carrier

*8 Bobon or Deep well

*9 Hungot

*10 Pangayog hand held harvest tool

*11 Tabig

*12 Pitikan or rice grannery

*13 Amakan mat

* 14 Libon sack being woven buy an elder of the community

*15 The Baeayon or house snake

* 16 Pinipig

Halong and Eongosong
pestle and mortar.

 

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