🇵🇭 BONTOC • Lang-ay Festival: Cultural Extravaganza in Mountain Province

"...a lowlander can still witness their way of living, their traditions and everything a lowlander needs to know about their culture."

It was hard to start this post because I was left speechless. The love for my country, and for my fellow Filipinos up in the mountains was stirred. The Igorot people, known for their headhunting culture are often mistreated these modern days. [Some] people from the lowlands see them as inferior people, with tails and black-magic chants. I would say, those people who tell those myths are the most ignorant of their kind.

The tribes of the Mountain Province, a land-locked province situated at the heart of the Cordillera mountains in Luzon island, the Philippines, converged in the cool and lovely capital town of Bontoc. They left their rice fields carved in the mountains (an exceptional engineering feat through the rice terraces) to showcase their distinct culture... their identity.

There I witnessed a culture of unity and respect, a showcase of resiliency and ingenuity and an extravagant display of talent and distinct identity. It was the Lang-ay Festival -- unique, authentic, pure, enlightening, educating and heart-warming!

Igorot man

They wear the clothes used by their ancestors - although some older Igorots in Mt. Province still use it at home. We have to admit that embracing the modern world is inevitable. These clothes are no longer worn casually by the younger generations of the Mt. Province tribes and even for the rest of the Cordilleras. Thanks to this festival, at least, it is not yet totally gone and me as a lowlander can still witness their way of living, their traditions and everything a lowlander needs to know about their culture.

Lang-ay Festival happens every 1st week of April which coincides with the foundation day of Mountain Province.

I can't seem to find the best words to describe this festival that I witnessed. It consumes me. It overwhelms me. 

Hundreds of people danced on the streets -- children, teens, adults, and even the senior citizens. It is about the love for their culture. It was purely a cultural display -- not commercialized, not really for tourists but for anyone who wants to witness the Igorot way of life, culture and traditions.

Please allow me to share additional photos of the Lang-ay festival I just witnessed. The photo gallery is situated below.

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Tags: Lang-ay Festival 2013 | Festivals in Mt. Province | Festivals in Mountain Province | Festivals in Bontoc | Festivals in Cordillera | Photos, pictures of Lang-ay Festival 2013