By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
As I write this, we celebrate our fiesta here in Sagada- the Feast of the Purification of Mary and Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Etag Festival. Allow me then to rehash what I wrote 11 years ago focusing on the famous etag.
Etag is heavily salted pork left to dry above the hearth and in the process gets smoked by pinewood. Sometimes it is sun dried for a few days but care is taken not to over expose it to the sun as this will render it unpalatable. In Sadanga, “etag” is called “kinagang”. Some tribes like the Bontoks just salt the meat and store it in the “luchen” (dried gourd shell) and they commonly refer to this meat as “inasin”. No smoking, no sun drying. Some still call it “etag”, though.
Salting, drying and smoking are age-old traditions of preserving anything from meat to wood. (I heard that you can soak wood in seawater to preserve it.) So if the wintry Western Hemisphere has smoked ham, we in tropical highland Cordillera have “etag”.
In traditional Igorot culture, meat is eaten only as part of a ritual. Meat-eating is the consequence of the killing of an animal offered to the unseen (whether these are ancestral spirits or nature spirits or a Supreme Being) during important events in the life of the community. These events include critical times from planting to harvest of rice (the most important food of Igorots), during milestones in the life of a person like the “gobbaw” in Sagada, “linayaan” in Besao and “puting” in Bontoc and goodbye rituals for the dead. Meat is eaten during “senga” or “mangmang”. Well, the unseen does not eat so the people around will be the ones to eat the meat.
More often a chicken is also butchered and may or may not be cooked with “etag”. So it is important that the Igorot has “etag” always available at home. There are refrigerators now and people can always freeze fresh pork but nothing beats “etag”.
I am glad that Sagada chose to highlight “etag”. In our advocacy for a healthier lifestyle, for those who cannot forego meat, I advise macrobiotic diet – eating in harmony with nature- and this would mean eating much less meat as this should be organically produced. Many of my kababayan listeners would often protest that meat (read “etag”) has always been part of Igorot diet and they say “look how strong we are with long lives”.
Let us analyze this traditional meat-eating practice closely. It is true that “etag” or “inasin” is part of the traditional Igorot diet. But then pigs were organically or naturally produced so it would take about three years before a pig is big enough to be butchered. Aside from the long lifespan of the native pig, they are small compared to the 200 kilo obese mestizos and mestizas being raised nowadays. Not only was “etag” eaten only on special occasions, it was also eaten in teeny weeny pieces. Just imagine how a small pig would be rationed to many families – remember, one pig isn’t meant for just the family- there are always the relatives and the elders to share it with. (I don’t know of any ritual where only one family ate all the pig.) Receiving meat from the family who butchered it meant you are considered a close relation. In one of our discovery sessions in the community, one participant related that their “etag” lasted for five years! After a long time, “etag” would become golden and even a small piece (as in 1×1 inch square) would produce the characteristic flavor and aroma to the pinikpikan or bukel. I remember my parents would keep the “etag” in a tupilware (woven rattan basket with cover) above the hearth and when needed, we would just slice a small portion of the etag for the meal. Igorots of old didn’t just eat meat or etag when they liked to. And if they ate it, it was so sparingly- just for flavor.
Aside from the minimal meat eating habits of traditional Igorots, the quality of the meat then was clearly different from the meat now. Before commercial pig growing and dispersal programs, our pigs and chickens ate only what nature provided. Nowadays, pigs are given commercial feeds containing dead fish, dead animal bones and whatever those odorous substances are. These are also mixed with growth hormones so they could grow so big in 6 months (!) and fatteners so they would grow obese and edematous and heavy so the hog or poultry raiser will earn more. What do you think would happen if you eat the meat of these pigs? If you ate it as sparingly as your grandfather did, I think it would be of no consequence. But etag and inasin could be so addicting. So don’t be surprised if you see some kids nowadays who are much bigger than their parents and also a lot of increasing waistlines from babies to senior citizens. Alarming.
Eating meat is at most occasional – then, we would defer butchering the chicken or the pig until all members of the family were around. As the years went by, we have added so many occasions to celebrate – giving enough reason to butcher the chicken or pig or just eat meat. Birthdays, baptisms, wedding anniversaries, purely class reunions, graduation, passing the board or bar exams and, yes, fiestas. When I graduated from grade 6, I remember we had Tru-Orange and cookies as my graduation treat and that was already a feast. Nowadays, graduation from kindergarten is enough reason for pinikpikan and even lechon. These present times, during some pinikpikan meals which are really not special occasions, we joke that it is our dog’s birthday.
Over the years, the amount of meat and the frequency of meat eating of the Igorots have exponentially increased. With pigs growing to maturity at six months (or even earlier?), meat is available at every meal. “Etag” and “inasin” is now produced in commercial quantities and is displayed along Halsema highway and sold in many stores in town centers. Because etag has been promoted by the Etag Festival, you can now find “etag” in almost every store in Sagada. With refrigerators, frozen pork is now added to “etag”. Igorots are no longer eating in harmony with nature and are reaping the consequences – diseases associated with eating so much meat and fat and salt – high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, arthritis, heart failure, allergies, kidney failure, cancer, etc.
The indigenous tradition of “etag” is a wonderful heritage embodying the Igorot value of sharing with others and saving for the future, the value of moderation, the value of living in harmony with nature and the value of oneness with family, community, environment and the Unseen. All these, in turn, nurture our well-being, in the wholistic sense. All these blessings are what Sagada would pass on to its sons and daughters. And with these in Sagada, residents and tourists would discover wellness and wholeness and the joy of living. Happy Fiesta to everyone!***
“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands..” 1 Thessalonians 4:11
