By Joel Belinan
Browsing my favorite social media platform early this week, my attention caught some posts of “kakailians” or compatriots from Agawa, Besao, Mtn. Province. It’s about the Linnapet that happens every September 30 there, where I was born. One post was asking whether going home to Agawa is allowed while others were just posting some memories of its past celebrations, some by those staying in faraway places like the US and Europe. Indeed, this is one of the most important dates for us from Agawa.
But what is Linnapet anyway? My space would be too short to describe it but let me give a glimpse. Linnapet is a unique festival being observed originally by members of the Agawa sub-tribe in Besao Mtn. Province. While there is a specific barangay now called Agawa in Besao, it generally refers to the barangays now of Lacmaan, Agawa, Gueday, Ambagiw, and Tamboan or the so-called Lagat Barangays of my home town. Then later on it became the umbilical cord of people who trace their roots to those five barangays wherever they are. Thus, it was not surprising to see those posts from abroad or from here in the Baguio-Benguet areas where many have settled. As described by my cousin Manong Leon Lonogan in his book the Sunset at the Sunrise, it has become a unifying factor that bind us Iyagawa regardless of where we are on this planet.
I and my younger brother happened to grow up in Tabuk, Kalinga where our parents migrated for economic reasons and, hence, unlike our older brothers and sisters who grew up in Besao, we did not have as much exposure to the Linnapet celebrations during our early years. I do, however, remember that once a year we were treated to a unique rice-cake different from the usual Ilocano suman or the Kalinga dila-dila called Lapet. Modern-day Lapet is made of grounded sticky rice with grounded salted peanuts in the middle and wrapped with either sayote or banana leaves then cooked by boiling it. Originally, in the olden days, the Iyagawas used any edible freshwater fish they could catch in the rice fields as the “sandwich” of the rice cake.
This lapet is generally what people of Agawa use as “duwa” or gift to their elders, relatives, neighbors, friends, and kakailians every September 30. As manong Leon in his book said, it’s Christmas in September as the very essence of Linnapet is gift-giving which is an Iyagawa way of showing respect to their folks. For just like other Igorots, we value very much our relationship with our relatives, neighbors and friends.
Why September 30? According to old folks’ accounts passed through generations, during the olden days a mysterious old man told Agawa folks that when the Sun Rises exactly at the top of Amabaong Bato (a giant rock on top of Mt. Sisipitan) and its solid rays hit the stone placed at the Dap-ay (men’s dorm and community elders’ center) in Gueday, people should start soaking their rice seeds for planting. Indeed, that was the proper time to grow rice. Later, with the advent of the Gregorian calendar, the people observed that the timing was always on September 30. So that day was set for the festivity.
On Sept. 30, 1996, the Linnapet was a good reason for me to go home as an adult and experience what my folks kept on telling stories about. That was immediately after coming home from abroad where I was a traveling social worker of our Ananda Marga Yoga organization and, thus, had that tremendous urge to see this particular part of my people’s heritage.
Having arrived a day earlier, I, together with one of my nephews who accompanied me to the Dap-ay Awaw in Gueday, considered as the mother dap-ay in the whole of Agawa, at 5:00 a.m. the next morning, I was surprised that there was already a crowd waiting for the once-a-year sunrise. We did not wait for long when suddenly people started to shout as the sun indeed rose like a giant ball of fire exactly on top of Ambaong Bato. From that giant ball of fire, a laser-like beam or ray emerged and went straight to hit the stone surrounded by a bonfire set by the elder men of the community. I remember using at least a roll of film at that time to capture the scene. I observed though that the ray from the sun did not 100 percent strike the very stone with some sort of graphics as older folks said should be. An elder however explained, the area, due to some geographical movements caused by earthquakes, including a straight two months of rain as they recalled, the area moved a few inches including the stone.
After that year, I think I have been regularly going home to Agawa for the six succeeding years every Sept. 30.
The late Mrs. Gloria Bantog (wife of the late Mayor Johnson Bantog) narrated a short story of an Israeli pilot whose airplane crashed on a nearby mountain many years ago. The Israeli pilot survived the crash by parachuting to safety and was treated as a guest of the Agawa people. The pilot happened to have an interest on anthropology and took a photo of the characters on the stone that the ray of the sun hits on such occasion. Returning to his country, the Israeli Pilot later sent back to Agawa the result of his research on the writings on the stone which he photographed. Accordingly, those were ancient Chinese Han “scriptures” and he surmised that our people may be direct descendants of the Han Chinese. The Chinese Han dynasties existed as early as 211 AD.
Here in Baguio and Benguet, the Agawa Foundation usually spearheads a centralized Linnapet for us Iyagawa living in these areas. And they usually chose the Sunday closest to Sept. 30. **
