Contributed by Nalandangan Mabantog “Aki” L. Saway
SONGCO, Lantapan(Bukidnon News/13 October 2024) – – – Leaders and members of the Talaandig tribe here held the Panalawahig or Pangampu ta Wahig, a cleansing ritual, along the Alanib River on October 11, to mark the beginning of the annual Talaandig days.
The Talaandig people believe in the sacredness and importance of the water, recognizing and paying respect to Apu Bulalakaw – the custodian of water. The people believe that the ritual plays an important role in the lives of the people and the community and their relationship to the spirits, including the Great Creator – Apu Wagas ha Magbabaya. They considered the spirits as custodians of the material things in the universe. Apu Bulalakaw is one of these custodians.
Pangampu ta Wahig can literally be translated to “river ritual” in Inukit or the Talaandig dialect. The people pay respect to the custodian by praying for gratitude and apologizing for the human mistakes they’ve made from birth to death using water as the first material to cleanse them. Water serves many purposes — it washes their body and grows their crops. The people believe that water is one of the things that give them life and can also take it.
The Talaandig people believe that by taking responsibility to the Custodian of the Water, paying respect and by bringing offering, the spirits may also take good care of the mortals. The Talaandig elders highly encourage the next generation to take good care of the community and the environment. (BukidnonNews.Net)
Nalandangan Mabantog “Aki” L. Saway, from the Talaandig Tribe, is a law student who juggles with working at a government office and writing about the Talaandig community. One of his contributed stories to BukidnonNews.Net has been selected as finalist in the Globe Media Excellence Awards in 2022.
