Talpakan na!!!
Matchy matchy
His bringing that sexy back
Looking demure
Whatcha looking at?
So you think you're the king, huh huh?
Waiting for a fight
Well hello there, amazing people!
Last weekend, I visited my mom in the farmland for a family lunch and I didn't miss a solitary second to meander around and take photographs.
Talpak
You might be wondering what is this all about. Here in the Philippines, "Talpak" signifies to play and cockfighters or "sabongeros" in Tagalog use this term to invite other players to play "cock fighting". I mean rooster fighting. More appropriate I guess. Then they would tell other players, "Talpakan Na!"which implies it's time to rock and roll - play the game!
For those who do not know Cockfighting in the Philippines works, it is bigger than Football or Baseball in the US. It is a national pastime here lol. There are local fight arenas (like what they have in the farmland where my mom lives, and then if you can afford to enter, there are some Provincial competitions, and then you have the big leagues. The National Competitions where you can win millions of pesos. To my American friends, this is equal to the Superbowl.
Disclaimer:
The information posted in this article contained general information and is based on Philippine Culture. Any content provided by yours truly is not intended to harm nor malign any culture, belief, religion, ethnic group, organization, anything, or anyone. If my post offends you, please go to the next article. Thank you.
So anyway, I only made that as an introduction. During my visit to mom, I went to my grandparent's orchard which is a few walks north from mom's house and needed to take my aspin Sofia a stroll. Then I saw my uncle's roosters hanging out around his yard which is my mom's neighbor. Some of them were too uproarious like telling me,"What are you doing here, huh huh?" lol.
Anyway, they remind me of a story when my husband visited the farmland for the first time. As an expat (American) in the Philippines, he had never been to a cockfight, but he was curious to attend at least once. My uncle had lots of cockfighting roosters around his yard. Maybe a dozen or more. So my uncle invited my husband to join them one Saturday afternoon and he will have one of his own cockfighting roosters in the competition. In the United States, I know this is not only illegal, but very frowned upon. Just as much as pitbull fights. The thought is that it is cruelty to animals and he admitted he kind of saw it that way too but has no strong emotions about it.
The other side of this is breeding as a business. People make big money breeding and spend big money on special foods and supplements as well as training of the birds. Often the birds are purchased from the United States like Kentucky. They buy the birds then breed, if you have one that has many victories and you breed it you can make huge amounts of money off of it.
So, on that Saturday, my husband attended the cockfight and saw what this was all about. He was amused. I think if I am not mistaken, my uncle won Php 50,000 pesos ($1000 USD) that game.
Previously on the last administration, with the fast improvement of innovation, there are distinctive online stages for e-sabong (online cockfighting) where online transmissions of battles are led. You can likewise put down a bet. Due to the Covid scourge, it is difficult to go to watch the cockfights live, so cockfight gamers are left with online platforms. Just recently before the previous president ended his term, he also ended Talpakan online. Lovely!!
Not a very interesting walk, but I thought I'd share and so as my entry to 
Talpakan na!!!! Ooopps!
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August 3, 2022
Philippines
(All photos are my own and taken by me unless stated otherwise)
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