As I mentioned in my previous post, we went to Sagada without detailed plans. We spent the morning of our first day watching the Etag Festival fanfare. In the afternoon, we joined a group of four (group of three plus solo traveler) who also did not have plans and just "walked in" to Sagada. From the brochure with activities to do in Sagada given by the Tourist Information Center TIC, we picked the Paytokan Walk which is composed of traversing the following:
• St. Mary the Virgin Church
• Cemetery
• Echo Valley
• Hanging Coffins
• Baw-eng Coffee Farm
• Latang Underground River
• Bokong Falls
Paytokan means downward path which I knew the meaning but did not realize what we were getting into until we were already on the trail. So off we went after lunch.
The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is within, at the center even, the fanfare site. Ally and I actually visited it in the morning and had our share of photoshoot.
In front of the church. It was a chilling 14°C and Ally still convinced me to buy a bottle of chilling yogurt that I couldn't hold still because it was so cold.
The church was said to have been built in 1904 by American missionaries from Episcopal Church. That makes it 121 years this year.
There were two guys selling feathered friends on the church grounds. While the sellers painted their crafts beautifully, I jokingly commented to one of them that it is not love but abuse of animals. I meant it though, specially for the chicks that I am 99.99% sure will not survive being separated too early from their hen just for money.
I belong to the Roman Catholic denomination which makes it okay for me to enter and explore the church because Episcopalians are also Catholics. And I don't mind exploring structures of other religious denominations. Whatever religion it is, it will still be a learning experience exploring things about them. However, Ally is from a different denomination and my gut told me that she is not into it. I know their denomination is sensitive about others so I did not offer getting inside the church. I waited if she would but did not so we just explored the surrounding and left.
In the afternoon with the other four, we just passed by the church. No one from the four mentioned about exploring it and I would have if I did not have my share in the morning. Since I did, I just kept quiet and went along with the troupe.
From the church frontyard, we went up (The tour is paytokan and yet we went uphill. The downhill is coming...) to what seemed like a garden. We stopped at a shed where they checked our registration receipt from the TIC. We had to register again in here and pay a fee of ten pesos per person. We were going to the cemetery next so I couldn't help thinking, "That is a very entrepreneural mindset to make a cemetery a business tourist spot on top of burial arrangements." Aside from tombs, what's to see in a cemetery anyway? I was curious to find out.
Before we reached the cemetery proper was this marker which tells me that the cemetery is owned (or maybe just managed. I don't know if that is the right term. Now I wonder why I did not ask our tour guide.) Our tour guide said we take photos by the marker and no on seem interested. Just not to reject the tour guide's offer, Ally and I gave in.
I am not excited to take photos beside a cemetery marker when traveling but I was amused with how our tour guide was doing it with gusto. She turned my phone upside down. I teased her, "Wow! You got your own techniques in shooting." Then I was all the more amused with the result. We look taller and slimmer on the photos! 😄
The first thing that caught my attention when we reached the cemetery uphill was a dominant tomb marked WWII. The writing is not so caligraphic but resonating. I remembered my father at a Veteran's Hill cemetery.
Our tour guide mentioned this cemetery is one of those popular sites where they hold panagdedenet or panag-aapoy during All Saints Day. I know about the event, and it is being flashed on news media from time to time, so I did not pay much attention. I noticed the same with Ally. We just let the story-telling for the other four.
The root word for panagdedenet is denet which means to light a fire. The root word for panag-aapoy is apoy which means fire. Panagdedenet or panag-aapoy means a time (or season) of lighting up a fire.
People in Sagada made panagdedenet a culture which they observe every first day of November during All Saints Day. They create bonfires beside tombs in cemeteries to honor and remember their departed relatives, friends or love ones.
The bonfire has become a tradition in exchange of lighting candles for the dead. They resulted to using firewoods because candles were not easily accessible to them in the old days. Candles would still come from Baguio City which is four hours travel by private car or six hours by bus commute.
I once saw a photo on social media where the whole hill was on fire because of this event. Yes, the hill. Imagine a hill full of tombs with bonfires beside every tomb, at night. I couldn't help imagining, "Looks like hell." And the suffocating smoke? You tell me.
Saleng or fatwood has become popular because of this culture. They use saleng in creating bonfires because of its resinous nature that is flammable and ignites faster than other firewoods. It is usually from the stump of a pine tree. Other parts can also be used but not as resinous as the stump.
Cutting pine trees is prohibited and requires permit from our Department of Emvironment and Natural Resources, DENR. I smiled when our tour guide was quick to mention about environmental concerns related to their traditional panagdedenet. She said they take all regulations into consideration that is why they now use other firewoods instead of from pine trees.
"How about the law against open burning?" I wanted to ask but held up my tongue.
Under Section 48 of Republic Act 9003, all kinds of open burning are prohibited. Like religion and politics, it may not be a good topic for discussion among tourists if I press on about this so I let it go. Since it is vast open burning and sometimes covered by media then I thought maybe they are excused once a year.
After the panagdedenet story, we went on towards the back of the cemetery. It is where the downhill path started. Right when we started going down that we stopped again for photoshoot. This is the spot where the photos on my #comeback post were taken. Here are few more shots on that spot.
I asked our tour guide if this particular rocky spot has specific name and she said none, just part of the Paytokan walk.
It was way easier climbing the rocks than to find my way down. I thought of and uttered to just jump but a lady tourist from another group said "No, don't jump. Turn around and face the rock while going down." I looked and she was wearing hijab. I smiled at the beauty and the tip. Indeed, the way down was easier when I was facing the rocks. I was able to find something to hold on to and my feet were more comfortable finding something stable to step on even without me looking. Facing the rocks also served as a distraction of the danger way down below the mountain.
To the hanging coffins next...