22/10/2023
"THE CRYING RICE"
One day Intugay, a young Ifugao girl, sat down with her family to eat a meal of tinawon rice. She was enjoying her meal because the tinawon rice was aromatic, soft and delicious. Tinawon rice is considered food from the gods. While she was eating, she did not notice that some of the rice she was eating had fallen on the floor. Her father, Ama Mabudyang, told her, "Pick up the rice that fell and eat it. Or save it for the chickens or pigs to eat. If the rice will not be picked up from the floor, the rice will cry?"
Intugay picked up the rice that had fallen on the floor and asked,"Is that so? Can rice cry?"
Ama Mabudyang explained, "A lot of hard work goes into producing rice. Each grain of rice is produced by first preparing the terraced ricefields. The fields are cleared of w**ds and we turn the soil by stomping with our feet. Then, the tinawon rice seeds are sown in seedbeds. When the rice seeds have sprouted they are then transplanted into the terraced ricefields. We wait for six months for the rice plants to mature and bear fruit. All this time, we w**d the ricefields and ensure that no rice pest, such as worms, insects, birds or rats, attacks the rice grains."
Intugay said, "Yes, Grandfather. I remember when I helped to drive away the birds that were eating the growing rice grains"
Ama said, "When the rice is mature, we carefully harvest the rice panicles by hand. Then the rice panicles are bundled and piled up along the rice fields. Your brothers use poles to carry the rice bundles back home. Then we store the rice bundes in the granary.
Ama continued, "In preparation for cooking the palay is pəpunod by hand to remove the
husks. It is further winnowed to separate the rice grain from the husks.
Finally, the tinawon rice is ready for cooking:
Intugay said, "Grandfather that's a lot of hard work!"
Ama concluded his explanation, "Yes, Intugay. We must always remember the hard work that goes into producing the tinawon rice we eat And most important of all we have to express our gratitude to God, Maknongan, the ancestors and nature spirits We do this by performing rituals, so that we produce a bountiful harvest.'
From that time on, Intugay was careful that not a single rice grain fell. And if there Was a rice grain that fell, she picked it up immediately. She did not want to cause the rice to cry.
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FROM ELDERS TO CHILDREN
Stories of Wisdom from the Cordillera, Philippines
Narrated by Sr. Corazon B. Mabudyang. Written by Maria Elena Regpala
