MEN TRYING TO HIT EGGS WITH PHALLIC-LIKE THINGS
Are you an iBenguet living in North America? Did you miss last year’s Adivay celebration in Williamsburg. Virginia? Then make sure you attend the next edition of Adivay scheduled in 2008 somewhere near the Niagara Falls. Atiw mo no adi ka omey :-). (It’s your loss if you don’t attend).
Anyways, for those of you who might be wondering what “adivay” is, according to the Benguet provincial website, it is an Ibaloi word which means “to gather and have fun”. So that’s exactly what our iBenguet kailians did when they gathered in Virginia. It’s not all about fun though, because they also talked about important matters such as the contamination of the water in Loo, Buguias, the cleanliness of restaurants/eateries in La-Trinidad, and the lack of hospital supplies at the Benguet General Hospital. Download the Post-Adivay Report (Word document) by Pete Buasen here.
SOMEWHAT RELATED POSTS: Freedom Loving Kalingas and Apayaos; Igorots in London; Igorots in Seoul, South Korea. INFO SOURCE: Benguet.homestead.com. PHOTO CREDIT: kabenguetan.photosite.com.
The past two editions of Adivay in La Trinidad were very successful because they were not very commercialized like Panagbenga (which does not have any local cultural roots at all). At least it was a n invented festival but truly owned by the Benguet people, even if Congressman Domogan had to do the invocation for the iBenguet during the first Adivay, something i didn’t quite get. Echahel met komay’ mambunong pay laeng chi Benguet.
Anyway, good for the iBenguet in north America doing their own adivay, go go
ivadoyak
Hi Ivadoyak,
Welcome to the blog and thanks for your comment. It is good to know that the Adivay festival in Benguet is more for the iBenguet themselves. While I see the importance of festivals in trying to attract tourists in our region (as Panagbenga has successfully done), I would hope that this is not the only reason why we hold festivals. It would be a sad day indeed if we have festivals merely because we want tourists to come gawk at us. Thanks again and we hope you continue to drop by.