By Marites Palma
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| Community dance. |
Amid heavy showers and cold weather, natives of the 10 municipalities of Mountain Province celebrated their 9th Lang-Ay Day at Edinburgh Memorial Garden in Central on Mar. 13.
This year’s celebration focused on the theme of preserving Igorot values and cultural traits.
Lang-Ay is held annually in Bontoc every first week of April. The word “Lang-Ay” is a native term which means sharing anything, including time, resources and talent.
A key highlight of the celebration is a street dancing competition among participating municipal associations, which are exhorted to exhibit their indigenous music, dance, costumes and other cultural symbols through a dance.
This year’s champion in the street dance competition was the group from Bontoc, followed by those from Bauco, and then Sadanga.
In the cultural dance presentation, Bauco performers who staged a traditional wedding tableau was named champion. Next came Bontoc with a similar theme, followed by Tadian which focused on the “San Kataguan,” or the planting to harvest season.
Guest speaker was Cyril Cacay, adviser of the Mountain Province Association and Cordillera Association of Macau.
He said in his speech that their indigenous practices and traditions were blessings from Kabunyan or God, who also gave them their lush mountains and crystal clear rivers. The dances and music performed on Lang-Ay Day are said to be ways of praising Kabunyan for the countless blessings they receive.
The program started with a colorful parade from all the municipalities of Mountain Province followed by a Eucharistic celebration led by Fr. Dwight dela Torre.
