Alis di makan (The traditional practice of food exchanges between I-Sagada and I-Bontoc parents)

 

One of the things I like in attending wedding feasts, or traditional practices of the Igorots, like the “lab-labi,” or during a wake is the chance to learn about the different culture of the Igorot people which I have not the chance to learn while growing up because my father was not a firm believer to following the traditional practices of his people.

So, one time when I went home to Sagada to attend a wake of a relative of my wife, one of the topics that came out was about “Alis di makan” between the parents of Bontoc and Sagada children who marry.

The man who tried his best to explain it was named Junior Siiten.

When a Bontoc child and I-Sagada child get married, the people from Bontoc cannot eat the food prepared by the Isagada during the feast, until the parents of the I-Sagada child and the Bontoc’s child parents exchange foods. When the “alis di makan” is accomplished, the Bontoc child’s relatives could now eat the I-Sagada prepared food.

The reason of this culture was because the Bontoc people during the old days, when the people of the Mountain Province were not yet Christianized, were engaged in head hunting or “Boso” practice. The Sagada people were peace loving people who believe in a god named Kabunyan, so, they were victims of the barbarous act by the boso people.

There is a belief (based on experience) that when during the wedding, while the “alis di makan” haven’t yet done, anyone from Bontoc who eats in the food prepared will surely die when they go home. On the other hand, when an Isagada go eats in a bontoc wedding feast, he is safe.

Until the Bontoc parents are not doing the tradition, they cannot eat anything serve to them. Thus, when they visit at the home of their child, and the alis di makan was not yet done, they must go out and eat at the restaurant, or at the home of someone from their village. This practice is only applicable to the parents of the I-Bontoc child.


 

Vocabulary:

Alis di makan = exchange of food practiced by the parents of the peace loving people whose child married
                            to a child of people whose ancestors were practicing head-hunting.

Boso = ferocious people who were engaged in head-hunting during the old days.

I-Sagada = people of Sagada

I-Bontoc = people of Bontoc

Igorot = people of the Mountain Provinces or now called Cordillera regions, thus, they are now generally
              called Cordilleran instead of Igorot.

Lab-labi =  a practice of the Igorot of spending the night at the house of a relative or friend, who butchered
                   animals(usually pigs).  Here they exchange stories to make the night passes-by, while the old
                   men do the ceremonies depending on the reason why the occasion was made.