In Luzon
Province of the Northern Philippines, through mountains and rice terraces, the
road ends at a church, in a small town called
Banaue. 4,000 feet above sea level in Banaue sits a small market
village in Ifugao province. Located north of Manila in the Philippines,
Ifugao province is famous for the handiwork of its people, who increased
cultivable lands by carving gigantic rice terraces from the sides of
mountains. For over 2,000 years, the people of
Batad have built these terraces,
one stone at a time. This growing, living stairway stretches far beyond
what the eye can see. Taking an estimated 2,000 years to build, the
still-productive rice terraces rise from the valley floor to heights of up
to 3,000 feet, a feat of engineering so substantial that some call them
the eighth wonder of the world. The only man made wonder which was
literally sculpted from the earth. A scarcity of water has led to some
rice patties drying up.
With no electricity
or road, the people of Batad live their
lives as they have for thousands of years, with a deep, close connection
to the earth. They worship ancestral spirits, sacrificing three chickens
or one pig to appease an angry spirit. When a person dies, the body is
hung from the thatched roof of their hut for three days as a sign to the
villagers that the person has moved on to a better place. Afterwards, the
bones of a deceased family member are collected and placed ceremoniously
inside the roof of the family's dwelling, to give comfort and protection
to the living.
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