Calde, Gheoxel Kate C.

November 19, 2019

BA. Political Science 1-A
GPIC

Our ancestors had been living a simple yet luxurious life which was proved by the
artifacts and the stories we heard from our grandparents.

In that simple life they are living Lusngan and Bayo are their lifeline, these are the
local mortar and pesle of the Cordillerans particularly the Bontoc, Kankana-ey and Applai
made of wood or clay and glazed with pine tree sap (niket) for easier cleaning. These are
being used in husking the rice grains or to powderize rice, dried camote, dried hebs etc.
These Lusngan and Bayo are are indeed the lifeline of these IPs because without these they
don’t have something to eat, there was this burncha (riddle) that I heard about these two
which I beliave is funny and witty at the same time, “nu adi da men edam mauwat da han
ipugaw” which means that if these two don’t pound the people will be hungry. Though
“men bayo” or the actual pounding is an ardouos task it kept people fed and functioning for
a decade or maybe centuries before modernization took a stride on these IPs territories
and brought the rice miller.

The Lusngan and Bayo have a big part on our cultural heritage not just being the
tools that our ancestors relied just to eat, but also its presence especially it being displayed
in a museum helps in showing and transmitting that our ancestors were already well
established even before colonization and modernization but these two phenomena greatly
affected the lives of our ancestors. Though it does not just prove the latter but also it
ensures the heritage and the past will be remembered and treasured eventhough these are
not applicable nowaday. Also, these artifacts provide us how our identity as IPs came about
and it is something to be proud of.