Malegcong, Mt. Province, CAR. Philippines.
Malegcong is about forty five minutes jeepney ride from Bontoc town. My first visit here is in 2004 and I was amazed by the compactness of the ricefields as they terraced like ladders down to the base of the earth. The ricefields were empty at that time and they will shortly be prepared for the next planting season. It was a filling beauty and wonder to me, like the ricefields of Barlig I couldn’t resist in appreciating them. I promised myself to visit the place in another season.
In 2005, I and my brother took my dad’s motorcycle and climbed this very hilly road towards Malegcong. Oh, it is so colourful, the people are in their happy faces becausecof the big harvest soon to come. The ricefields are brimming with yellow and slightly green colors. I can hear an increasing beating sound of a tin can that echoed in the corners of the huge mountains. This comes louder as we walk through the ricefields towards the main village.
Also the different scarecrow figures that stands in the ricefields made it more interesting. When I was young I saw some of these figures and to me they are quite of mysterious beauty.
The scarecrows in the middle and corner of the ricefields were made of old t-shirts, socks and other clothes, some are plastic bags hanged like clothes, and others are made of indigenous materials. There were no plastic bags in the old times and here instead of throwing them away they are jubilantly hanged like Fiesta greetings. They will make noises as the wind blows around. A farmer might not be educated but she is smart by this. Carrying an indigenous knowledge is a tool of surviving with nature.
Further to the main village led me to
a panoramic view of the ricefields. It is a towering beauty! The scarecrows, the rice, the people, they look majestic as they seem to reach the heavenly sky. What a beautiful day in Malegcong!, which is only a day I could witness. I can imagine that people there are happy in every season of harvest. There is a count of more ricefields than the number of the houses. Truly it is richness!
Malegcong Village is one of the Barangays of Bontoc, Mountain Province in the North of the country. Banaue Rice Terraces is once tagged as the eight wonder of the world because of it’s heritage beauty built by the ancestors of the Ifugao people. Banaue is no different from Malegcong or Natonin or rather the Rice Terraces of the Mountain Province areas. They are both of unique beauty of thesame Cordillera Mountains.
Malegcong is about forty five minutes jeepney ride from Bontoc town. My first visit here is in 2004 and I was amazed by the compactness of the ricefields as they terraced like ladders down to the base of the earth. The ricefields were empty at that time and they will shortly be prepared for the next planting season. It was a filling beauty and wonder to me, like the ricefields of Barlig I couldn’t resist in appreciating them. I promised myself to visit the place in another season.
In 2005, I and my brother took my dad’s motorcycle and climbed this very hilly road towards Malegcong. Oh, it is so colourful, the people are in their happy faces becausecof the big harvest soon to come. The ricefields are brimming with yellow and slightly green colors. I can hear an increasing beating sound of a tin can that echoed in the corners of the huge mountains. This comes louder as we walk through the ricefields towards the main village.
I asked my dad about this and he said it is a noise created by the force of flowing waters that bumps against a small timber, this will hit tin container repeatedly. This makes a noise that can be heard within the village and it will keep the mouse scared from going near the ricefields to be harvested.
Also the different scarecrow figures that stands in the ricefields made it more interesting. When I was young I saw some of these figures and to me they are quite of mysterious beauty.
The scarecrows in the middle and corner of the ricefields were made of old t-shirts, socks and other clothes, some are plastic bags hanged like clothes, and others are made of indigenous materials. There were no plastic bags in the old times and here instead of throwing them away they are jubilantly hanged like Fiesta greetings. They will make noises as the wind blows around. A farmer might not be educated but she is smart by this. Carrying an indigenous knowledge is a tool of surviving with nature.
Further to the main village led me to
a panoramic view of the ricefields. It is a towering beauty! The scarecrows, the rice, the people, they look majestic as they seem to reach the heavenly sky. What a beautiful day in Malegcong!, which is only a day I could witness. I can imagine that people there are happy in every season of harvest. There is a count of more ricefields than the number of the houses. Truly it is richness!
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