The Rice Terrace of Banaue

(first Published in Small World Ezine on May 28, 2002)

 

 

Actually Rice Terrace is common in South and South East Asia. What's so exciting about the Rice Terrace of Banaue? 

The Banaue rice terraces in the Central Cordillera of Luzon Island in the Philippines are probably  the longest continuous project in human history. Construction began perhaps 3,000 years ag and is still going on. Banaue (pronounced "Ba-Na-We") is a small community inhabited in the Central  Cordillera. The entire mountain range has been home to different hill tribes, including the Ifagao, the largest and most well-known.

Besides being known for their military success against the Spanish troops during over 300 years of Spanish colonial rule, and their ruthless practice of head-hunting, the Ifugaos are famous for their agricultural prowess -- the product of which -- stairs of rice fields that cover an area of over 3,000 cubic kilometers at 1,500-3,000 meters above  sea level. It is said that, stretched out to the length of  an incredible 23,000 kilometers, the rice terraces is equivalent to half the distance around the earth, or ten times the length of the Great Wall of China.

The rice terraces were declared one of the "World Heritage"  By UNESCO in 1996. Archeologists believe these are the  world's first rice terraces before Indonesians, Chinese, or Japanese had developed the similar (but much smaller)  terraces of their own.

It is incredible that the Ifugao, the ancient hill tribe without their own writing script, have developed these skills of cutting and carving the whole mountain with their hands and prime-aged tools until they had beaten the challenges of the nature. Even several earthquakes during the 3,000 years of history could do no harm to the so-called  "Stairways of Heavens". 

What made this "Wonder" special is, unlike the World's other Wonders, the Rice Terraces of Banaue have never been  constructed by slave labour. These are hard-working,  freedom-loving people with faith in nature.


Though Spaniards failed to conquer the land, the Ifugaos have been converted to Christianity by American missionaries.  In spite of being Catholics, they still worship the same  spirits and ghost as their ancestors did. "Manomnoman", the  old priest of the village will schedule the exact date of  when to start the activities e.g. ploughing, harvesting,  building up the terraces according to the ancient calendar.

According to the 1995 statistics, there were 150,000 ifugoas in the Ifugao province with birth rate of 2.23%. But the number is rapidly reducing because new generations are  selling their ancestors' lands and moving down to the city  for a better (or more comfortable) life. Unable to migrate, elders put on their big ceremonious costumes on a daily  basis in order to take pictures with tourists for some extra  cash. 

We cannot blame them for not continuing the works, can we?  Growing rice in a lower land is already a hard work. Who would want to work the terraces on a mountain if there is no  sufficient return? It's probably selfish of us to just want them to keep taking care of the rice terraces only for us to  have something nice to see, or only for them to just  maintain the 3,000-year-old world's heritage... 

Just hoping we can do something about it.

 

How To Get There:

 

From Manila, just take a domestic flight or a coach from the bus Northern terminal (Cubao) to Baguiao (which is also another tourist spot of the Philippines). From Baguio you can take another bus (or Jeepney -- the local public transporter) to Banaue. It takes 8-9 hours to Baguiao (45
minutes flight), and 3-4 hours from Baguio to Banaue. Actually it's not that far, just mountainous. Prepare Dramamine if you tend to get sick on mountainous roads. Oh  and it's like 1,500-3,000 meters above sea level. Not for  you if you have problem breathing.

Though it is HHHHOOOOOTTTTT in Manila and other cities in the Phlippines (like 35 degree C up), the weather is colder  up there. Bring thicker jacket.