Banaue Rice Terraces | |
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Location | Ifugao, Philippines |
Coordinates | 16°54′N121°3′E / 16.900°N 121.050°E |
The Banaue Rice Terraces (Filipino : Hagdan-hagdang Palayan ng Banawe) are terraces that were carved into the mountains of Banaue, Ifugao, in the Philippines, by the ancestors of the Igorot people. The terraces are occasionally called the "Eighth Wonder of the World". [1] [2] [3] It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipment, largely by hand. [4] The terraces are located approximately 1,500 meters (4,900 feet) above sea level. These are fed by an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests above the terraces. It is said that if the steps were put end to end, it would encircle half of the globe. [5]
Locals up to this day still plant rice and vegetables on the terraces, although more and more younger Ifugaos do not find farming appealing, [6] often opting for the more lucrative hospitality industry generated by the terraces. [7] The result is the gradual erosion of the characteristic "steps", which require constant reconstruction and care. In 2010, a further problem encountered was drought, with the terraces drying up completely in March of that year. [8]
Anthropologist Otley Beyer has estimated that the terraces are over 2000 years old, but several researchers dispute this and contend that they were built much later. [9] [10] Nevertheless, rice is an ancient ancestral crop of the Philippines, having been carried by Austronesian migrations into the islands since at least 1500 BCE (3500 years ago). [11]
Current threats to the terraces include the giant earthworms ("olang" in Ifugao) of the genus Pheretima or Polypheretima elongata which are blamed for causing damage to the terraces, [12] as well as rodents of the genus Chrotomis mindorensis , and snails. [13]
The terraces are found in the province of Ifugao and the Ifugao people have been its caretakers. Ifugao culture revolves around rice, the Black Rice kalinayan, and the culture engenders an elaborate array of celebrations linked with agricultural rites from rice cultivation to rice consumption. The harvest season generally calls for thanksgiving feasts, while the concluding harvest with rites called tango or tungul (a day of rest) which entail a strict taboo on any agricultural work. Bayah (rice wine), rice cakes, and betel nut are also consumed as part of the festivities. [14]
The Ifugao people practice traditional farming spending most of their labour at their terraces and forest lands while occasionally tending to root crop cultivation. The Ifugaos have also been known to culture edible shells, fruit trees, and other vegetables which have been exhibited among Ifugaos for generations. The difficulty of planting kalinayan and other rice varieties with the soil type in these areas leads to the building of the rice terraces entailing construction of retaining walls with stones and rammed earth which are designed to draw water from a main irrigation canal above the terrace clusters. Indigenous rice terracing technologies have been identified with the Ifugao’s rice terraces such as their knowledge of water irrigation, stonework, earthwork and terrace maintenance. As their source of life and art, the rice terraces have sustained and shaped the lives of the community members.
In March 2009 the Ifugao rice terraces were declared [15] free from genetically modified organisms (GMO). An event declaring this achievement was organized in Dianara Viewpoint in collaboration with local and municipal government, Greenpeace, and the Miss Earth Foundation.
The Banaue Rice Terraces refer to the cluster close to the Banaue poblacion as seen from the viewpoint. Contrary to popular belief perpetrated by its inclusion on the twenty peso banknote, the Banaue Rice Terraces are not a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They were not included in the UNESCO inscription Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras due to the presence of numerous modern structures, making it score low in the integrity criterion of UNESCO. [16]
The five clusters inscribed as part of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras are Batad, Bangaan, Hungduan, Mayoyao Central and Nagacadan. [17] Batad and Bangaan are under the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Banaue but are not called the Banaue Rice Terraces.
The Banaue Rice Terraces were declared by the Philippine government as a National Cultural Treasure under Ifugao Rice Terraces by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 260 in 1973. [18]
Another thriving economy in the Banaue Rice Terraces is tourism. [19] The Tourism industry has developed a number of activities for visitors which may include traditional sightseeing of the terraces and visits to the tribes at the foot of the terraces. A Mumbaki [20] (traditional Ifugao witch doctor) is also recommended [21] to visitors: these doctors can perform spiritual healing rituals. [22] Domestic tourism however has gone down [23] over the past few years. A contributing factor to this is the treatment of domestic tourists by the local guides in the area where it has been reported that local guides are more willing to entertain foreign visitors.[ citation needed ] The Batad Environmental Tour Guides Association (BETGA) in association with the Batad Baranguay authorities are currently laying a concrete track down from the Batad Saddle to the village proper.
The park is featured on the reverse side of the New Design series one thousand peso note printed from 1991 to 2012 as well as the reverse side of the New Generation Currency twenty peso note that was printed from 2010 to 2021.
Aside from the Banaue Rice terraces there are 4 other similar terraces: [24] [25] the Batad Rice Terraces, Mayoyao Rice Terraces, Hapao Rice Terraces, and Kiangan Rice Terraces. Soil types in this mountainous province are similar to that used to fabricate clay pots or clay jars (also used in construction by firing clay). The Batad Rice Terraces are located in Barangay Batad in Banaue, these terraces resemble an amphitheatre. The Mayoyao Rice Terraces are for a rice variety called "tinawon", [26] a rare type of organic rice which is grown in red and white varieties in these terraces. The Hapao Rice Terraces are located in Hungduan and are stone-walled from Sagada rock formation and date back to 650 AD. [27] The Kiangan Rice Terraces are in Banaue, on which are grown the rice varieties of nagacadan and julungan.
Ifugao, officially the Province of Ifugao, is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Lagawe and it borders Benguet to the west, Mountain Province to the north, Isabela to the east, and Nueva Vizcaya to the south.
Mountain Province is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Bontoc. Mountain Province was formerly referred to as Mountain in some foreign references. The name is usually shortened by locals to Mt. Province.
The Cordillera Administrative Region, also known as the Cordillera Region and Cordillera, is an administrative region in the Philippines, situated within the island of Luzon. It is the only landlocked region in the insular country, bordered by the Ilocos Region to the west and southwest, and by the Cagayan Valley Region to the north, east, and southeast. It is the least populous region in the Philippines, with a population less than that of the city of Manila.
The Cordillera Central or Cordillera Range is a massive mountain range 320 km long north-south and 118 km east-west. The Cordillera mountain range is situated in the north-central part of the island of Luzon, in the Philippines. The mountain range encompasses all provinces of the Cordillera Administrative Region, as well as portions of eastern Ilocos Norte, eastern Ilocos Sur, eastern La Union, northeastern Pangasinan, western Nueva Vizcaya, and western Cagayan.
A paddy field is a flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in southern China, associated with pre-Austronesian and Hmong-Mien cultures. It was spread in prehistoric times by the expansion of Austronesian peoples to Island Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia including Northeastern India, Madagascar, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The technology was also acquired by other cultures in mainland Asia for rice farming, spreading to East Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia, and South Asia.
The indigenous peoples of the Cordillera in northern Luzon, Philippines, often referred to by the exonym Igorot people, or more recently, as the Cordilleran peoples, are an ethnic group composed of nine main ethnolinguistic groups whose domains are in the Cordillera Mountain Range, altogether numbering about 1.8 million people in the early 21st century.
Asipulo, officially the Municipality of Asipulo is a 5th class municipality in the province of Ifugao, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 15,963 people.
Banaue, officially the Municipality of Banaue is a 4th class municipality in the province of Ifugao, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 20,652 people.
Hungduan, officially the Municipality of Hungduan is a 4th class municipality in the province of Ifugao, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 8,866 people.
Kiangan, officially the Municipality of Kiangan is a 4th class municipality in the province of Ifugao, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 17,691 people.
Batad may refer to:
The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras are a World Heritage Site consisting of a complex of rice terraces on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. They were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995, the first-ever property to be included in the cultural landscape category of the World Heritage List. This inscription has five sites: the Batad Rice Terraces and Bangaan Rice Terraces, Mayoyao Rice Terraces, Hungduan Rice Terraces and Nagacadan Rice Terraces, all in Ifugao Province. The Ifugao Rice Terraces reach a higher altitude and were built on steeper slopes than many other terraces. The Ifugao complex of stone or mud walls and the careful carving of the natural contours of hills and mountains combine to make terraced pond fields, coupled with the development of intricate irrigation systems, harvesting water from the forests of the mountain tops, and an elaborate farming system.
Ifugao or Batad is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in the northern valleys of Ifugao, Philippines. It is a member of the Northern Luzon subfamily and is closely related to the Bontoc and Kankanaey languages. It is a dialect continuum, and its four main varieties—such as Tuwali—are sometimes considered separate languages.
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The architecture of the Philippines reflects the historical and cultural traditions in the country. Most prominent historic structures in the archipelago are influenced by Austronesian, American architectures.
The Ifugao people are the ethnic group inhabiting Ifugao province in the Philippines. They reside in the municipalities of Lagawe, Aguinaldo, Alfonso Lista, Asipulo, Banaue, Hingyon, Hungduan, Kiangan, Lamut, Mayoyao, and Tinoc. The province is one of the smallest provinces in the Philippines with an area of only 251,778 hectares, or about 0.8% of the total Philippine land area. As of 1995, the population of the Ifugaos was counted to be 131,635. Although the majority of them are still in Ifugao province, some of them have moved to Baguio, where they work as woodcarvers, and to other parts of the Cordillera Region.
The cultural achievements of pre-colonial Philippines include those covered by the prehistory and the early history (900–1521) of the Philippine archipelago's inhabitants, the pre-colonial forebears of today's Filipino people. Among the cultural achievements of the native people's belief systems, and culture in general, that are notable in many ethnic societies, range from agriculture, societal and environmental concepts, spiritual beliefs, up to advances in technology, science, and the arts.
Biosphere reserves are areas comprising terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems. The biosphere reserve title is handed over by UNESCO. Each reserve promotes solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use. Biosphere reserves are 'Science for Sustainability support sites' – special places for testing interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing changes and interactions between social and ecological systems, including conflict prevention and management of biodiversity. Biosphere reserves are nominated by national governments and remain under the sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located. Their status is internationally recognized.
Teodoro "Teddy" Brawner Baguilat Jr. is a Filipino politician and journalist, activist and advocate of indigenous peoples' rights and the rights of minority groups.
Jerry Uyami Dalipog a Filipino politician from the province of Banaue, Ifugao in the Philippines. He is the current governor of Ifugao Province in the Philippine Cordillera Region. Previously, he was the municipal mayor of Banaue from 2016 to 2019.
The Banaue Rice Terraces, built by the Ifugaos by hand some 2,000 years ago, is among the country's national cultural treasures and is listed as a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site.
Add to that, the loss of interest among the younger generations to farming. They'd rather go down to the cities and try their luck for a more stable income in call centers, real estate and other salary-based careers.