A wedding in Sagada

Last Tuesday, Dec. 28, my wife and I stood as sponsors in a wedding in Sagada, Mountain Province. Although we stayed there for just one day and two nights — and the land travel took at least 12 hours each way — the experience was deeply satisfying. 

It wasn’t our first visit to Sagada, which is often likened to a Shangri-la because of its sheer beauty and tranquility. And it wasn’t our first Cordillera wedding, unique in that the church rites are part of an older, indigenous celebration that lasts for days, marked by community feasting and dancing to the irresistible beat of native gongs.

Some years ago our daughter married an engineer from Bontoc, and the wedding was held there although the tradition is that marriages are celebrated in the bride’s village. (But then holding it in Manila seemed out of the question at the time.) Reinforcing the family’s Cordillera ties, our son also married an engineer born in Sagada. Now we have three beautiful, bright grandchildren with Igorot blood.  

Right in the middle of Bontoc’s main street, gongs played into the night on the eve of our daughter’s wedding. My wife and I, as well as our relatives from Manila, joined the dancing to the delight of our new kinsfolk. This week in Sagada we joined the communal dancing too, of course. 

The recent wedding reinforced our bond with the Cordillera people. Bobbie and I felt very proud when the people who witnessed the ceremony at the Episcopalian Church of Mary the Virgin greeted us with broad smiles, “Welcome home!”

This time, being just a sponsor and not the father of the bride, I was able to follow the proceedings. I noted that the Episcopalian rites, which are similar to Catholic ceremonies, were more participatory in that the candle, veil and cord sponsors read specific prayers as they carried out their roles. There is none of that in the Catholic rites I have attended.

It was a woman priest who did the homily, perhaps chosen by the bride in pursuance of her gender-equality advocacy. I found her homily more authentic and down-to-earth than those of most Catholic priests I had heard advising the bride and groom on the practical aspects of marriage. This was because she drew from her own experiences of being married for 15 years to back up her advice on how differences between couples, or with their in-laws, could be overcome to maintain harmonious relationships.

As with most preachers (Episcopalian, Roman Catholic or otherwise), she had much to say about marriage. She did warn everyone in advance, half-jokingly, that her sermon would take an hour; and at one point poked her audience in the ribs, “And before you fall asleep…” before resuming her long talk.

I didn’t fall asleep. As I listened, I gazed admiringly at the church’s stained-glass windows and wondered at the uneven structure of the roof; why is one side higher than the other? I studied the wooden statue dominating the altar. It depicts the Risen Christ, standing atop a pile of limestone rocks such as those guarding the entrance of Sagada’s famous caves.

Noticing my rapt admiration of the wooden sculpture, the other sponsor seated beside me remarked, “It is by Rey Contreras.” “Yes, I thought so,” I replied, commenting on the creative way in which the sculptor used driftwood to portray the partial draping of Christ’s body. I told him Contreras had gifted me with his carving of a dark-brown man, clenched fist raised above his head, a broken chain attached to his wrist.

The man then told me that the original statue replaced by Contreras’ work was one in which Jesus Christ was depicted as also having dark skin. Because many parishioners didn’t like the “black Christ,” he continued, the church leaders sought a replacement. “I didn’t realize till then that our people could have such racist bias!” he lamented. 

I did not comment as I couldn’t immediately verify the truth of what he had said. I know that the Cordillera people have been sensitive to discriminatory treatment by some people in the lowlands. But I have never discerned in them any negative attitude about racial color. In fact their iconic “bulol” (carved ritual figures) are usually colored dark.

The couple we stood sponsor to, Gwen and Jessie (a.k.a. Dapli), had a three-in-one celebration. Their three-year-old son was baptized minutes before they were wed; their newly-built house, beside which Dapli is setting up a furniture and wood-product workshop, was blessed the day before.

With the support of their respective clans and the community, the couple hopes to begin 2011 on a stronger, more stable basis. Indeed, one admirable aspect of marriage in our traditional communities is the expression of solidarity by relatives, neighbors and friends who contribute whatever they can - rice, cooking utensils, flowers, pigs and chickens, etc. - to the festive occasion.

Three other couples also were wed that day in Sagada. We wish all of them happiness and success.

Happy new year to all!