(Blogger’s note: The following is an excerpt from the book Defending the Land: Lumad and Moro People’s Struggle for Ancestral Domain in Mindanao, specifically pp. 108–9. The publishers welcome and even encourage the reproduction of the book in part or in its entirety, so I am posting this excerpt here without prior permission. To cite the book, please see Webliography.)
As native inhabitants of Mindanao, Manobo communities lived in subsistence. From the lush forests, they hunted for wild animals and gathered wild fruits. The forests also provided them with abundant supply of forest products, including timber for building their settlements.
The Dulangan Manobos of Lebak developed various methods in pangayam or hunting, being proficient hunters. They utilize special contraptions for specific preys: balatik for trapping wild boars and deer, eti for fishing, katupid for catching monkeys, and tukob for rats.
Slash and burn methods of farming has long been a common practice among the Dulangan Manobos of Lebak. They are aware that maintaining soil fertility ensures efficiency in agricultural production, so they maintain several farming grounds. They avoid cultivating the same ground by transferring to another. They grow rice, corn and various root crops in the fertile lands of Abogado, Kibetek, Dulaw and Megaga.
Sawitan or sawit is a bayanihan type of farming endemic to the natives. It is a community practice of communal farming and harvesting. They share all produce equally, even with those who were unable to participate.
In farming, the Dulangan Manobos of Lebak perform rituals to ensure a fruitful harvest. To the deities, they make offerings of rice, chicken, tobacco and betel nut that they place on top of an altar or on holy ground.
In foretelling a planting season, the natives refer to nature, mostly to the singing of the bird Alimukon. It is a bad omen if Alimukon begins to sing before planting. The natives also resort to astrological indications. If and when they see three stars closely linked in the heavens, they immediately start planting.
Kailawan is the ritual for the first harvest. This relates to Namola how fruitful the harvest has been.
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