Sagada isn’t just an enchanting retreat for spelunking and nature enthusiasts. Aside from the obvious appeal of caves, waterfalls and rice terraces, Sagada offers permutations of culture that may seem alien from the lands beyond the mighty Cordilleras.
Philippine Blog Awards Best Travel Blog nominee Ironwulf chronicled one of these interesting traditions through breath-taking and almost surreal images. The man behind En Route - Ferdz Decena — is an avid backpacker and budget traveler and is one of the authorities when it comes to ins and outs of traveling around the Philippines.
Through his blog, Ferdz seeks to raise awareness on our own Filipino traditions and practices so that the newer generations could gain a sense of appreciation for the methods, beliefs and practices of those who came before them.
I noticed since I was young, Halloween here in the Philippines has been greatly influenced by the American culture. Adorned in many houses especially in subdivisions, are numerous decorations from pumpkins, spiders, cobwebs and the usual monsters we grew up liking to fear like Dracula, Frankenstein, witches and the local mix of Aswangs, tikbalan, manananggal and white ladies. Those talk of ghost and other supernatural phenomenon that seems to populate our TV screens and print media whenever Halloween approaches have waned my interest recently. I used to like them growing up.
I hope our media feature more on the interesting traditions of our locals and indigenous people. Once such tradition that only a few people knew is the Festival of Lights celebrated high up in the mountains of Sagada. I wrote about this before but I’d like to feature some photos I wasn’t able to post then. It’s a very interesting practice that should be included in your itinerary in case you decide to visit the place during Holloween… from All Saints’ Day At The Highlands
With people like Ferdz chipping in and making sure the word gets out on how exciting and interesting Sagada is, it’s clear that the town has a staunch ally and a credible ambassador to the Filipinos that could be inspired to go.
Photo credit: Ferdz Decena of Ironwulf
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Visit Sagada will be routinely featuring bloggers’ entries, photographs and other relevant output about Sagada. If you want your work to be featured, kindly leave a comment or e-mail us at benj [at] visitsagada [dot] com.
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