Echo Valley Tour featuring the Hanging Coffins

28 February 2014

Jokingly, we seemed to have gone to Sagada to sleep. The whole afternoon was all but an inviting atmosphere to lie amongst pillows and blankets, the best things during those moments. That magnetic force between me and the bed was extra strong. The effortless coolness of the wind from outside and the lingering ominous silence on the four corners of that room was almost successful to spoil any adventure in store for the remainder of that day. 

The clock’s hands struck four before it dawned on me about the trip's purpose, which I'm sure doesn't include spending the whole day sleeping. The most logical thing to do right then was to gear up and seal at least an item off our hypothetical itinerary since we don’t have that much time to spare. 

Clueless on where to begin with, we found ourselves at one of Sagada’s shopping centers for souvenir items where I purchased a comprehensive Sagada map to aid our succeeding plans. In no time, we came across their tourism office to hire for a tour guide for a trip to no less than the infamous Bomit-Og Hanging Coffins. From there, we walked a few meters around those refreshing lawns reminiscent of UPD’s Sunken garden or UPLB’s Freedom Park, gloriously sashed with fine green landscape grass crowned with colossal pine trees around, punctuated with a palpable chill.

Further walk lead us to the Church of Mary The Virgin (an Anglican convent, contrast to the Spanish descent churches around the Philippines) seated at the nearby Calvary Hill backyard overlooking the sleepy Sagada meadows, home for the Kankana-ey tribe. A couple of steps away is their municipal cemetery that somewhat resembles the traditional American graveyard. Peacefully lying there were thousands of their departed loved ones eternally in amity with nature. However, a few foreign-sounding names were also engraved on some of the epitaphs suggesting that people other than the locals are also allowed to spend their forevermore in such a home. Among these are probably the Spanish soldiers who coined the term Sagada for the place. Rumor has it that the term Sagada came from a misheard term while a group of Spanish soldiers walking from Besao met a man on his way to Danum Lake who carries a fishing basket. When asked what the name of the next place was, the man misheard the soldiers and thought that they were asking what he was carrying, the man exclaimed, sagada, from which the rest of settlement of the tribe was called since then. 

Another interesting fact about their burying customs includes their extravagant way of celebrating the All Saints’ Day. The locals gather up there and create bonfires, a ceremony called panag-apoy, instead of lighting traditional candles largely done here in the lowlands. Other than this, the locals have a lot more ways to remember their dead loved ones as they believe that forgetting the dead, is a second death, and a worse one than death itself.

In less than 20 minutes, we arrived at the shouting point of the Echo Valley where it's free to screech at the top our lungs then hear an echo in return. Also sparingly drank our eyes the blurry sight of the enchanting Hanging Coffins faraway from that point. The forested area down there was a prized sight in itself but seeing the coffins close enough to catch legit photos is a necessity. From the facts we later gathered, the hanging coffins sprung from the belief that bodies buried high up the cliffs will be closer to the heavens. And in doing such, very complicated rituals are usually performed such as passing the corpse from one man to another starting at the point we were standing to the cliff where the coffins will be hanged. In doing so, they wish to be blessed with the departed’s bodily fluids that is perceived to contain the talents and knowledge off the corpse. Upon reaching the cliff, the body is then forced to assume the fetal position (a symbolic way to mimic our body’s position upon conception) before finally placing the carcass inside the coffin and hanged.

Clueless, we were stuck there for around 10 minutes infinitely clicking for a multitude of shots, only to be disappointed by a piece of unforgivably unscrupulous news: we can’t anymore afford to pursue further down to see the coffins because of the shit reason that it might rain. Might being the operative word here.  Which might cause the trails to be extra slippery, which might be difficult and dangerous for us. Well, I dare not question the tour guide’s decision to abort the excursion out of respect but why not inform us about such possibility beforehand to consider rescheduling the tour instead. After all, our pockets were not some factory for unlimited source of cash to waste for such fruitless attempts.Thankfully, this was the sole disappointment I have incurred out of the whole Sagada trip. Though the thought of it seemed like poison in the air like the presence of a ghost in a feast, I could charge the loss to a still worthwhile experience, looking at the brighter side. Besides, we were able to see the Hanging Coffins the next day afterall.