wild honey 04-12-31

	NORDIS WEEKLY December 31, 2004
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Gathering wild honey in Quirino, Ilocos Sur
QUIRINO, Ilocos Sur (Dec. 28) — The indigenous people of Lamag in the tri-boundaries of Ilocos Sur, Abra, and Mt. Province practice utilization of forests – whether it is clan or communal-owned forest. Aside from hunting from the said forests, among their most notable practice is the gathering of honey from wild bees they called iyokan, alig, lukutan. The bees are differentiated from their sizes and the place where they produce their honey. Alig and iyokan are bigger than the lukutan. The lukutan bees are like lice. They do not bite but they enter open body parts like the nose, eyes, and ears. The Alig establish their beehive in caves while the iyokan and the lukutan in the holes of trees. The Ilamag (people of Lamag) honey gatherer I interviewed claimed that the peak period for honey gathering takes place from the month March to May. They claimed that October is the start of the flowering (panagbunga) month. The other months are considered to be a period with less honey to be raised in the forests. Honey gatherers wake-up early in the morning. In the forests, they locate flowering trees and plants. They observe bees’ movement, bees collecting nectars, from the flowers of a plant or tree to an area where they probably established their beehives. Nowadays, a hunter also uses binoculars to discover a beehive area by monitoring the bees movement through the instrument. If a hunter finds a beehive area, he usually puts a wooden (crossed) sign pointing to that area. That is a sign that he discovered that beehive and will collect it in the future. The signage is common in the community that anyone can identify the person who discovered the beehives. If a hunter discovers a beehive area, he determines if it can be immediately gathered when the beehives or caba in the local dialect are thick. If not, then he has to wait for at least a month before gathering honey. If the beehive is ready for gathering, the hunter, with some company if necessary, uses an ubak (banana stem or wood skin) to wrap a piece of wood called angyub. He lights the wood so that the smoke produced by the ubak will affect the beehive. The purpose is to drive away the bees from the beehive and for the hunter to safely gather the honey, without being stung. A hunter can also gather the beehives by using a net to cover his face and a plastic bag to cover his body. A hunter uses a plastic container for the beehives. At home, the hunter uses a sagat (a screen that is usually a net) to segregate the diru (honey) from the caba (beehive). Usually he can gather at least two liters, except during the non-peak season. The diru is bottled in “four by four” Ginebra bottles, usually sold at P100 per bottle. The elders that I interviewed claimed that the honey raising is a good income source for their basic needs and school fees of their children. They also use diru as a food supplement. The elders also shared to me a tactic on how to determine a pure from non-pure diru, usually added with water. First, a pure honey when put in a paper will not drip from the paper while impure or fake honey drops from the paper. Second, a matchstick, when dipped in pure honey will still burn while a one dipped in fake honey will not burn. This practice of indigenous utilization of forest resources like honey raising are prohibited by state law, as the state claims to be the owner of the forest and resources located therein. In fact, Presidential Decree 705 or the revised forestry code and the implementing rules issued by the DENR prohibits the taking of forest resources without permit from the government. But the indigenous people of Lamag will continue such practices as it is inherited from their ancestors since time immemorial. And I have learned much from my short immersion into the community of Lamag and its people. My special thanks to the elders I interviewed namely, Angel Degay (63 years old), Bartolome Aluyen (64 years old), Julian Tamayo (49 years old), Damaso Galleo (78), Cristino Canipas (66 years old), Carlos Aluyen 63 years old), and Victorino Coplanga (40 years old). # Belinda P. Ngiwas (The author is a fourth year student of Easter College Incorporated taking-up Bachelor of Science in Development Studies)
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	NORDIS WEEKLY December 31, 2004
Home \| To bottom	Previous \| Next
Gathering wild honey in Quirino, Ilocos Sur
QUIRINO, Ilocos Sur (Dec. 28) — The indigenous people of Lamag in the tri-boundaries of Ilocos Sur, Abra, and Mt. Province practice utilization of forests – whether it is clan or communal-owned forest. Aside from hunting from the said forests, among their most notable practice is the gathering of honey from wild bees they called iyokan, alig, lukutan. The bees are differentiated from their sizes and the place where they produce their honey. Alig and iyokan are bigger than the lukutan. The lukutan bees are like lice. They do not bite but they enter open body parts like the nose, eyes, and ears. The Alig establish their beehive in caves while the iyokan and the lukutan in the holes of trees. The Ilamag (people of Lamag) honey gatherer I interviewed claimed that the peak period for honey gathering takes place from the month March to May. They claimed that October is the start of the flowering (panagbunga) month. The other months are considered to be a period with less honey to be raised in the forests. Honey gatherers wake-up early in the morning. In the forests, they locate flowering trees and plants. They observe bees’ movement, bees collecting nectars, from the flowers of a plant or tree to an area where they probably established their beehives. Nowadays, a hunter also uses binoculars to discover a beehive area by monitoring the bees movement through the instrument. If a hunter finds a beehive area, he usually puts a wooden (crossed) sign pointing to that area. That is a sign that he discovered that beehive and will collect it in the future. The signage is common in the community that anyone can identify the person who discovered the beehives. If a hunter discovers a beehive area, he determines if it can be immediately gathered when the beehives or caba in the local dialect are thick. If not, then he has to wait for at least a month before gathering honey. If the beehive is ready for gathering, the hunter, with some company if necessary, uses an ubak (banana stem or wood skin) to wrap a piece of wood called angyub. He lights the wood so that the smoke produced by the ubak will affect the beehive. The purpose is to drive away the bees from the beehive and for the hunter to safely gather the honey, without being stung. A hunter can also gather the beehives by using a net to cover his face and a plastic bag to cover his body. A hunter uses a plastic container for the beehives. At home, the hunter uses a sagat (a screen that is usually a net) to segregate the diru (honey) from the caba (beehive). Usually he can gather at least two liters, except during the non-peak season. The diru is bottled in “four by four” Ginebra bottles, usually sold at P100 per bottle. The elders that I interviewed claimed that the honey raising is a good income source for their basic needs and school fees of their children. They also use diru as a food supplement. The elders also shared to me a tactic on how to determine a pure from non-pure diru, usually added with water. First, a pure honey when put in a paper will not drip from the paper while impure or fake honey drops from the paper. Second, a matchstick, when dipped in pure honey will still burn while a one dipped in fake honey will not burn. This practice of indigenous utilization of forest resources like honey raising are prohibited by state law, as the state claims to be the owner of the forest and resources located therein. In fact, Presidential Decree 705 or the revised forestry code and the implementing rules issued by the DENR prohibits the taking of forest resources without permit from the government. But the indigenous people of Lamag will continue such practices as it is inherited from their ancestors since time immemorial. And I have learned much from my short immersion into the community of Lamag and its people. My special thanks to the elders I interviewed namely, Angel Degay (63 years old), Bartolome Aluyen (64 years old), Julian Tamayo (49 years old), Damaso Galleo (78), Cristino Canipas (66 years old), Carlos Aluyen 63 years old), and Victorino Coplanga (40 years old). # Belinda P. Ngiwas (The author is a fourth year student of Easter College Incorporated taking-up Bachelor of Science in Development Studies)
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