Cordillera - The municipality of Sagada is set to celebrate its 10th
installment of the Annual Sagada Etag Festival for the Year 2023 with the
theme: "Napigsa ay Kultura ya Pammati, Wedweday i-Gabay ya Isikan di Umili,"
on February 2-5, 2023.
The Sagada municipality unveiled the Calendar of Activities lined up in the
upcoming celebration of the festival.
These includes the Civic Parade & Feast of the Purification of the
Blessed Virgin Mary and the Presentation of the Lord Jesus Crist which is
schedule on February 2, 2023; Cultural Day on February 4, 2023; Agro-Gastro
Fair & Launching of the Sagada Tourism Tagline on March 4, 2023.
The Sagada Etag Festival was conceptualized in 2010 by the Sangguniang
Bayan of Sagada. The conceptualization of the Festival name was in
consideration of the economic and social values of the Sagada Igorots.
ETAG refers to a salted meat processed for preservation in different ways.
It is a most important part of any ritual performed for any occasion in the
life of Sagada. In rituals, it is used by itself or cooked with chicken, and
with the prayers of the old men. “Gobbaw”, weddings, building a house,
offering of prayers are just some of the rituals where ETAG is a key
ingredient.
Sagada Dogo Siwang Art Hub
Photo courtesy: SunStar
Cordillera- Sagada Mountain Province continue to preserve the Igorot's culture and heritage.
The "Dogo Siwang Pagbuyaan" (Theater) and " Dogo Siwang Utuan ya Panganan" (dining area by the rice fields) will be launched in Barangay Patay, Sagada, Mountain Province by the Cordillera News Agency Foundation Inc. (CNA).
The opening of the two traditional features Dogo Siwang Pagbuyaan and Dogo Siwang Utuan ya Panganan is the living testament to the preservation and promotion of Sagada's heritage.
The Dogo Siwang Pagbuyaan will become an area for cultural performances or demonstrations for a bigger audience as well as a receiving area for all visitors touring the art hub.
While the installation of the Dogo Siwang Utuan ya Panganan is to promote the culinary heritage of Sagada. The traditional kitchen will have a "dapuan" a traditional stove to showcase the preparation of "tapuey" or rice wine and "etag" a preserved meat through "masuukan" or smoking using "tuk-tuk", a wooden apparatus to hang the meat.
The idea is to encourage interaction and offer real time experience to visitors through demonstrations of how the etag and tapuey are prepared in the traditional kitchen .
To understand more about the origin of these important facets of Sagada's culture is to learn about "Todo id Baguilota", a folklore that Sagada elders believed which was passed on for generations. The elders believed that Kabunyan sent his son Lumawig to bring three gifts to the earth: the "balbeg" spear, "gameg" bolo, and "etag" preserved meat. They believed that Lumawig brought these gifts to earth and presented to the Sagada villagers. The etag was prepared in heaven as Lumawig's food on his way to earth.
Today, natives from Sagada learned to prepare etag in three ways: the "binalag" method or sun drying, the "masuukan" method which is done through smoking either in the "dapuan" or the "pat-yay" chimney and the "binul-ay" method by preserving the meat inside a jar.
Sagada Dogo Siwang Art Hub was made possible through a grant from the National Commission for Culture and Arts in partnership with the Daoas family and CNA.
The Art hub is conceptualized as a venue for convergence in tourism, educational and cultural exchange to encourage the promotion and preservation of arts, culture and heritage not just in Sagada but the whole Cordillera.
Cordillera - We all know that etag is a term Cordillerans in the North used
to call a slab or slice of pork preserved in a traditional way. For most
Cordillerans, they associate etag to a tasty pork ham that can be used to
flavor 'pinikpikan' and other traditional delicacies.
The making of etag does not involve a complicated process and the
main goal is to preserve the meat by salting and either smoking or
sun-drying.
You might see some videos or images of etag with live moving maggots in
them and you might be asking yourself if those nasty creatures are essential
to making a good tasty etag? Perhaps you might have heard someone from
Sagada saying, 'Well, maggots are fine. You can eat it, it won't kill you, anyway', just to talk you out from the "Eww" disgusting feeling that might
prevent you from actually eating it. Someone might have also complemented
your curiosity to try them by saying "real etag has maggots, no maggots - not tasty".
Kidding aside, the fact that maggots appeared on some etags is an
indication that the initial process of preserving the pork hasn't been done
very well. It could be due to not being properly salted or exposed under the
heat of the sun.
A properly preserved etag should be prepared by rubbing the meat with a
generous amount of salt and a little vinegar to prevent flies from swarming
on the meat when hanged. Then dry under the sun for at least three
hours daily for seven days. Failure to follow those procedures would allow
flies to breed on those meat resulting to the existence of maggots after a
few days.
What happens if you eat those meat with maggots on it? Is it safe?
Well, it depends if you intentionally grab a piece of etag with maggots and
actually eat them or take the etag with maggots, boil it, then use it to
flavor your pinikpikan dish.
It may be safe to consume a little piece of it. However, you could be
susceptible to whatever the flies have eaten or been exposed to, such as
feces or rotting flesh. Deadly bacteria may be present to the flies and pass
it on to the meat.
Etag with maggots can be a potential cause for someone to suffer from
Mysisas infection which occurs when maggots infest and feed on the living
tissue of animals or humans.
Eating etag with maggots can also cause bacterial poisoning. Most food that
have maggots aren't safe to eat, especially if the larvae have been in
contact with feces. Some houseflies use animal and human feces as breeding
site. They also breed on garbage or rotting organic materials.
Is there a way to eat your etag with maggots?
No one could say that maggots are dangerous because it is actually a very
good source of protein, good fats and other elements. In fact, scientist are
now looking into the possibility of using maggots to produced textured
protein or a sustainable snack for humans, according to
healthline.com.
If you cook your etag before eating like most Cordillerans do like mixing
them with pinikpikan, it could be safe because cooking would kill the
microbes, parasites and bacteria present on the meat.
However, the risks could not be guaranteed to be non-existent in cooked
etag. It is still advisable to consume only those etag that was properly
preserved without the presence of maggots.
Researchers from the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and
Natural Resources Research and Development recommended to etag makers to add
180 grams of rock salt for every kilo of pork they make. Then they should
arrange the meat on a covered platter and allow it to cure for at least five
days, after which the meat was either hot-smoked for two days (16 hours ) or
cold-smoked for five days (56 hours). To ensure that no fly could touch the
meat, the dryer should be covered with polythylene plastic -
pcarrd.
So if you happen to visit Cordillera and you want to have a taste of our
unique pork ham or jerky, look for the ones that was properly cured. If
somehow you are challenged or offered to try one, just make sure those flies
washed their hands before sharing those etags with you.
Cordillera,- Filipino-American vlogger Wil Dasovich visited Sagada and tried the famous Igorot native dish called "etag" in the new released episode of Kuya Kim's Matanglawin show of Abs Cbn.
Dasovich has learned a lot of things in the making of etag, starting from the preparation of the meat, salting, smoking and of course the eating.
He also tries the etag pizza which is a modern twist of the etag as an additional toppings to the pizza.
"Etag" or "Innasin" to the kankanaey and "kinuday" to the Ibaloi is basically a salted pork or smoked bacon which is regarded as part of the Cordilleran culture of preserving meat food. It is initially prepared by salting the freshly sliced slab of pork and then curing it through either sun-drying or smoking.
Sun-drying and smoking require a minimum amount of time to achieve the desired texture of the etag, usually around three to four hours until the meat is fully dehydrated.
The method of preserving meat done by the Igorots is a unique way of storing meat food in order to last longer.
In the show, Dasovich also visited the hanging coffins, one of the top tourist destinations in Sagada and learn the way Igorot ancestor bury their dead.
