Banaue Rice Terraces Postcards

The Banaue Rice Terraces (Tagalog: Hagdan-hagdang Palayan ng Banaue) are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines. Declared a UNESCO Heritage Site in 1995, the Rice Terraces are commonly referred to as the "Eighth Wonder of the World".

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The terraces were carved out of the mountain range over 3000 years ago by the Ifugaos, the oldest mountain tribe in the area, using only the most primitive tools to provide level steps where the natives plant rice. It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipment, largely by hand.

Banaue Rice Terraces with the Ifugaos Postcard 1

The terraces are located approximately 1500 meters (5000 ft) above sea level and cover 10,360 square kilometers (about 4000 square miles) of mountainside. Measured from end to end, the terraces would stretch a total length of 22,400km (13,919 miles), enough to encircle half the globe. The Banaue Rice Terraces is composed of the Batad, Bangaan, Mayoyao and Hapao terraces.

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The terraces are fed by an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests above the terraces. The irrigation system uses gravity to harness water from the forests 1800m (2185ft) above thus ensuring a continuous supply of crops.

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Located at Barangay Batad in Banaue, these rice terraces are shaped like an amphitheater. The Batad rice terraces cluster is considered an engineering marvel and a rare man-made landscape because of its ampitheater-like form and almost vertical terrace ponds. The Batad rice terraces have been inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List as a Living Cultural Landscape.

Batad Rice Terraces Postcard 1

"All studies by anthropologists and researchers point to the conclusion that the building of the rice terraces was immediately started by the first occupants of Ifugao land. For lack of arable land, those first people were forced to eke out a living from the mountains by terracing rice paddies on the slopes. It is indeed a wonder how the early Ifugaos, with only the simplest and crudest hand tools, were able to build the rice terraces. They not only carved out the terraced paddies but also worked a unique irrigation system and way of maintaining them through constant repair, extention and reconstruction."

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I was able to find an interesting article on the web entitled "The Secret of the Banaue Rice Terraces." It tells a story of who might have taught the Ifugaos how to do it.

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The secret of the Banaue Rice Terraces is that it actually tells the story of Chinese interaction with the ethnic cultures of the Cordilleras way before the arrival of the Spanish. It is also a great example of acculturation, the seamless mix of two cultures taking on a new identity in a different environment.

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From 2205 to 2106BCE, Emperor Yu the Great launched a campaign to annihilate the Miao tribe who rebelled against him. They fled southwards, until some were driven beyond the sea, and it is perhaps then that a few survivors made it to the Cordilleras. The Miao are also known for cultivating terraced paddy fields and thus it is this technology, along with several others, which they brought to the Cordilleras. But the influence of the Chinese does not end here. Trade during the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties brought introduced the carabao, cabbage, porcelain jars and plates, and even the Kalinga oranges or ponkan. Chinese features are also clearly seen in the natives of Northern Luzon, and the rituals and traditions of the Igorots, Ifugaos and Kalingas echo those of the Miao ethnic tribe.

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SOURCES:
Ifugao Rice Terraces
Banaue Rice Terraces Wikipedia Entry
The Secret of the Banaue Rice Terraces

Historic Town of Vigan Postcards

Established in the 16th century, Vigan is the best-preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia. Its architecture reflects the coming together of cultural elements from elsewhere in the Philippines, from China and from Europe, resulting in a culture and townscape that have no parallel anywhere in East and South-East Asia. Vigan was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site on December 2, 1999.

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Justification for Inscription: Vigan represents a unique fusion of Asian building design and construction with European colonial architecture and planning. Vigan is an exceptionally intact and well preserved example of a European trading town in East and South-East Asia.

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Vigan City is the capital city of Ilocos Sur, The city is 408 kilometers northwest of Manila. The name Vigan came from the Ilocano word "kabiga-an" pertaining to the plant "biga" which is a tuberous plant that once grew along the banks of the Mestizo River. This river was central in the development of trade and community activities in Vigan during the 16th to the 19th centuries.

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Vigan is well-known for its cobblestone streets and a unique architecture that fuses Asian building design and construction with European colonial architecture and planning. Vigan, earlier known as "Ciudad Fernandina" from 1758 to late 19th century, is the oldest surviving Spanish colonial city in the country. Vigan brings images of antiquated houses, cobbled narrow streets of the old Mestizo District, popularly known in the olden days as Kasanglayan (Chinese Quarters).

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Located at the heart of the Mestizo district, Calle Crisologo is lined on both sides by centuries-old Vigan Houses, it is made of cobblestones. Ground floors of the old house at Calle Crisologo have been turned into shops where souvenir items and Vigan furniture. I tried to gather more information about the houses on the Heritage Village, but couldn't find anything about their construction, etc.

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Calle Crisologo

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The St. Paul Metropolitan Cathedral or Vigan Cathedral was built by the Augustinians in 1790-1800 in distinctive "Earthquake Baroque" architecture. It has three naves, twelve altars, and a choir loft. Chinese influence is evident in its baptistery altar, brass communion handrails, a pair of Fu Dogs, and moldings on the façade. Most of the original church interior features are still in place. The octagonal belfry is located 10 meters south of the cathedral.

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SOURCES:
UNESCO World Heritage: Historic Town of Vigan
WOW Philippines: Vigan Heritage Village

Sta. Maria Church, Sta. Maria Postcard

The postcard shows the Sta. Maria Church in Ilocos Sur. Of all the Catholic churches in the Ilocos, the sanctuary of Sta. Maria Church (Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion) has the most beautiful location. Majestically situated on top of a hill, it overlooks the town, the blue sea and the verdant fields nearby. A stone stairway sweeps up to the entrance of the church.

Sta. Maria Church Postcard

The church's facade is not very impressive. More eyecatching is the unique position of the tower. The tower of this church is erected at about the midpoint of the longitudinal axis of the nave. It is also a little bit tilted. The bell tower, detached from the main facade, has 3 stacked octagonal horizontal cross sections of decreasing diameter.

SOURCES:
The Church and the Convent - Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur Wikipedia Entry
Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion

San Agustin Church, Manila Postcards

San Agustin Church is a Roman Catholic church under the auspices of The Order of St. Augustine, located inside the historic walled city of Intramuros in Manila. Completed by 1607, it is the oldest church currently standing in the Philippines. In 1993, San Agustin Church was one of four Philippine churches constructed during during the Spanish colonial period designated by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, under the classification "Baroque Churches of the Philippines".

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The present structure is actually the third Augustinian church erected on the site. The first San Agustin Church was made of bamboo and nipa. It was completed in 1571, but destroyed by fire in December 1574 during the attempted invasion of Manila by the forces of Limahong. A second church made of wood was constructed but was destroyed in February 1583, in a fire that started when a candle set ablaze the drapes of the funeral bier during the interment of the Spanish Governor-General Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa.

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The Augustinians decided to rebuild the church using stone, and to construct as well an adjacent monastery. Construction began in 1586, from the design of Juan Macias. The structure was built using hewn adobe stones quarried from Meycauayan, Binangonan and San Mateo, Rizal. The church was formally declared as completed on January 19, 1607, and named St. Paul of Manila.

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San Agustin Church was looted by the British forces which occupied Manila in 1762 during the Seven Years' War. It withstood major earthquakes that struck Manila in 1645, 1754, 1852, 1863, and 1880. During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II, San Agustin Church was turned into a concentration camp for prisoners. The church itself survived the bombardment of Intramuros by American and Filipino forces with only its roof destroyed, the only one of the seven churches in the walled city to remain standing. The adjacent monastery however was totally destroyed.

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San Agustín Church measures 67.15 meters long and 24.93 meters wide. It is said that the design was derived from Augustinian churches built in Mexico, and is almost an exact copy of Puebla Cathedral in Puebla, Mexico. The facade is unassuming and even criticized as "lacking grace and charm", but it has notable baroque touches, especially the ornate carvings on its wooden doors. The church courtyard is graced by several granite sculptures of lions, which had been gifted by Chinese converts to Catholicism.

San Agustin Church Wooden Doors Postcard

The church contains the tomb of Spanish conquistadors Miguel López de Legazpi, Juan de Salcedo and Martín de Goiti, as well as several early Spanish Governors-General and archbishops. Their bones are buried in a communal vault near the main altar. The painter Juan Luna, and the statesmen Pedro A. Paterno and Trinidad Pardo de Tavera are among the hundreds of laypersons whose remains are also housed within the church.

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The church interior is in the form of a Latin cross. The church has 14 side chapels and a trompe-l'oeil ceiling painted in 1875 by Italian artists Cesare Alberoni and Giovanni Dibella. Up in the choir loft are hand-carved 17th-century seats of molave, a beautiful tropical hardwood.

Inside the San Agustin Church Postcard

San Agustin Church also hosts an image of Our Lady of Consolation (Nuestra Senora de Consolacion y Correa), which was canonically crowned by Manila Archbishop Cardinal Jaime Sin in 2000.

Side Altar, San Agustin Church Postcard

SOURCE:
San Agustin Church, Manila Wikipedia Entry