The lake
Due to the booming tourism industry in Kabayan, you might’ve already visited the Four lakes located in our Barangay, Ballay. If not, you might’ve heard about it from friends or saw pictures or videos of other bloggers on social media and on local television.
The focus of this blog is to share with you the folklore of these lakes. Tales that we heard from our lolong and lolang (grandparents) passed on by our ancestors. I will start with Tabayo lake.
This lake is the first one that you will see when you visit the 4 lakes. It is just on the base of Mt. Tabayok, which is the second highest mountain in Luzon.
The folklore says, a long, long time ago, when man and woman were made, there were works that need to be done. There was a work which needed to be completed in 5 days. One version of the tale was the agreement was for the man to work and the woman to bring his food on the 5th day. However, for some reason, the woman went up to the mountains and brought the man’s food on the third day. The kalanguya term for this is ‘hinuknulan to’–means she disrupted the work and was never completed, therefore the lake was just small since the man didn’t finish the job.
Another version of the folklore was somewhat related to the first. According to Mr. Balagan’s sources in the community, it says that there was an agreement between maybe friends or a couple to work in the mountains for 7 days. No one should disturb the man until it’s completed.However on the 5th day, the woman went up the mountain and ‘hinuknulan to’–disrupted the man. So what happened was that the man went around with his guts (intestines) dangling (gory i know) until it formed the lake, now called Tabayo lake.
These versions of the folklore should live upon us. Yes, there are a lot of people who had seen the lake, enjoyed its serene surroundings and lush mountain side, but little did they know about these tales, specially the youth in our barangay.
The lake is a habitat for few species of inland water fish. We have what we call ‘yoyo’–sort of elongated mud fish, we have ‘karpa’–fresh water fish and cat fish. Locals can fish in the lake. Tourists can set their camps surrounding the lake and feel the cold breeze at night and early in the morning.
For you who haven’t set foot in our place yet, when you feel like moving away from the pressing lifestyle in the city, pack your hiking gears and come enjoy what nature provides us.
Sources:
* Mr. Santiago Ballagan, one of the tourist guides in our community. He gathered the tales from different sources like elders in the barangay. He was kind enough to share these tales with me.
Manong Santiago and sons–now its more of a family business to guide tourists around
* Baldo Atiw, my grandfather. When we were kids he used to tell us these folklores.
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