November 29, 2007
About the tools
Eduardo Pontaoe
29 Nov 2007
Nice of you, Doc, to make this clarification on what is the real Pangasinan thing.
Let’s start the re-education of Al Mendoza on his 0-0 eyesight on what he thought as trivial these tools of Pangasinan rice threshing methods.
TALTAGAN. . . a boat like tool carved out from acacia or pantol (santol) trunks used to separate rice grains from the stalks with wooden pounders (ALO) before the advent of the mechanized rice thresher.
LASONG . . . a three feet high carved-stone-funnel-looking-like contraption to separate the husk from the grain. With constant pounding with the ALO in a single, double or triple MANAGBAYO, it’s the primitive way before the rice mill.
PINGEY. . . the cause of why the TALTAGAN and the LASONG came into existence. Before the rice farms were mechanized, rice was gathered manually by cutting the grain stalks from the hay. And then they were bundled into what we call PINGEY.
GAMLANG. . . is a blade four inches long imbedded with a handle horizontally. The shape of the blade curves from end to end. This blade, to use it, is to put between the middle and fourth finger and holding the rice stalk inward to cut it. It is a very tedious work standing the whole day.
Al Mendoza in his drunken way tried to give us the low blow of the one, two and three.
ALSUNG, he’d got to dead drunk on his ignorant grasp of simple knowledge of the Pangasinense. He must be wallowing in drunken spit when he saw birds dancing in his ALSUNG fountain. Maria Capra (Lawlawigan), Peloca (this is a fruit bird specializing in LOMBOY fruit).
Let me ask you, Doc. When was the last time we saw these birds flying around among the bamboo groves? I haven’t seen one the last time I saw them 10 or 20 years ago. To think of it, they are extinct.
By the way, would you pour a kerosene can full of cold water from the plaza GRIPO on Al Mendoza to wake him up or let Ito Bagit do it?
