Feedbacks and postings...

Van, a faithful friend from this board says:

I see myself in that real war games.We used bamboo "guns" and lipaplpo fruit and manunnngal fruit as bullets.  If we ran out of it we used wet and soaked small pice of any paper rolled into a rounded shape and pressed inside the little hole, about half centimeter in diameter,of that kawayan bayog bamboo.We even mix pulverized glass with this bullet to hurt the enemy ( ouch ).Yes, it is real war between poblacion and the  kids  who live from around  the Independent church area about less than kilometer away. It was fun but no joke---it is a real war that sometimes ended in boxing and stone throwing..I am still bewildered why such war game existed among us .

Thank your for retrieving all these childhood silly memories--it makes me smile---and relax.

********

I refrained from joining these games when I was still growing up in Asingan..But I love fencing with sticks ( a kiddie form of arnis ) especially in that high  taep mound at the back of Monyang's cono mill..We also tried swords made of plastic ( but these were quite expensive then for kids like us )..Some classmates used spiders as "gladiators ".."Hey, my spider can lick your spider, wanna bet?" I do not think there was any serious betting then..Lots of real live games then, better than some video games which are now rampant gluing kids to TV monitors...

Here, for the record  are some of the postings on the  subject which I gleaned from the Asingan Board..These will be here for posterity. I have my own mailing list, many of whom may not access to the Asingan Board...

GAMES CHILDREN PLAYED IN ASINGAN

Pati Basketball, simple lang. Saan nga masapul ti parquet floor, nabisibisan nga katapukan laeng mabalinen. Awan ti painted sideline kada baseline, uged laeng diay daga. Awan referee, honesty laeng. Awan pay ti clear fiberglass backboard ken collapsible ring, na-welding nga steelbar laeng nga nailansa idiay tabla nga board, awan pay net na – naipalkap idiay puon ti niyog, awan pay overhang na isu nga panay long shot ta maibangga ka no ag lay-up ka. hehehe.

Awan ti hi-tech nga sapatos with air-cushioned soles and lightweight materials, converse laeng nga canvass wenno nba wenno bata rubbershoes, mabalennen. No awan, agsaka-saka kan ta baka mabaddekan da pay diay rubber sandals mo nga Spartan, mapugsat pay ket kakaisuna met ngarud. Uray la mangapuyo ti dapan ta nabara diay pagay-ayaman.

Uniform? Aguksob dagitay dayo tapno mabigbig ti akkakadwa he he he. Awan dagita bling-bling nga headband kada wristband kada knee pad. Ibaredbed mo diay panyom dita ulomon ay ket chamberlain kunadan. Hahaha. No maka adornado ka, medyo ag jumpshot ka diay adayo saka tumaray nga aglulukay dagiti pungua punguam, kasla agiwarwarsi ti danum. hehehe. No maka jaworski ka met, medyo sumikel ka kada tumabyog sagpaminsan hahaha… All the while, sipsiputan yo diay para iggem ti pusta ta amangan no agpukaw no naabaken diay home team hehehe.

Gatorade? Apan kayo diay likod ti bab-balay ta pagsisinublatan yo nga bumbaan ken ab-aban diay binatwag nga gripo. Hehehe. No taga baryo ka nga padak, ammom daytoy hahaha.---Sonny

 

Bugsy, those were the days, really. Awanen ti pinasangdo ken palumba ti nuang, mabalin nga pinnaguyod ngatan ti kulegleg ita. Dagitay ayayam tay idi, dida pay matarusanen hehehe. Awanen datay agaarak nga ub-ubbing no nasillag diay bulan. Saan nga excitingen diay ag-dive diay teppang ti karayan, namaymayat idiay diving board ken water slide iti resort ni maam poly. Narabaw la ti ragsak idi, simple lang dagiti kayat. Ittatta di pay kayat ti pinutot ti PSP no saan nga diay slim version, sinalbag. hehehe.

Sammy – oh, who can forget those barbaradyok? We take them by the basket in the paddies of pagumpias and masicampo. They’re delicious and free, usually taken as a side dish to the main fare of vegetables and fresh water fish from nearby bodies of water: Kalungkong, Tanggal, pa’yas, etc. Other fishing implements aside from those you mentioned are the banniit, patukkaw, tarik, liwliw and sigay. When we are not fishing, we are in the bangbangkag hunting for rabong, u-ong, kulat, bunga ti sinkamas, sabunganay, ube, boga (wild yam), etc. Awan ti makwar-kwarta idi ngem saan nga agbisin ti tao no nagaget. Im not sure if barudyok still exists, I think its extinct – vanished perhaps just like many other species by the pesticides of modern farming.----Sonny

 

Those were the days when playing outdoors was still part of the young generations activity. I am pretty much aware of what's going on those days and you are right, i was never involved in such skirmishesand war-like games. I know that it was a lot of fun as i heared endless stories from combatants and warriors. I can say i was at the safe vantage point and enjoyed watching an actual combat with some primitive weapons as you mention.

One good thing, after all those summer "hostilities" was a ceasefire as soon as the school starts. Behaved na ang lahat pag-pasok sa North Central School. Walang samaan ng loob. As if nothing happened. Yes the "pagumpiyas" field (maybe close to hundred hectares and own by a single family from Tagalog Region, Bencing Sales) was a "battle ground" during those summer days. On the other hand, for those peace loving inhabitants like me (uhm) these verdant fields offer nice scenery and source of some exotic and endemic kind of food. I remember picking and searching this green translucent gelatin-like slimy "barbaradiok" on the newly dried rice paddies. It is simply served by pouring hot water, then with a little salt and droplets of kalamansi juice. Presto, may salad ka na sa hapag kainan.

Not that i am righteous, but i prefer outdoor activities such as fishing, agala iti "ara-rawan" and the like. At young age, i experienced some primitive ways how to catch fresh water fish. Who can forget the "bukatot" and "palayaw". The bokatot as the word emplies will catch anything that swim inside it (including foreign and unnecessary floating yellowish soft objects) while the palayaw will catch those jumping "bontiek", ar-aro, paltat, dalag or borikaw. (Anyway,bontiek, borikaw ken dalag belongs to the same specie. No bassit pay ket Bontiek, the middle size kasla ngay braso iti ubing ket borikaw, iti kadakkelan nga kasla gurong ket dalag). Nakasay-sayang laeng nga malagip dagiti napalabas, when food sources were still abundant. Yes those were the days...(sigh).

Sammy

 

Hey Sonny, Diay ngay pinnasangdo ti nuang, wenno agkamat ti pugo? Agitono ti tukak wenno otot hahahaha. Yak! but I love it. Those childhood memeories only applies to the taga barbaryo I am afraid hehehehe. Its unique and pity those golden times are gone when as a boy you won't object when your father tell you to go agpastor ti nuang because you knew there's fun. We let free our animals and then go to Bactad and play basketball. Now, you can hardly asked a boy to do that, farming mechanization and modernity of living changed all that. Sibon, pinnaltugan, pinnalsoot, linnemmengan, pitiw or shatong were our pastimes before none were the net, facebooks, utube, TV or stereo. Reading materials almost confined to Bannawag, komics, liwayway or song hits. Dagiti met babalasitang ket agtutuon da idiay agdan nga agkikinnuto hehehehehe. Ahhhh...Those were the days.

--Bugsy

 

I had similar experience as a young boy, maybe 10 to 11 yrs old, when we waged ‘war’ with boys from nearby Macalong. Between Dupac and Macalong is a wide farmland called "Pagumpiyas" which is planted to rice during the rainy season and to mongo or maize during the dry months. In between crops, during summer especially, boys from dupac and macalong inevitably meet in the grazing grounds. Competetion usually follows – starting with friendly banter that later on escalates into fistfights, when someone dares to touch another one’s ear. What I remember and enjoyed most was the barrio war which started with "pinnalsuot" that later turned into "binnarsak ti bingkol". The following day, more boys from both camps join the fray some are even imported from kalawagan and cabincolan (east vs west) and this time it degenerated into "pinalsiit" and the war zone expanded to include that wide expanse between the North Central and the Camposanto. Then, the next day some boys brought in their father’s "escopita" and "flying icepicks". And before we knew it, what started as a kiddy wargame was soon taken up by our manongs and uncles! They have to call in the tough guy, Mng Bill Benito (RIP) who was a councilor then and the barrio captains to settle that one. Hehehe. But boy, was that exciting! Relations normalized when June comes, as we carry on as schoolmates at NCS as if nothing happened. Im not sure if sammy remembers but maybe he's too much of a good boy to have joined. --Sonny

 

During or after the rice harvesting season, we brought our Nuang(Kalabaw) ken Baka to the rice field, and while they are busy grassing, the kids start a boxing match. I remember that, we (Carosucan Norter) used to have matches with kids from bactad,Urdaneta; the gloves that we used, was the sako, just wrp it around your hand and there is the boxing match. I was one of those kids, kaya pagalaki, puro gasgas and mukha. kamukha Ni Manny Pacman.---RA

 

There comes a time when that part of Asingan towards the Urdaneta boundary will be turned into a nice boulevard. The mango trees now bearing fruit and seems houses steadily sprouting out since PSU campus was there. Malagip ko pay idi ubbing kami no mapan kami agpastor idiay asideg ti boundary ket adda boxing bouts nga maaramid ta dagiti taga Bactad, Domanpot ken Carosucan Norte ket agdadanon kam amen sadiay. Ti glove let imputiput nga kamisita dita knucles mo ay apo mayat ta baryo vs baryo ti laban idi. Malagip yo pay diay Kabaritan nga idi nalugin ket pinagbalin da nga piggery? Addan sa pay tay building na dia ba?

---Bugsy