Sagada Adventure: Echo Valley, Hanging Coffins and St. Mary's Church
After our Bomod-Ok Falls experience, we walked back to our inn to take a bath, have our late lunch and prepare for the second part of our tour for that day. This next part consisted mostly of touring and experiencing some of the culture and traditions in Sagada. It required us a bit of a road travel wherein I just slept in the van and ended waking up when we arriving in our destinations.
ECHO VALLEY AND HANGING COFFINS
To get to the Echo Valley, we needed to pass through the Sagada cemetery. We were again accompanied by the same guide who was with us in our Cave Connection.
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| Photo from Angie San Jose |
- The graves have windows
- Instead of using candles when they visit, they use a certain part of the tree as their light. It was similar to a charcoal.
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| Photo from Angie San Jose |
After a few more discussions, we were finally led to the Echo Valley. The name was already self-explanatory as to why it was name as such. But I did not really know what to expect prior to going there.
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| Photo from Angie San Jose |
When we arrived, we noticed people shouting out of nowhere with their echoing voices. Some were even trying to be funny like saying, "Meron bang forever?" LOL!
Though the spot felt bit eerie, it was still such a nice place for picture taking with that nice view.
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| Photo from Angie San Jose |
From the valley, our guide pointed to us where we can see the Hanging Coffins below. We needed to look closely in order to see them but they're not really that visible. Angie was able to zoom in and take a photo from the top with the help of her camera.
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| Photo from Angie San Jose |
Making our way there was another trekking experience. I guess that was just how Sagada was made so the locals there find this ordinary though some find it challenging. As usual, there were lots of people around the area and there was still sort of a line going there. This was the same case for the viewing of the hanging coffins.
As we made our way to the well-known burial site, our guide gave us more insights about the hanging coffins. According to him, coffins are hanged because the locals have this idea that burying their dead this way will put them closer to the heaven. But not everyone can be buried in a hanging coffin and there are certain qualifications: as far as I remember, some of these include reaching a certain old age and achieving something great such as getting all his kids to finish their studies.
The newest coffin was the one labeled with "Lawagan" on the left side, recently buried in 2012. These labels were the dead's igorot name.
On our way back as we left the hanging coffins, we passed by a small coffin. If you take a peek under it, you will see its bones and skull. I tried to peek but did not really see much so I just took a picture of the coffin. According to our guide, the skeletons were previously smuggled by foreigners and were just returned after they found out its origin.
ST. MARY'S CHURCH
The way to St, Mary's Church was at least a 10-minute walk from the Sagada cemetery. We were asked by our guide about the relevance of this area but we were not able to provide any explanation. We did not really know what's so special about this place that it had to be part of our itinerary.
Upon our arrival, we were given the chance to roam around the area as we waited for the rest of the group.
Being a Roman Catholic, I got inside in the church and made a wish since we have this belief that you can make a wish if it was your first time to visit a church.
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| Photo from Angie San Jose |
When our group was finally complete, our guide asked us to sit on a bench made of rock with a wheel (this used to be a part of a sawmill) on it so he could tell the story of the place.
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| Photo from Angie San Jose |
According to him, at least 90% of the people living in Sagada are Anglicans. St. Mary's Church is an Anglican Church ( I wonder if my wish still applies considering this hehe!)
The previous day, he asked us the two other missions of Jesus when he came to the world aside from saving us from our sins. No one could answer the question but when we got to this place, he explained it to us. The other missions of Jesus were the following: to heal the sick and to teach. He then explained that near the St. Mary's Church, St. Mary's Hospital and St. Mary's School were also built.
He also told us about the "magical bell" that no longer functions now but when it did, its sound could reach until Ilocos. This was actually a fascinating fact to know.
SAGADA WEAVING
On our way back to our place, we passed by Sagada Weaving which was also part of our itinerary.
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| Photo from Angie San Jose |
It was actually just a place where we can buy weaved items for pasalubong. You could find similar items being sold in other pasalubong shops. We decided to take pictures for souvenir purposes since we did not find anything we want to buy.
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| Photo from Angie San Jose |
We were also supposed to visit the museum for free but it was already closed when we arrived there. Eventually, we just made our way to the area where we can buy our pasalubong and have a legitimate Sagada delicacy for dinner. More about this part on this post.
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My other blog posts related to our Sagada travel:
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