Sitio Caboloan: The Many Uses of Bamboo

 Sitio Caboloan: The Many Uses of Bamboo

 

The kawayan or bamboo tree -- or to be more botanically accurate, bamboo grass -- figures prominently not just in the local culture but in all of Pangasinan culture. After all, the province of Pangasinan used to be called Caboloan, meaning a place where there is a profusion of bolo, a species of bamboo. It was when salt, asin, 'took over' the province's identity over bamboo that Caboloan was replaced with Pangasinan.

The kawayan bolo or Gigantochloa levis (Blanco) Merr. is "a very thin bamboo that grows in the midlands and can be planted by seed or offset, and is primarily used for sawali (traditional woven wall)."

A common local riddle reveals another native species: "Kawayan kiling, aga natakiling," which translates to "Kiling bamboo/can't be viewed from below," which is a riddle that has "the sun" for an answer. This riddle indicates that this variety of bamboo, scientifically named Bambusa vulgaris Schurd ex. Wendel (or is it Dendrocalamus asper Schultes f.?), is particularly towering.

Another species is called kawayan bayog, Dendrocalamus merrillianus Elm. or  Bambusa blumeana var. luzonensis. It is a variant characterized by "a diameter as small as that of kawayan tinik (Bambusa blumeana Schult), but with thicker walls and is used for the superstructure of buildings and homes." It "often has curved culms and may be used for furniture for a desired effect, and is slightly thorny and grows in the lowlands."

According to research, "there are 12 bamboo genera consisting of 49 species in the Philippines." Today, 16 species reportedly thrive in the country, which now include introduced species: These are "Indian bamboo, kawayan tinik, Oldham bamboo, bayog, laak, kawayan kiling, giant bamboo, machiku, Calcutta bamboo, kayali, bolo, iron bamboo, muli bamboo, anos, buho [Schizostachyum lumampao (Blanco) Merr.], and Thailand bamboo." "But only eight are extensively used, and these are the most likely indigenous kawayan tinik, kawayan kiling, bayog, botong, giant bamboo, bolo, anos and buho."

 

Traditionally, the bamboo has myriad uses: as posts, beams, and flooring for the abong (hut), kubo (pig pen), papag (table), katre (bed), alar (fence), sawali (woven wall), galosa (carabao sled), kariton (cart), taytay (footbridge), pole (especially for the palo sebo game), scaffolding, baston (cane), tapa (broom for removing cobwebs), bislak (flat whipping stick), lewet (whipping rod made of bulawit or the small thorny branches), kalawit (fruit picker), sipit (clothespin), barbecue sticks... A little, low, recliner-type of chair made of bent bamboo sticks used to be commonplace in the barrios, and so were baby's crib-hammocks (baba or anduyan) made of loosely woven bamboo strips. According to old-time resident-educator Dr. Leticia Ursua, this type of baba was called tayok-tayok, because you moved the hammock up and down instead of from side to side so the baby wouldn't get bloated, or so old folks' belief goes. One needed a long, thick kawayan bayog type of bamboo slat for this type of hammock, so it could be bent and the anduyan could be hung on it like a basket.

 

Bamboo is also the preferred material in making buksot (handle-less basket), talakeb (fishing implement), bigao (winnowing tray), yakayakan (winnowing tray with holes to separate the umek or small broken rice grains from the whole rice grains), ubong na manok or baki (chicken nest), karaykay (rake), tiklis or kaing (big basket), and other old-fashioned household furniture and furnishings such as ashtray, salt holder, chicken feeder, planter, etc.

Bamboo shoots are part of traditional dishes such as adobon labong, sinagsagan ya labong (bamboo shoots stewed in bagoong with saluyot and topped with fried or grilled bangus or another fish), labong cooked in gata with chicken or pork bits, etc.

Two notable uses of bamboo in the cultural life of Pangasinenses are the kungkong and bongbong. The kungkong is a communication tool that a community leader strikes in times of emergency or when communal help is needed, as in tagnawa or bayanihan, the lifting of houses from one place to another place with the voluntary help of the able-bodied men of the community. The bong-bong is a traditional bamboo New Year's Eve cannon that uses water and kalburo (calcium carbide) as explosive.

Through time, bamboo has found many other uses. It is now being used in making artful liken (table coaster), toothpick, chopsticks, chopping board, a decorative mini-hut with roof net, and an entire sala set, for instance. It is also being used in building floating fish cages in lakes and ponds. In Pangasinan State University-Bayambang Campus, a former professor there, Rufino Menor, experimented with bamboo poles by his lonesome in the '80s to copy the Indonesian anklung and, out of it, founded his Pangkat Kawayan.

In April 2019, engineered bamboo wood was used to build the Guinness Record for the world's tallest supported bamboo sculpture.  

The apotheosis of bamboo use may probably be found in the rise of the factory of the eco-firm that Dr. Cezar T. Quiambao initiated, the CS1st Green Agro-Industrial Development Inc. or CS1st Green AID Inc. in Brgy. Amanperez. It produces bamboo floorboards, bamboo briquettes, bamboo souvenir items, including miniatures, and other handicrafts, bamboo paper, bamboo textile, and even bamboo beer. Who would have thought the lowly bamboo could be all that and more?

References:

https://buglas-bamboo.weebly.com/blog/bamboo-in-the-philippines

http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=PH9610936

https://www.philstar.com/business/agriculture/2005/07/31/289153/16-bamboo-species-named-rampd-work
http://www.science.ph/full_story.php?type=News&key=5770:pcaarrd-advocates-planting-of-more-bamboos-

Pizarro, Corazon M. "Say Kawayan" [poem] (n.d.)