(child talking)
(speaking in foreign language)
(dramatic music)
- Ugh.
Okay, we've survived the Muma?
Muma?
- The Muma.
And I feel good, I feel good now.
I feel awake, ready for adventure.
Hello. (speaks in foreign language)
(metal banging)
No wait, come back.
It says blood donation but it's for circumcision?
It says, for nine years old and above.
Are they circumcising boys that are nine years old?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, nine years old or above.
- Circumcision, like snip?
- Yeah.
- Is it common for somebody older than nine
years old to get circumcised?
- Yeah.
(speaks in foreign language)
and before they used Bamboo, really sharp the bamboo
because the bamboo is really sharp.
- Yeah.
- And then we just, cut it.
- With bamboo.
- Yeah.
(groans)
- Before we visit the cliffs to
try to find the coffins,
we have to ask permission from a old man.
And here the term old man is a little bit more elaborate
than just an old guy.
He is a village elder, I guess would be
a better way to say it.
And his ancestors are the ones
that are put in the cliffs.
So, we're gonna visit him, have a quick chat,
and ask him if we can have permission to go meet
his grandfather, his great-grandfather,
everybody he's related to who were put in these coffins.
Let's go.
(ambient music)
(speaks in foreign language)
- Nice to meet you.
- You see the Etags.
- Oh yeah.
So these are his etags.
The smoked pork.
A very traditional dish here, yeah?
(foreign language)
- You have a newly born baby.
You call it Goomba.
- Goomba.
That you will let him know that it's Goomba.
And okay, so that he will know
what kind of, what tag to bring.
- Uh-huh.
- Because there are good tags there
and there are bad tags there.
- Can he shows us some of the good etags
and some of the bad etags,
does he know the story?
The stories? He must.
So you speak some english?
- Yeah
That's easy then (laughs).
Can you explain to us
a little bit about Etag?
Just for a second.
Can you explain Etag one more time?
- I'm deaf.
I cannot hear that well.
(laughing)
It's okay, it's okay.
What is Etag?
- This is...
- meat comes from the dead.
We have to separate because we can't used
that for any occasion
but if it's good meat we can take it
to newborn child
or when people will marry.
- So it's very very important part
of the ceremony is bringing Etag
so if it's a wedding
or a there's a newborn you would bring Etag to celebrate.
- Yes.
We can take one piece and join the old men there.
(laughs)
(foreign language)
- Can we buy some and try some?
- Yeah we'll try.
(foreign language)
- Yeah.
(foreign language)
- These are the eggs
- So there is maggot eggs?
- Yeah.
There are maggot.
- Yeah I see.
- And so now do you like Etag?
Do you like eating Etag?
- Sure, sure.
- And with maggots, do you care or don't care?
- It's the other way around.
- The other way around?
- I don't care.
- You don't care.
- Before there's no people that are brought to hospital
because of eating maggot.
I think they live more years.
(laughter)
because it's really a protein.
- 98?
- That's almost, that's over three times me.
- Yeah, yeah.
- So is that why he's 98 cause he's eating
the maggots in the Etag?
- Yeah.
You grow old and strong by eating the fly larvae.
So this'll be our Etag then.
- Yeah.
- Thank you.
And it is your son's birthday tomorrow, right?
- Yeah.
- And so we'll have the Etag for your son's birthday.
- Yeah.
- So Chris was explaining a little bit more
about Lakay Wa-ow's house.
And to be called an old man,
you can't just be an old man.
You've had to have had kids,
those kids had to have kids.
- Those kids have to marry.
- Have to marry.
- And then you can be called an old man.
So the responsibilities of being an old man,
an official old man, is having etag for ceremonies,
weddings, birthdays, and things.
Also, being able to do the rituals
for opening a rice patty field.
- Yeah, for like things they will be the one who will chant.
- They will do the chanting. - They will do the chanting,
they will do the sacrificing of pigs.
- They would sacrifice pigs for a wedding for example.
- Yes, like getting married here is not a joke.
- No.
- You need to let all the people eat in your house.
- Oh really.
- So you butcher like 18 pigs.
- 18 pigs?
- Yeah plus two carballs
- Wow.
- So then every people are invited.
- The entire village is invited to the wedding?
- Yes, yes.
Whoever passes by, its invited.
So you can let thousand of them in one line,
and yeah everybody's preparing the food for them.
- And so this is the necklace he would wear
for a ceremony?
- Yeah.
( ambient music)
- And that would go on the arm.
- Yeah on the arm.
And this is pig tusks, pig teeth.
- Tusk and they let knit together.
- Did his father give him that?
(speaks foreign language)
- It's a lot of generations passed by.
- He's 98 now.
- He's 98.
- He got it from his father,
and his father got it from his grandfather.
- So generation after generation.
So hundreds of years old.
(speaks foreign language)
- Crocodile
- Crocodile teeth.
(ambient music)
I don't know if it'll fit.
No (laughs)
There we go.
So this is pig, pig, pig tooth, pig tooth, pig tail.
You are using that during the reness.
- You put, you try.
- Can I put?
Is this okay?
- Yes, you try.
I think much better you remove your shirt more.
- Remove my shirt?
- Yeah remove it
(foreign language)
I like it.
There's hundreds of years of tradition
laying on my neck right now.
My name is Mike, Mike.
Lakay Wa-ow.
- Mike.
- Mike is my name.
Mike is my name.
- Patrick is mine.
- Patrick is my name
Patrick
- Patrick
- Patrick is the English name.
- My Christian name.
- Your Christian name is Patrick?
But your local name is Lakay Wa-ow.
Do your friends call you Patrick
or do your friends call you Wa-ow?
- Wa-ow.
- And in the government, Patrick.
- Patrick.
And which name do you like more?
Which name do you like more?
Patrick or Wa-ow?
- Wa-ow.
I inherit that.
- Yeah I think it's a better name.
Thank you so much for letting is in your house.
And thank you so much for the etag.
I'm looking forward to trying your etag.
And thank you for letting me wear your necklace.
I understand it is very special to you,
and very special to your family.
So I appreciate that, thank you.
Alright, so we were going to ask him for
permission to visit his ancestors, yeah?
Have we done that already?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, it's okay?
- Yeah yeah.
And thank you for giving us permission
to visit your ancestors in the cliffs.
We are going there now to see if we can find some of them.
So thank you.
(ambient music)
- Etag man.
Still got some bugs on it and it started to turn green.
- The older, the better.
(speaks foreign language)
Can I see?
- Cut it.
Try.
- I can try this?
- Yeah.
- Ooh.
I think etag is gonna be quite strange
for the people who watch my videos.
So I know when I post this people
are gonna think it's crazy,
but what do yo want to say to them?
The people who think etag might look
a little bit crazy, a little bit gross.
- You come and try.
- Come and try.
- Yeah, and we know where it came from.
We're the one who butchered it,
and we're the one who prepared it,
and it's like a ham or bacon.
- And what about the maggots?
- Maggots are fine.
Full of protein.
It won't kill you anyway, it'll just make you
smell a little bit.
(laughter)
- I was given a single piece of uncooked etag.
Because apparently it is like smoked pork.
And you saw what it looked like when it was not cooked.
We all saw together, what it was like uncooked.
Texture-wise it feels kinda rubbery.
It feels almost like a beef jerky,
like a semi-dry beef jerky.
Almost like a serrano ham, a thick serrano ham.
And honestly it'd be very similar the process.
It's just mostly smoked.
I just know what was crawling on it about a minute ago.
And so my stomach's starting to go (groans).
This is probably the most nervous I've been
eating anything in a long time.
And so, down the hatch.
Just a bite.
Etag in Sagada.
Three, two, one.
(chewing)
(laughter)
Despite the first appearance,
it tastes like chewy serrano ham.
There is a little bit of a
aftertaste that is a little bit putrid.
Only like one percent, but the overall
consuming taste of this is actually really good.
Like a big chunk of serrano ham.
Like a lot of food in the Philippines,
if you just kinda forget what it looked like before,
like (speaks foreign language)
and you just focus on what it is now,
it's actually super delicious.
A little bit salty
but not too far at all off serrano ham.
I expected much worse.
When you cook it, all of the fat
that had the maggots and the flies and the beetles
living in it, mixes all together.
And that taste of the insects
living in it, sticks with the meat
and it gives it this very heavy milk taste.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hey it's Mike of Fearless in Fire.
I'm coming at you from Minsinow
in Southern Philippines.
I hope you enjoyed the video of eating etag,
the cooked etag was a much different experience
than the raw etag.
You'd think the raw etag would be worse,
and I'm excited to share that in one of the upcoming videos.
If you haven't subscribed yet,
you can do that here with a button
as well you want to see me meet Whang-Od,
get a tattoo and have a extremely unique
experience with her, you can see that in the bottom as well.
And if you want to know how I find these places
and learn how to fight your fears
and become the best version of yourself,
you can check out the patron community in the top.
Experiences over possession
I'll catch you in the next video.
Peace.