The Waray culture of the Philippines

Joycie Alegre

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive information about Waray culture with particular focus on food culture and plant agricultural products of the region. Representing the Eastern Visayas region, Waray is composed of two main islands, Samar and Leyte, and the island province of Biliran. Primarily an agricultural region, Waray produces rice, abaca, corn, coconut, sugarcane and banana as major crops. The Warays were noted to have an established cultural system even before the Spaniards came. Magellan’s chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta documented their social and cultural practices, noting the rituals of welcome and reception, the food, dwelling, mode of dressing, music and dances and the language. During present times, a typical Waray meal consists of rice (kan-on), viand (sura), and vegetable (utan) with dessert (panara) as an optional component. The viand consists of a meat or fish dish while utan can be a singular vegetable like ganas (camote tops) or a more elaborate preparation such as lawot–lawot (a mix of various indigenous vegetables). The typical panara is hinog nga saging or ripe banana. The Warays are fond of kinilaw – a menu consisting of fish or vegetable (e.g. lato or seaweed, eggplant and bitter gourd) mixed with calamansi or vinegar, and in most cases with coconut milk. Popular among the Warays is Hinatukan, a food preparation which involves cooking fish or vegetable in coconut milk. Hinatukan nga utan (vegetable in coconut milk) uses hilaw nga langka (unripe jackfruit flesh) or karubasa (squash). Soup (sinabaw) or tinola is mildly flavored, with its slight sour taste imparted by small tomatoes, a dash of calamansi juice, or one or two pieces of batwan added to the brew. Tanglad (lemon grass) can be added to the soup for aroma and extra zing. Another dish, Linubihan consists of grated coconut flesh mixed with riverine crab meat. Bananas and root crops like camote are broiled (sinugba). Originally a typical farmers’ breakfast dish, lomo is a meat stew of carabao meat slivers and blood with tauge or mungbean sprouts and pechay. Aside from these dishes, the Waray way of growing rice, camote, gabi, and other root crops, as well as banana and coconut was also described in detail.