WHY BOHOLANOS KISS THE UBI WHEN DROPPED TO THE GROUND

TEN years ago, I accompanied Lolo Enrique in harvesting ubi in his little hilly farm situated across an old cemetery of the town. While carrying the harvested root crop to the hut beside the road, I accidentally dropped two pieces of ubi into the ground. Lolo Enrique yelled at me after seeing my carelessness, "Ely, pick up the ubi and kiss them," he ordered. I hurriedly did what he wanted me to do and uttered some words of repentance for what I’ve done that Lola Leling told me to do so.

I asked my Lola Leling why the ubi should be kissed when dropped on the ground. She answered politely that the ubi is sacred and it can bring malediction to the man if he did not do it accordingly.

Later, I was told that this Boholano practice is being followed for almost half a millennium now. Boholanos venerated the ubi plant as a sacred crop and that respect to the plant is still stronger today as ever. Though we, the new generation of Boholanos, adopted it without sensing the true cause of this custom we inherited from our ancestors.

According to Rene Sumodobila, the sacredness of ubi did not come without any reason at all. It is given by God. And it deals with the rich history of the Boholanos’ culture and their resiliency as a people to triumph over natural and man-made adversities.

Chinese traders during the silk trade brought the ubi (Dioscorea alata) to Bohol in the 10th century (Sung and Yuan Dynasties). When some Chinesse traders settled in Panglao Island, particularly Dauis, and married natives or who have been shipwrecked, they planted many different varieties of ubi root crops. Under the sandy-loam soil, the ubi thrived well and were easily accepted by the Boholano natives in Panglao Island area as an important part of their diet.

One day in the 1540s, the Portuguese-led Ternatan pirates (from Ternate, an island near Sulawesi, Indonesia) treacherously attacked and plundered the island. In the event, they killed more than 300 natives, including the ruling Datu Arripada Dailisan, and enslaved hundreds of men, women and children including Dailisan’s wife. As it was the custom in those days to abandon any site associated with death and misfortune, the survivors of the raid left the island and crossed the Mindanao Sea. In the rush to abandon the area, the Boholanos forgot to think about the ubi.

Many years later, when Christianity came to Bohol, the highlander Boholanos coming from Corella and other neighboring towns resettled the abandoned communities.

Unfortunately, in that Hispanic era, a great famine cause by long drought occurred. All the green vegetation died and the new settler around the Dauis-Panglao, Baclayon, and neighboring areas starved and many died.

The hungry Boholanos searched for food. While they continued searching, they asked God to help them to ease their suffering. Fortunately, in their constant search for food, someone accidentally struck a fleshly tuber in the ground, some are white and some are purple. The famish settler cooked it, tasted it without hesitation that it can be inedible or has poison. The settler found out that the tuber is edible, very delicious, and highly nutritious.

He told the other settlers about his discovery. Together, they found and dug more tubers. The unknown tuber saved the people from hunger. They instantly venerated it as a savior crop and for them, kissing it is not enough for giving thanks to the Almighty God.