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The Filipino's life is built around rice-his staple food. A meal is never complete without rice. Three or more times a day, from almusal to lunch to dinner, the Filipino enjoys rice prepared in different ways: fried, streamed, sticky or mixed with meat and vegetables. Native delicacies such as bibingka, puto, biko and suman all come from pounded, sweetened, or sticky rice. Rice in itself invokes traditional rituals and is tightly woven into the fabric of Philippine Society. Its planting calls for playful rituals to ensure a bountiful harvest. Come harvest time, it calls for a celebration with rice wine called tapuy in the North. "Planting rice" is a delightful folk song that playful folk-song that playful folk-song that playfully describes the hard work in planting this grain. Many towns have evolved their own esoteric rituals to ensure a good harvest, including religious practices and superstitions. But nothing best epitomizes rice in its glory but the awesome Banaue Rice Terraces of the Ifugao mountain tribe, a tribute to Filipino Skill and ingenuity.

Suggestions:

Theme Party:
* Tengao

Venues:

* Nayong Pilipino's Igorot Village/Banaue Rice Terraces Replica
* Selected hotels and resorts can recreate a mountain setting for the perfect Tengao ritual in their ballrooms or gardens.

Entertainment:
* For a most authentic theme, Banaue or Baguio offers exciting possibilities for a Tengao ritual
* Centuries-old tribes in Banaue, for example, can provide authentic entertainment for your theme party.
* Tribal Dancers with gongs, nose flute and other musical instruments
* The Igorot Suite of the Bayanihan Dance Troupe

Gifts:
* Igorot hand woven cloth, linens and accessories, wood carvings