Ugnayang Kapatagan-Kabundukan: Ang Atang bilang Hugpungang Pangkalinangan ng Amianan at Brgy. Bakal III, Talavera, Nueva Ecija

This study probes the oneness and relationships of culture in the Philippines through the practice of atang, particularly in Amianan (Northern Luzon) and in one community in the province of Nueva Ecija. From the history, Nueva Ecija became one of the go-to places for Ilocanos during their migration to find a land to start a new way of life (McLennan 1980, 375). In this regard, the study focused on analyzing the set of cultural junctures from Amianan, in the settlement of the Ilocanos in Nueva Ecija, despite the difference in topography. Brgy. Bakal III in Talavera, Nueva Ecija, is an area of the Ilocano-Tagalog community located at the foot of the mountains outside Amianan. The practice of atang in Brgy. Bakal III was derived from conversations with informants who practiced and witnessed the said practice. Given the fact that atang is being practiced in Brgy. Bakal III, it signifies a sa-laud-sa-raya relationship from the topography of the Amianan highlands and the topography of the Nueva Ecija plains. From this relationship, cultural junctures are formed as both ethnolinguistic groups cultivate their own cultural distinctiveness.