PABAYLE ILOCO

An llocano tradition done at night before the wedding is a Pabayle. This is a dance activity whereby the community contributes to helping support the couple by raising funds that also become an avenue for others to find their friends or person whom they love to meet, exchange stories, and greet with a smile in Ilocano dialect term as “ISEM”. Love sprung from the beautiful smile of the girl that captured a man's heart when cordially invited to dance with her.
The dance is an inspiration of the immortal song Isem, composed by Pedro Aurelio of San Nicolas, llocos Norte in 1933 that an llocano anywhere in the country who later migrated in Santa Ana, Cagayan associates it with love and dance that started in Pabayle. These Ilocano groups from Ilocos Norte later in their migration life in Marede, Santa Ana, Cagayan associated it with the usual practice of Pabayle which signifies panagkikita (meeting), panagam-ammo (getting to know), panagiinnarem (courtship), and panangsungbat iti ayat (the affirmation of love).