Bilao, photo by JMorton

What’s Bilao in English?

Bilao in Tagalog, bigao in Ilocano, is called a winnowing basket in English.

This basket is very versatile.  Its usefulness was first used in ancient times by agricultural folks to separate the grains from the chaffs at harvest or milling time.

This process is called agtaep in Ilocano which means to winnow. To winnow is tossing the grains using the bilao. The tossing blows a current of air through the grains, thereby removing the chaffs.

Bilao has surpassed its usefulness as a farming implement. It has proved popular amongst street vendors, who wanted their products, usually cooked rice cakes/pudding, to be more accessible to their buyers.