I finally went to a cockfight. Cockfighting is a popular Filipino diversion. It's practiced throughout the country, and you can read the results of the "Cocker" or "Cock Derby" in the newspapers. It was sensational, but actually a little less brutal than I expected.

The arena I went to was built like a big square wooden barn stadium. It held about 1,000 people and it was packed -- standing room only, hot as heck, and smoky. Almost all men, just a few women around selling cigarettes or fruit juice (everyone shares the same glass).

Downstairs they sold sandals, live ducks, an odd assortment of cock necessities, pork intestines, and traditional foods. In the center of the stadium was a glass-walled square ring where the fight would take place. I'd guess it to be about the size of a boxing ring. The ring held about four or five men (referees and cock handlers) and two angry roosters.

The cocker began with two men bringing out their cocks. Each cock had a razor "talon" attached to one leg. The two men sat their cocks down so everyone could get a look at them. One cock was placed under the "Wala", sign and the other was dropped under "Mana". (I don't remember the sign names exactly, but it meant something like "more" and "less".) Then the place erupted in shouting, and the gambling began.

This was total chaos to me, but somehow everyone else made sense out of it. The men used a set of hand signals to indicate to each other how much they wanted to bet and on which bird. Everyone screamed and signaled. I saw bets going down for as low as 20 pesos (50 cents) to as high as 2,000 pesos (50 dollars) in my corner of the arena. Men would bet with several people simultaneously.

As the fans were yelling, the bird handlers were getting their cocks ready for the fight. They picked up the birds and brought them near each other. One guy would hold his bird and let the other cock peck at it a few times. Then they would switch and let the other bird have his turn pecking. They would move the birds back to their corners and put them down again. The birds would fluff up their feathers and strut around. Then the men would repeat the process. I guess it gave the spectators time to gamble and the birds time to get really mad.

Finally the cocks were placed about a yard apart and released. The entire stadium goes silent. The birds sort of fly or bounce in the air at each other, there's a flurry of feathers, men start yelling again, there are some "ooohs" and "aaahs", and about thirty seconds later it's over. One of the birds will be lying in a clump of feathers. The referees will pick it up and put its head close to the other bird to see if it will still do anything, but it doesn't.

The owner of the winning bird gets to take the losing bird home for dinner. The talons are exchanged too. I expected something far more dramatic. The fight itself was sort of anti-climatic to the rest of the process. I expected something resembling the familiar farmer dad-hatchets-chicken scenario that I remember watching a few times at home. Now that was exciting!

The spectators exchange gambling debt money by balling it up and throwing it to their partners. Lots of rolled up bills are flying around the arena at the end of a fight. I left after watching about five of the twenty-fight derby. I met one of the cock owners outside the arena. He is a guard at our university. He held his winning cock in his hands and the bird looked fine -- calm and peaceful. The other cock was in a little yellow plastic bag ready for the cook pot.