Republic of the Philippines

Sorsogon State College

_________________________________________________________________________
Subject: Indigenous Peoples Education
Topic: Group 5 IGOROT
Name of the students: James Paul Periña Labini
John Carlo Hular
Minda Gallano
Jake Fresnido
John Ryan Ebrada

Course and Section: BSA 1-A

Brief History:

Igorots are indigenous people living in uplands of Cordillera Region. Igorot, (Tagalog:
“Mountaineer”) any of various ethnic groups in the mountains of northern Luzon, Philippines, all
of whom keep, or have kept until recently, their traditional religion and way of life. Some live in
the tropical forests of the foothills, but most live in rugged grassland and pine forest zones higher
up. The Igorot numbered about 1.5 million in the early 21st century. Their languages belong to
the northern Luzon subgroup of the Philippine languages, which belong to the Austronesian
(Malayo-Polynesian) family. The Igorot peoples are Austronesians. They were known in earlier
days for their wars and practice of headhunting. The Spaniards forcibly partially subdued them
during the colonial occupation of the Philippines, that process being completed during the period
of U.S. hegemony. Ethnologists distinguish about 10 main ethnic groups, each with its own
dialect and culture. There are also variations within these groups. Igorots also grouped into a
number of ethnic or ethnolinguistic identities, such as a.)Apayao/Isneg b.)Tingian c.)kalinga
d.)Bontoc e.)kankanaey f.) Ibaloi/ibaloy g.)Ifugao h.)Bago.

IGOROT people:

a. Ifugao - derived from "ipugo" which means "earth people", "mortals" or "humans" as
distinguished from spirits and deities. It also means "from the hill".- has two dialects (Burnaby
and Banaue)

b. Bontoc - located in central Mountain Province,living on the banks of chico river.

c. Kalinga - tribes located in kalinga Province,they practice both wet and dry farming, developed
on institution of peace pacts called " Botong" to minimized warfare and head hunting.
d.) Isneg - tribe is located in Northern Apayao, it distinguished from other igorot tribes for their
fine construction of thier houses. The term "Isnag" derives from the combination of is meaning
"recede" and "unag" meaning "interior" thus, it means "people who live inland.

e.) Kankana-ey -tribe is located in Western Mountain Province,Southeastern Ilocos Sir,Northern

f.) Ibaloi - tribe is located in Southern Benguet (bagui).they are the traditional formers that
cultivate rice.their language is close to Pangasinan language.

Living Resources/ Livelihood:

Since Igorot or cordilleran’s reside in mountain ranges, their primary source of living are:
a.)dry and wet farming of rice or vegetables b.) Gold mining c.)hunting d.)fishing(for those
residing near chico and Apayao river) e.)tourism( sagada,banawerice terraces, Baguio city) f.)
Selling products ( in Baguio)such as vegetables,honey,coffee,woven cloth etc.

Religion:

Their religion are Christian and animism. ANIMISM ( from Latin anima " breath, spirit,
life") is the belief that objects, places and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence.
Potentially, animism perceives all things-animals, plants, rock, rivers, weather systems, human
handiwork and perhaps even words-as animated and alive. Animism is used in the anthropology
of religion as a term for the belief system of many indigenous peoples, especially in contrast to
the relatively more recent development of organized religions.

Marriage:

In the Bontoc/Igorot wedding rituals usually spans several days. The couple can finally live
as husband and wife, but may not sleep together for the next five days known as the ATUFANG
PERIOD. Most traditional wedding last for two to three days and everyone in the community is
invited to attend to eat.

The Igorot tribes of the Mountain Province have a wedding practice called the “trial
marriage.” The Sagada Igorot, for instance, have a ward or “Dap-ay ” where boys at an early age
live and sleep with their age mates. This ward is connected to one or more girls’ dormitories
called “ebgan” used for courtship.

In this dormitory, the girls gather at night to sleep and to be visited by their suitors. When
a boy develops a real attachment to a girl, they live together in a trial marriage until the girl
becomes pregnant.
 The young man then sends gifts to the girl’s family. Chickens are sacrificed and omens are
read. When all the signs are favorable, the wedding ceremonies take place. In these
ceremonies, the couple drink from the same cup, eating rice together, and make rice offerings.

Practices/rituals:

-They practice the Daw-es (an ancient ritual passed on from generation to generation,even
in this age of the worldwide web.

- The animal used in doing the cleansing ritual is a dog. In mythologies and in ethnic
cultures of some indigenous tribes,the dog is portrayed as a symbol of death and portrayed as a
symbol of protection.

- Among us igorots, the event of death is a very special occasion which is value and has to
be observed. As much as possible even now in the times of diaspora, all the close relatives have
to be gathered and are expected to be around when someone in the family had died. Children,
siblings, spouses, and parents should not be missing in the list of important relatives to be
present in times when someone died.

- The animal offerings. There are animals to be offered/butchered as there are tremendous
numbers of people expected to be around during the time of vigil and wake. Not only the direct
relatives and friends, almost the whole community is welcomed to join the bereaved family
during their process of working out their last respect to the dead. people come for the wake
and also for the burial and they have to be hosted and be fed as well. This explains, why we
butcher numerous animals.

- In the day of burial as set in minimum of three pigs has to be butchered .the pigs should
be of the native variety or at least dark hair.

-ATANG - is a symbolic plate or basket of food for the spirits of our ancestors. Before food
is being served to all the mourners and guests, an ATANG is set aside in corner for the spirits.
And in every time of new bottle of gin, a jar of new rice-wine has to be opened for the
community to be drunk, the first drops or a glass of wine has to be offered to the spirits
(symbolize by saying prayers to them). At the same time they drop milliliter of gin on the
ground and say some prayers ("to you spirits who have gathered here...this is the gin for you,
let us drink and make sure that we all get drunk in peace!!!")

- BAYYA-O - is a sort of Eulogy in form of singing. (The person usually doing the Bayya-o
relates some stories how the person was in his life- the they knew him/her. A person
performing the bayya-o starts singing story about the dead person and after some stanzas all
those gathered make a chorus with him.

- THE BURIAL DAY- the day of burial, usually a set of three pigs has to be butchered- a male,
a mother and a normal size pig. Some family butchered more- it depends on how many guest
are expected. Butchering is performed just after sunrise. After the animals are butchered, the
towns elder is summoned to say some prayers, which could be praise like this addressing the
spirit of the dead body:( here is your pig, you can go now- you ride on this pig to go and join the
spirits of our ancestors and to you our ancestor hopefully this tragedy is enough, guide us and
keep us away from any danger.)

- HINGOT - the betrothal ritual which

- AMUNG - a sacrificial ritual wherein the gods and the family's ancestors are asked to
make the body healthy, the mother well and strong, and the family wealthy.

-UYA-UY - a ritual of feasting; HAGABI - a ritual of those aspiring to attain the rank of the
real "kadangayan".

- KETEMA - a ritual intended to identify the spirit who caused a certain sickness.

- AYAG - a ritual performed to identify the evil spirits who caused an illness.

- KOLOT - ritual for the first cutting of child's hair.

- IKADAYA-AN -sky world/heaven.

- IGOROTS - they are the people with a complex system of beliefs, living simple lives to
appear their gods.

- CAÑAO -offered for various purposes to celebrate as a religious and as part of funeral
rite and to secure healing.

Clothing:

This attire is used by the tribes in Mountain Province of the Cordillera ranges, called
Igorots. They have their own unique costume that makes them distinctive from other tribes in
the Philippines. Igorot costume is very simple. The men wear long strips of handwoven loin
cloth called “wanes”. The woman wear a kind of wrap-around skirt called “lufid".

The Belief System:

The two main ethnic tribes, ''kankana-ey'' and ''ibaloy'' are not far apart in their belief
system, except that they are dissimilar in linguistics. Their belief system is common to both with
little deviation in methods of performance but do not change the intent and purposes.

The Benguet people believe in the existence of unseen beings that emanate from the
Skyworld and the underworld. That these unseen beings are called spirits thought to have
power over man. It is further believed that these unseen beings (spirits) can be manipulated by
man to his advantage. With this belief, the people strive to win the favor of the spirits using
prayers and material offerings in a ritual.

This belief resulted to a belief system from which customs, traditions and taboos are
establish. Through the centuries, the people had adopted this system as part of their life ways
and thought ways. Although this belief system is unwritten, it was preserved by the native
priest in the form of ritual prayers, which was passed from one generation to another until this
day.

* The pagan worship referred to the natives of Benguet by western writers does not find
relevance in the belief system of both Kankana-ey and Ibaloy of Benguet. In fact, it has been a
taboo for both tribes to have images in their homes for purposes of worship, except for the love
of art. Hence, to understand Western concepts, the worship of idols, images, temples and
sacred places are flatly paganism and the worshippers are called pagans. *

The belief system of both people shows that above all the gods and goddesses (Kabana)
there is the ADI-KAILA or MENGO- SOSCHUNG, the most high. In this faith evolved a system of
appeasing the malevolent unseen and appreciating the benevolent unseen. The malevolent
unseen are the ones preying on the lives of men, women and children like robbers or
kidnappers for ransom. And if not appeased, they harm their victims by inflicting sickness, injury
or finish them to death. Parallel to the malevolent is the benevolent unseen who is thought to
be the supreme one who gave man the power to counteract the malevolent in the form of
rituals. The rituals are classified as to offensive, defensive and appreciative natures.

Political System:

The kalinga people of the cordillera region in Luzon they wrote a political institution of inter
village or inter regional conflicts. In, English the term translate into a "peace pact" which in
practice defines the behaviour of the two neighboring village population while members of
each are on the territory of the other. The peace pact holder which are the host of the village
are responsible for making sure that the boundaries are properly policed so that no one is killed
or seriously injured within their territory.

In ifugao ,ifugao employ different means of conflict resolution depending on the nature of
the conflict. Generally, this group has an institution of a "go between" named the monkulun to
carry negotiation, this prestige, high "facea and wisdom as perceived by the community.
Another cause of conflict among the ifugao is muyang an untitled slope covered mainly with
timber of fruit trees ,climbing rattan,bamboo palm,and other natural negotiator. If a person
caught stealing from a muyang he/she must go before the tribal elders to be severely
reprimanded. They are required to compensate the owner of the muyang for that lass . if there
is a second offense the owner can demand restitution through a third party negotiator, a third
offense indicates that the preparatory may lack appropriate respect for the owners and elders
and so the issue could end the violence.

Languages:

Igorots reside in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) it has the most diversified
dialects among the region of the Philippines each province has at least 2languages, but most
speak ilocano.

Here are the breakdown of languages spoken in each province in the cordillera administrative
region, some of languages also have their different variatios:

Abra:(itneg,adasen,mabaka valley kalinga,northern kankanaey)

Apayao:(isnag,adasen,limos kalinga and mabaka valley kalinga)

Benguet:(kankanaey,kankanaey proper,ibaloi,western kalanguya)

Ifugao:(ifugao,western kalanguya)

Kalinga:(balangao,kalinga,masadiit itneg)
Mt.province:(bontoc,majukayang kalinga,northern kankanaey)

References:

http://amerigorot.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-siwsiwan-fabric.html

http://mountainprovince.net/Bontoc

http://www.Gutenberg.org/files/3308/3308-in/3308-in htm

http://an.wikipedia.org/wiki/igorot people

Treasury of Beliefs and Home Rituals of Benguet by W, Sacla, 1987

https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/joannebuenafemilladas/mapeh-7-arts-first-quarter