Origin of the Kalinga Axe

[Nonoy Tan]

Agreed. I sent you an email.

Nonoy

[Tim Simmons]

What book do all these great pictures and info come from? I need a copy.

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

What book do all these great pictures and info come from? I need a copy.

Hi Tim,

The book is Tribal Splendor (1995), by Ramon Zaragoza. Unfortunately, they only published 300 copies.

I got my copy just the other day, after discovering that a Manila "thrift shop" was selling one at eBay-Philippines.

Earlier, I tried searching the book in Usedbooksearch.com, but it was negative.

[migueldiaz]

Some more early-1900s observations on the Cordillera battle axe --

From The Head Hunters of Northern Luzon, by Lt. Col.
Cornélis De Witt Willcox (USMA):

"[In Bontok] Of weapons there was almost none visible, no shields or spears, but here and there a head-ax.

"[In between Bontok and Kalinga] ... were met by Mr. Hale, the Governor, with two warriors, tall and slender, broad of chest and thin of flank, with red and yellow gee-strings, tufts of brilliant feathers in their hair, and highly polished head-axes on their hips.

"[In Kalinga] ... we saw a man coming towards us accompanied by thirty or forty boys not more than ten or eleven years of age, all gee-stringed, and eight of them carrying head-axes on their hips.

[Nonoy, please take note. It really looks like there is a children's version of the head axe? Quite interesting.]

"[Still in Kalinga] But the finest thing of all was the head-ax, a beautiful and cruel-looking weapon, the head having on one side an edge curving back toward the shaft, and on the other a point. To keep the weapon from slipping out of the hand, a stud is left in the hard wood shaft, about two-thirds of the way from the head, the shaft itself being protected by a steel sheathing half way down; the remainder being ornamented with decorative brass plates and strips, and the end shod in a ferrule of silver. The top of the ax is not straight, but curved, both edge and point taking, as it were, their origin in this curve; the edge is formed by a double chamfer, the ax-blade being of uniform thickness. All together, this weapon is perhaps more original and characteristic than any other native to the Philippine Archipelago."

I think Col. Willcox's last sentence in the previous paragraph is pregnant with meaning.

Hopefully, we can later on definitively establish that the Cordillera axe is indeed the truly original ethnic Filipino weapon-and-tool.

[migueldiaz]

Here's some more early-1900s impressions on the Cordillera battle axe. This time we go back to Albert Jenks' The Bontoc Igorot --

The mystery of the bad haircut finally explained

"The hair of the head is black, straight, coarse, and relatively abundant ... [t]he front is 'banged' low and square across the forehead, cut with the battle-ax ..."

Can be used to groom facial hair, too:

"The scanty growth of hair on the face of the Bontoc man is pulled out. A small pebble and the thumb nail or the blade of the battle-ax and the bulb of the thumb are frequently used as forceps ..."

The men used the battle axe in the kitchen as well:

"Its [the chicken's] legs were severed from the body with the battle-ax and put in the pot. From its front it was then cut through its ribs with one gash."

The axe is considered as one of the man's treasured possessions:

"With the men are buried, besides the things interred with the married men, the basket-work hat, the basket-work sleeping hat, the spear, the battle-ax, and the earrings if any are possessed."

The axe is even used for branding:

"These eastern horses are not used by the Igorot except for food, and no property right is recognized in them, though the Igorot brands them with a battle-ax brand."

Here's one unexpected and amusing use!:

"The foreskin is cut lengthwise on the upper side for half an inch. Either a sharp, blade-like piece of bamboo is inserted in the foreskin which is cut from the inside, or the back point of a battle-ax is stuck firmly in the earth, and the foreskin is cut by being drawn over the sharp point of the blade."

Even on crime and punishment it figures:

"There is an egg test said to be the surest one of all. A battle-ax blade is held at an angle of about 60 degrees, and an egg is placed at the top in a position to slide down. Just before the egg is freed from the hand the question is asked 'Is Liod (the name of the man under trial) guilty?' If the egg slides down the blade to the bottom the man named is innocent but if it sticks on the ax he is guilty."

A battle axe is sometimes a common property:

"Through inheritance two or more people become joint owners of single carabao, and of small herds which they prefer to own in common, pending such an increase that the herd may be divided equally without slaughtering an animal. Until recent years two, three, and even four or five men jointly owned one battle-ax."

Finally, a brief historical sketch:

"The feeling of friendship between the Igorot and insurrectos [Filipino nationalists] was so strong that when the insurrectos asked the Igorot to go to Manila to fight the new enemy (the Americans), 400 warriors, armed only with spear, battle-ax, and shield, went a three weeks’ journey to get American heads. At Caloocan, just outside Manila, they met the American Army early in February, 1899. They threw their spears, the Americans fired their guns—“which must be brothers to the thunder,” the Igorot said—and they let fall their remaining weapons, and, panic stricken, started home. All but thirteen arrived in safety. They are not ashamed of their defeat and retreat; they made a mistake when they went to fight the Americans, and they were quick to see it. They are largely blessed with the saving sense of humor, and some of the warriors who were at Caloocan [now northern Metro Manila] have been known to say that they never stopped running [i.e., 300 km or 200 miles] until they arrived home."

So, it looks like the axe aside from being a weapon is the ethnic upland Filipinos' Swiss knife as well.

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by migueldiaz

... Finally, a brief historical sketch:

"The feeling of friendship between the Igorot and insurrectos [Filipino nationalists] was so strong that when the insurrectos asked the Igorot to go to Manila to fight the new enemy (the Americans), 400 warriors, armed only with spear, battle-ax, and shield, went a three weeks’ journey to get American heads. At Caloocan, just outside Manila, they met the American Army early in February, 1899. They threw their spears, the Americans fired their guns—“which must be brothers to the thunder,” the Igorot said—and they let fall their remaining weapons, and, panic stricken, started home. All but thirteen arrived in safety. They are not ashamed of their defeat and retreat; they made a mistake when they went to fight the Americans, and they were quick to see it. They are largely blessed with the saving sense of humor, and some of the warriors who were at Caloocan [now northern Metro Manila] have been known to say that they never stopped running [i.e., 300 km or 200 miles] until they arrived home."

Am happy to find out that somebody (GW Peters, in 1899) immortalized the fate of those Igorot warriors.

The painting below is entitled "With the Insurgents in the Philippines - A company of Igorrote spearmen drilling in Caloocan, 1899". Saw it in the book, The Philippines in the 19th Century by Rudolf Lietz.

Note the head-axes being held on the hand holding also the shields. And the Igorot leader in front is depicted as bearing an Ilocano Katipunan dagger (the Ilocos provinces are right beside the Cordillera, hence this is very plausible).

[Tim Simmons]

Great stuff.

[Nonoy Tan]

Hi Vandoo,

Nice Binaroy. It is indeed from the Isneg of Apayao (Northern Luzon).

I think however that there is more research needed to confirm the "Aliwa".

Nonoy