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Member
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 264
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Nonoy Tan
Hi Migueldiaz,
The story about Tingguians mixing the brain with wine may or may not be true. AFAIK, the possibility is not remote. However, I am yet to find witness accounts that could collaborate the story of Paul de la Gironiere. That I expect will not be easy to find, because the practice of ritual cannibalism have been held in secret from foreign visitors, who would therefore rely on hearse for their stories (e.g. Paul de la Gironiere). On the other hand, I have no doubt that ritual cannibalism existed in the Philippines.
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Hi Nonoy and Miguel, a year or so back I found this book online:
"The Tinguian - Social, Religious, and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe"
Author: Fay-Cooper Cole (Assistant Curator of Malayan Ethnology)
Published 1922
Fay-Cooper Cole documents their entire stay with the Tinguian tribe in Jan 1907 to June 1908(1.5 years). The book is extremely detailed and documents their warfare, headhunting, and ritual practices.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12849...-h/12849-h.htm
Excerpt from the chapter on "Warfare, Hunting, and Fishing"
Quote:
Head-hunting and warfare are practically synonymous. To-day both are suffering a rapid decline, and a head is seldom taken in the valley of the Abra. In the mountain district old feuds are still maintained, and sometimes lead to a killing, and here too the ancient funerary rites are still carried out in their entirety on rare occasions. However, this peaceful condition is not of long standing. In every village the older men tell with pride of their youthful exploits, of the raids they indulged in, the heads they captured; and they are still held in high esteem as men “who fought in the villages of their enemies.”
During the time of our stay in Abra, the villages of the Buklok valley were on bad terms with the people of the neighboring Ikmin valley, and were openly hostile to the Igorot on the eastern side of the mountain range. Manabo and Abang were likewise hostile to their Igorot neighbors, and the latter village was surrounded with a double bamboo stockade, to guard against a surprise attack. Manabo at this time anticipated trouble with the warriors of Balatok and Besao, as a result of their having killed six men from those towns. The victims had ostensibly come down to the Abra river to fish, but, judging by previous experience, the Tinguian believed them to be in search of heads, and acted accordingly. This feud is of old standing and appears to have grown out of a dispute over the hunting grounds on Mt. Posoey, the great peak which rises only a few miles from Manabo. There have been many clashes between the rival hunters, the most serious of which occurred in 1889, when the Tinguian had twenty-nine of their number killed, and lost twenty-five heads to the Igorot of Besao.
The people of Agsimo and Balantai suffered defeat in a raid carried on against Dagara in 1907, and at the time of our visit a number of the warriors still bore open wounds received in that fight. In the same year at least three unsuccessful attacks, probably by lone warriors, were made against individuals of Lagangilang, Likuan, and Lakub.
Accounts of earlier travelers offer undoubted proof that head-hunting was rampant a generation ago; while the folk-tales feature the taking of heads as one of the most important events in Tinguian life. Page 370
The first incentive for head-taking is in connection with funeral rites. According to ancient custom it was necessary, following the death of an adult, for the men of the village to go out on a headhunt, and until they had done so, the relatives of the deceased were barred from wearing good clothing, from taking part in any pastimes or festivals, and their food was of the poorest and meanest quality. To remove this ban, the warriors would don white head-bands, arm themselves, and sally forth either to attack a hostile village or to ambush an unsuspecting foe. Neighboring villages were, out of necessity, usually on good terms, but friendly relations seldom extended beyond the second or third settlement, a distance of ten or fifteen miles. Beyond these limits most of the people were considered enemies and subject to attack.
While such a raid was both justifiable and necessary to the village in which a death had occurred, it was considered an unprovoked attack by the raided settlement; a challenge and an insult which had to be avenged. Thus feuds were established, some of which ran through many years, and resulted in considerable loss of life. A town, which had lost to another a greater number of heads than they had secured, was in honor bound to even the score, and thus another cause for battle was furnished. The man who actually succeeded in taking a head was received with great acclaim upon his return to the village; he was the hero in the festival which followed, and thereafter was held in high esteem, and so another motive was furnished.1
There is an indication in the Saloko ceremony that heads may have been taken to cure headache and similar ills (cf. p. 319); while the presence of the head-basket, of the same name, in the fields suggests a possible connection between head-hunting and the rice culture, such as still exists among the neighboring Kalinga.2
The Tinguian do not now, and apparently never have practised human sacrifice, but this custom and head-hunting seem to be closely related, and to have as a primary cause the desire to furnish slaves or companions for the dead. This idea was found among the ancient Tagalog, Visayan, and Zambal, and still exists among the Apayao of Northern Luzon; the Bagobo, Mandaya, Bila-an, and Tagakaola of Page 371Mindanao; as well as in Borneo and the islands to the south.3 That it once had a strong hold on the Ilocano of the coast is made evident by the mysterious cult known as axibrong, which at times terrifies whole communities. In 1907 the region about Bangui, in Ilocos Norte, was greatly excited over several attempts to kill people of that settlement, and it was whispered that when a leading man, who had recently died, was placed in his coffin, his right hand had suddenly raised up with four fingers extended. This, it was said, was a demand on the part of the dead for four companions, and the subsequent attacks on the villagers were thought to be due to the activities of the bereaved family in complying with the wishes of the deceased.
The raids following a death were usually carried out as a village affair, and many warriors participated, but it seems that by far the greater number of heads were secured by individuals or couples, who would lie in ambush near to the trails, or to the places, where the women had to pass in carrying water from the streams to the village.
While the Tinguian always chose to attack from ambush, yet he did not hesitate to fight in the open when occasion demanded it. For a distance of fifteen or twenty feet he depended on his spear, but for close quarters he relied on his shield and head-axe. An examination of Plate XLIV will show that the shield has three prongs at the top. These the warrior seeks to slip between the legs of his enemy to trip him up, then one stroke downward with the axe, and the opponent is put out of the fight. The two lower prongs are meant to be slipped about the neck. One more stroke of the head-axe, and the victor takes his trophy and starts for home, while the relatives of the dead man seek to secure the remains to carry them back to their village. As the loss of a head reflects on the whole party, and in a like manner its acquisition adds distinction to the victors, a hot fight usually develops over a man who is stricken down, and only ceases when the enemy is beaten off, or has been successful in getting away with the trophy.
If a war party finds it necessary to make a night camp, or if they are hard pressed by the foe, they plant long, thin strips of bamboo or palma brava4 in the grass. The ends of these are cut to sharp points, and they are so cleverly concealed that pursuers must use great care, Page 372and consequently lose much time, or they will have their legs and feet pierced with these needle-like blades.
Upon their return to the village, the warriors were formerly met at the gate by their relatives, who held two ladders in A shape, thus forming a pathway over which each had to climb. Once inside the town, the heads were placed on a bamboo spike known as sagang (cf. p. 310), or in the saloko (cf. p. 310), and for three days were exhibited beside the gate. In the meantime messages were sent to friendly villages to invite the people to the celebration.
On the morning of the last day, the heads were carried up to the center of the village, where, amid great rejoicing, the men sang the praises of the victors or examined the skulls of the victims. Sometime during the morning, the men who had taken the heads split them open with their axes and removed the brains. To these they added the lobes of the ears and joints of the little fingers, and they placed the whole in the liquor which was afterwards served to the dancers. There seems to be no idea here of eating the brains of the slain as food. They are consumed solely to secure a part of their valor, an idea widespread among the tribes of Mindanao.5 The writer does not believe that any people of the Philippines indulges in cannibalism, if that term is used to signify the eating of human flesh as food. Several, like the Tinguian, have or still do eat a portion of the brain, the heart or liver of brave warriors, but always, it appears, with the idea of gaining the valor, or other desirable qualities of the victims.
The balance of the head festival consisted in the drinking of sugar cane rum, of songs of praise by the headmen, and finally all joined in dancing da-eng. Just before the guests were ready to depart, the skulls were broken into small bits, and the fragments were distributed to the guests so that they might taken them to their homes, and thus be reminded of the valor of the takers.6 This disposition of the skull agrees with that of many Apayao towns,7 but it does not conform with the description of ancient times afforded us in the tales,8 nor Page 373with the practices of the Kalinga and Igorot people, both of whom preserve the trophy.
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13th July 2009, 05:31 AM
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