The Tinguian and Ilocano Peoples--an ethnography based on the work of Cole

[Ian]

Over the past few months there has been much discussion on these pages of weapons attributable in style to the Ilocano people of northern and central Luzon. We have been uncertain about specific attributions because of the possible diffusion of styles among various cultural groups in the region. To better understand these people and their interactions, I have been reading some of the anthropological and ethnographic studies conducted in the early 20th C by U.S. researchers. A prominent author on the peoples of this region was Fay-Cooper Cole, a researcher and later a member of the curatorial staff at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. He went on to become Chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago.

Cole, accompanied by his wife who assisted with the research, undertook field studies in northern Luzon from January, 1907 to June, 1908. Their findings were published later, and the main work, The Tinguian: Social, Religious and Economic Life of a Philippine Tribe, appeared in 1922. Lengthy and detailed, this is considered a classic of ethnographic research. Additional publications focused on language, customs and folk lore.

The following is taken from the Introduction to the main work:

" ... I am under the impression that at one time this whole region was inhabited by pygmy blacks, known as Aeta or Negrito, small groups of whom still retain their identity. With the coming of an alien people they were pressed back from the coasts to the less hospitable regions of the interior, where they were, for the most part, exterminated, but they intermarried with the invaders to such an extent that to-day there is no tribe or group in northwestern Luzon but shows evidence of intermixture with them. I believe that the newcomers were drawn from the so-called primitive Malay peoples of southeastern Asia; that in their movement eastward and northward they met with and absorbed remnants of an earlier migration made up of a people closely related to the Polynesians, and that the results of this intermixture are still evident, not only in Luzon, but in every part of the Archipelago.

In northern Luzon, I hold, we find evidences of at least two series of waves and periods of migration, the members of which are similar physical type and language. It appears, however, that they came from somewhat different localities of southeastern Asia and had, in their old homes, developed social organizations and other elements of culture radically different from one another—institutions and groupings which they brought with them to the Philippines, and which they have maintained up to the present time.

To the first series belong the Igorot with their institutions of trial marriage; division of their settlements into social and political units known as ato; separate dormitories for unmarried men and women; government by the federated divisions of a village as represented by the old men; and a peculiar and characteristic type of dwelling.

In the second wave series we find the Apayao, the western division at least of the people known as Kalinga, the Tinguian, and Ilocano. In none of these groups do we find the institutions just mentioned. Trial unions are unknown, and marriage restrictions are based solely on blood relationship; government is through the headman aided by the elders of his village, or is a pure democracy. Considerable variation exists between the dwellings of these four peoples, yet they conform to a general type which is radically different from that of the Igorot.

The Apayao and Kalinga divisions of this second wave series, by reason of their environment, their more isolated localities and consequent lack of frequent communication with the coast, have a simpler culture than that of the Tinguian; yet they have, during many generations, developed certain traits and institutions now apparently peculiar to them. The Tinguian and Ilocano, on the other hand, have had the advantages of outside communication of extensive trade, and the admixture of a certain amount of foreign blood.

These last two groups evidently left their ancient home as a unit, at a time prior to the Hindu domination of Java and Sumatra, but probably not until the influence of that civilization had begun to make itself felt. Traces of Indian culture are still to be found in the language, folklore, religion, and economic life of this people, while the native script which the Spanish found in use among the Ilocano seems, without doubt, to owe its origin to that source.

After reaching Luzon, this people slowly broke up into groups which spread out over the provinces of Ilocos Sur and Norte, Union and Abra. The partial isolation of some of these divisions, local feuds, the universal custom of head-hunting, and the need of human victims to accompany the spirits of the dead, all doubtless aided in separating the tribe into a number of dialect groups—groups which nevertheless retained the old culture to a surprising degree.

Long before the arrival of the Spanish, Chinese and Japanese traders were visiting the Ilocos coasts. We are also informed that merchants from Macao and India went there from time to time, while trade relations with Pangasinan and the Tagalog provinces were well developed.

The leavening influence of trade and contact with other peoples resulted in such advancement that this people was early mentioned as one of the six “civilized” tribes of the Philippines.

Upon the arrival of Salcedo, the greater portion of the coast people accepted the rule of Spain and the Christian religion, while the more conservative element retired to the interior, and there became merged with the mountain people. To the Spaniards, the Christianized natives became known as Ilocano, while the people of the mountain valleys were called Tinguian, or mountain dwellers.

If the foregoing sketch is correct, as I believe the data which follow prove it to be, we find in the Tinguian of today a people living much the same sort of life as did the members of the more advanced groups at the time of the Spanish invasion, and we can study in them early Philippine society stripped of its European veneer...."

In one of the attachments to this post is a PDF file that contains the full Introduction to Cole's work and selected abstracted comments and figures concerning edged weapons and shields used by this group. Being mountain people, the Tinguian had adopted the head axe, spears and shields similar to the Igorot and Kalinga groups. However, their knives are much closer to the style of the Ilocano than the mountain groups.

The text drawings of the weapons are also shown below. In Figure 7 of Cole's publication, knife no. 5 is of the form we often call a tabak and attribute to the Ilocano, but which is also used by the Negrito where it seems to have been called a katana. This is known to be a fighting knife. The remaining knives are likely multipurpose, being tools that could be used for weapons. The hilts on these knives have full length tangs peined over at the end, and each seems to have a spiral wrap of twisted wire along the grip, with two short metal ferrules, one at each end. A curious feature on each of these knives is a small cut-out notch at the ricasso where, presumably, the forefinger would rest rather than slide down onto the sharpened edge. Such notches are not seen (at least not commonly) on Ilocano knives or the knives from other mountain dwelling groups. A notch at this point is sometimes found on Spanish colonial knives (e.g., Canary Islands knives), and has been noted also on some Visayan knives.

If you are interested in anthropology, Cole's work is a good read and very thorough. It is, however, nearly a hundred years since publication and more recent research may have negated some of his conclusions. If anyone has more recent information on ethnic groups of northern Luzon (with particular reference to weapons), please let me know.

The full text of Cole's paper can be found at the Gutenberg Project here.

Ian

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