IBALOI: Life & Culture

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IBALOI: the friendly and hardworking people

the SETTING

Benguet Province, more particularly in the municipalities of Kabayan, Bokod, Sablan, Tublay, La Trinidad, Tuba, Itogon, Southern Kapangan and Atok.

Rich in:

Mt. Pulag

A place where their spirits go to and rejoin their ancestors

Baguio City

Most sought after mineral resources and where an e4xport processing zone and tourist park also displaced hundreds of Ibaloi families

the PEOPLE

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Ibaloi

“people from baloy”, a village in Itogon near the Agno river between Dalupirip and Ambuklao (Billist & Lambrecht, 1970)

Ibaloi language/ Inibaloy (Inibaloi)/ Nabaloi

dialect, “language of strangers” (Tavera, 1905)

belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages family.

It has Pangasinan and Ilokano elements (Scheerer, 1905)

The phonemes are similar to those found in other Philippine languages with a few exceptions.

Many variants of the Ibaloi tongue have naturally occurring /f/, /dʒ/ and /v/e.g. sifa (interrogative who)

ibjag (to lose one's grip /to let go) divit (a traditional wrap-around skirt)

/ʃ/ is also commonly heard in the La Trinidad valley and nearby areas

e.g. shima (a particle usually equivalent to the prepositions in, on, or to depending on the sentence construction)

Originated :

• Lingayen & Ilocos coast- Followed the rivers

• Mythology -couple in Mt. Pulag who survived the great flood

• Hospitable• Generous

• Honest• Hardworking

• Sense of humor

KINSHIP

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The Family and Kinship Group

Structured according to three general divisions of their society (Pungayan, 1980)

rich (baknang)Averagepoor (abitug)

poor (abitug)

Nuclear family however grows into an extended household (elementary/stem family) with the addition of a widowed parent or a grand parent of one of the spouses

Residence pattern is predominantly virilocal in that the bride is required to live with her husband’s people; but it can also be neolocal as newly weds are permitted to live in a new house

rich (baknang)Joint family composed of 4 or more families of procreation with a common residence.

Each of the nuclear families lives in their separate houses but all the activities of general nature such as pounding rice, receiving visitors and the like are confined in the biggest house, the smaller house being used by the families for private purpose (Pungayan, 1980)

Rich family is composed of from 15-18 individuals including the slaves and servants who live in their master’s home.

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Rich-turned

Rich’s family branch

Poor-turned

Father, wife and children, and family of one of his married children

Father, mother and unmarried children plus one widowed parent or grandparent of the husband

Nuclear family and the addition of a parent of either spouse

LineageKinship is reckoned equally through the lives of both parents.

It is bilateral and based on consanguinity and the Ibaloy household is inextricably linked with relatives

Social Stratification

• Wealthy (baknang)

• Poor (abitug)

- Pastol - Silbi- Bagaen

Society of two classes:

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Wealthy

Exercise authority in almost all aspect of the social, political and economic life

Host to cañao feast

Sit in the village council decide on important matters affecting the village

Bagaen

Pastol (cowhand)

Silbi (farmhand)

Non-Ibaloy slave

Take care domesticated animals and assists in the preparation of cañao

Help in tilling the wealthy man’s land- Fencing the fields- Delivering of

message- Doing other tasks as

required

Life cycle

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Childbirth

Give birth at home attended by hilot (older sister or women neigbors)

The umbilical cord is cut with a sharp split bamboo

Infant bath in cold water and wrapped in the mother’s clothes or blanket

The placenta is buried where the water flows from the eaves

The child will grow fast and teething is early if the placenta is not buried deep

Childhood

Freedom to socialize with other member of his age group

Infant carried along in a blanket (eban)

Left in the house under the care of older sibling

If the child can walk, he tags along with other, enjoy going to the mountain, climbing tress and gathering wild fruits child plays tops (bagwet)

Introduced various households and field tasks

Marriage

Contract marriage

Rich families to preserve their wealth and prestige

Patch up differences and misunderstanding from boundary dispute

Matchmaker or go-between (mengalun) - “undressing them or locking them both in a room or in the granary”

Kalun (pamamanhikan)

wedding

Depend on the capacity of both parties to butcher animal and prepare food to feed the guests

Groom’s parents

Bride’s parentspigs and other animals to

be butchered Tafey, camote, and gabi

Ceremony is held at the woman’s residence officiated by native priest (mambunong)

Ngilin (restriction) – three days refrain sexual intercourse and other activities

emes and uwang – the couple wet their forehead and knees in a nearby river

live with the parent’s bride for few weeks and perform teteg

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Death and Burial

Woman

Men

Bring bundles of rice and pound them

Cut bamboo poles for the death chair (saral)Gather tree bark to use for lashing or tying the poles together

• The corpse is bathed, clothed and set up on the death chair• Put in a crude coffin made of planks of wood

Women MenFacing east (cooking hearth)

Facing west (lowlands where wealthy Ibaloy go to trade)

Death and Burial (cont.) Shilus ni minatay or silis “to equip the dead one with the necessry animals, clothing, money and other accessories to begin life with other spirits (kedaring) ”

Material CULTURE

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The Mummification ProcessSaltwater into the mouth of the deceased prevent decomposition of the internal organs

Bathed in cold water and tied to the death chair, stays for some days

Skin is peeled, washed with cold water, covered with a blanket and tied back to the death chair

Regularly applying the juice of pounded guava and patani leaves to the drying corpse

Hastened by smoking

Houses and Household Implements

Near their farms and fields

About five feet from the ground

Wooden floor and wall (baknang)Bark bamboo floor and wall, roof cogon grass (poor)

House yard fenced in to prevent marauding animals

Kitchen utensils

Cooper pot (kambang)Frying pan (paljok)

Wooden food tray with two compartments

(shuyu)Wooden dipper

(sakdong)Wooden spoon (akdo)

In the corner of the house are found a clothesline, blankets, mats, pillows and sometimes wooden chest (kahon)

Low dining table (dulang) set in the middle of the roomAfter, lean against the wall, and the center space is used for sleeping

Weapons and Implements

Spear (kayang)Sheild (kalasan)Bow and arrow

(bekang & pana)War club (papa)

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Carrying Implements

Kayabang

Posihong or pasekeng

Pounding Materials

Round mortal (dohshong)Pestles (al –o or bayu)

Musical Instruments• Jew`s Harp (kodeng) –placed between the player`s open

lips.

• Nose Flute (kulesheng)-a small bamboo tube with three

holes.

• Kalsheng or kambitong – a lilting sound is produced

when the wires are strummed and a flat sound is produced when

the wires are plucked.

• Pakkung – made of slender bamboo about three fourths of a

yard long.

-produces a dull haunting sound when struck against

the palm of the hand.

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• Palkong- made of smoothened bamboo about a foot long

and cut in the middle with about half a foot left uncut to serve

as handle.

Solibao and the kimbal

Gangsa

Kalsa and pinsak

Palas or tiktik –two small steel bars

-To the Ibaloys, these instruments are considered sacred and at no instance should they be played just by anybody for no valid reason at all.-These instruments are played only during feasts or rituals.-The sound of the drums and gongs is an indication of a public announcement that a canao or a feast is going on.-Tradition requires that the performer or host must butcher atleast a small pig (butbutog)during the canao.

Clothes and Ornaments

g-string or the kuval -For men -a piece of cloth about two and a half to thre meters long wrapped around the waist.

Pangjet or binatjek -dark blue g-string used by old men or the dead.

Kulibao kuval -the white one and is the one most used now.

-one with narrow borders for old men;or -one with yellow borders for young men.

Blankets:

Kolebao dja oles –white blanketKulabaw or alashang –a blanket

with dark blue design and is usually for the wealthy ones.

 Other blankets are:

Pinagpagan and pindak shindi –representative of men,snakes,shields,eyes and other geometric figures.

Women wear the blouse(kambal)and the tapis or wrap-around skirt (aten or divet)

Donas –the belt used to hold the tapis in place.

The tapis is generally worn by women displaying its broad horizontal bands of different colors: white and dark blue or red while appear more or less broad patches of white, checkered or cross-barred with bands and stripes of various colors: red, dark-blue, and yellow, etc.

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Ornaments Shikang -gold-plated covers for teeth Batding –copper leglets for males Karing –copper bracelets Tabing –ear pendants for women

* Some women wear necklaces out of obukay and takdian seeds taken from a plant similar to a reed(runo).

* The rich wear the obukay snd the takdian type of necklace generally worn during occasions like canaos and other grand community activities.

* Children wear necklaces made out of bangangaw.

Traditional Washing Materials Degdeg or duvas -women`s native shampoo Kalet or defay –for washing

Songs and Dances Tayaw –danced during the canao with a pair of

dancers. Manedjaw –male dancer Meneshung –femal e dancer

During the tayaw,rice wine or rice beer (Tafey) is offered to the dancers and tp those playing the instruments.

Datok –prayer in the form of a wish may be said aloud to the dancers.

Variation of the tayaw:

Binukawan –female dancers and male dancers meet at a point and then turn to follow behind the male dancer.

Kehdaring –part of ritual performed to honor a dead ancestor.

Bindiyan –Ibaloy victory war dance -at present in Kabayan, perform this dance in celebration and anticipation of a bountiful harvest.

Badiw –a song where a performer may express his thoughts and sentiments by chanting. -expresses thanksgiving to the gods,to the ancestral spirits(amed),to Kavunian.

Kali –ritual performed in honor of the dead relative.

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Village Leadership

- proto-democratic

-leadership is vested on the backnang

-village chief is differentiated mainly by the "more bones of animals in his feast, more clothes and greater age"

-ibaloy chiefs maintain alliances with chiefs of other villages

Tattoing –The color of the tattoo,usually,blue,is the effect of the application of juice of a wild plant or a hen`s excrement mixed with thick soot.The sharp instrument used in tattooing is either the thorn of a lemon or orange tree. Raincapes (Kalapjaw) Hat (Salakot)

Dispute settlement

-issues affecting the community is discussed and settled in the village council-gathering (tongtong) is restricted to the wealthy members of the village

2 ways of settling dispute: 1. Kelat2. Telpa

Custom laws

-are unwritten and based mainly on customs and traditions

Ex: divorce is allowed on ground of adultery on the part of the woman, bareness or childlessness, and laziness of either the husband or wife

Religious beliefs and

Rituals

-religion is of polytheism and animism-do not worship any god in the form of statues and carvings

Spirits and deity

2 kind of anitos are known for the ibaloys - the nature spirits - the ancestral spirits (ka-apuan)

Nature spirits:

1. Amdag –spirits that travel with the wind

2. Ampasit –spirits that dwell in caves

3. Tinmongao –spirits that lives in caves,

stones, and trees

4. Pinad-eng - spirits that live in the forest

5. Butat-tew- spirits that misguides people

Rites and rituals

- ritual necessitate the butchering of appropriate sacrificial animals, drinking of tafey, and the chanting of appropriate prayers by the mambunong is never absent in the ceremonies.

Ibaloy rituals are classified into 3:

1. For the purpose of curing illness caused by spirits:A. AmpasitB. DosadC. Sikop or sigopD. KolosE. Sibisib

2. Ceremonies for specific events, like:A. DasadasB. BegnasC. AmlogD. Basal-langE. Sabosab

3. Ceremonies related to offering for spirits and deities, like:A. PodadB. TawalC. LawitD. TomoE. Topya

WINTERTemplate• Ibaloys are famers

• Rice is the main crop of Kabayan

kintoman- the red varietyThe Kintoman rice comes in different kinds

Balatin-naw, the shaya-ut and the putaw. It is planted during tiya-kow

Two varieties of rice:

The variety of rice that the Ibaloy planted during the next planting season is the talon- a white lowland type of rice, is planted during the rainy season (sibid-o).

• Sabdangan or bunubunan ni paguey this are the prepared plowed and harrowed seedbeds.

• Bin-i the palay seeds.• The dangdang or the leaning of the grass

made by women.

Materials used in harvesting rice were the shaho, pangawan. Pestle is used in pounding the riceBaguwan or tal-tagan the mortar were the rice is pounded

WINTERTemplateCommon activity of the Ibaloys is working in the uma or

kaingin.

In this uma the people are planting root crops, corn,

cowpeas, and bananas.

Root crops are planted to augment the rice produce.

Kuwen thinly sliced and sun dried camote which is pounded

into flour and cooked or steamed like cake.

Swidden Farming

Mining

Ibaloy in the gold-rich areas of Benguet are engaged in small scale mining.Their are two early methods in extracting gold which is the local mining or labon and placer mining.

Tools in separating gold from the ore and it is usually the work of women. Gai-dan or a large flat stone and alidan or small flat stone.Sabak or a wooden gold separator and dayasan or a water placed in a trough.

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The religious functionaries

Mambunong He presides in all the feast required the recitation Anyone can become a mambunong as long as he/she knows how to recite or do the precedures sufficiently to approach the deities and spirits for them to grant his intercessions.

• performs rituals reserved for special occasions.

• performs familiar ritual.• Mansip-ok are the ones who

determines the cause of illness using a pendulum like instrument that he hold close to his forehead mentioning the probable causes of illness. The mankutom are the ones who interprets

two classifications

pigs, cows, carabao, goats, and chickens. Molmol or big enough to be offered to Kavuniyan or to the spirit of dead ancestors. Pigs or kushol and cows or baha are raised for cañao purposes, and rarely are the pigs sold. The direm or kaltok or the black, spotted pigs please the spirits or anitos. Chicken or manok of the native variety are also raised in backyards. Kagahan is were the chickens lay their eggs and left to hatch. Chickens and roosters are sometimes sacrificed in some rituals. Babies are given chickens as gift or awil by visiting friends and relatives. Ducks or pato and goats or kal-sheng are raised on a limited scale. Cattle ranch is another industry among the higher income or wealthy Ibaloys. Estancia are the private-fenced ranch. Those with several cows or baha employ a cowboy or pastol to take care of the herd.

Livestock Raising

Mungenop or hunting was one of the chief means of livelihood among the early Ibaloy settlers in Imbose. They hunted wild deer or olsa, wild pigs or alimanok and big lizard or tilay found between big rocks.

Hunting

Tools in hunting were the spear or kayang, bow and arrow or pana for hunting. They also had trained hunting dogs and Ibaloys dug holes. Katif a bent bamboo or runu or stick to trapped birds.

Fishing Methods that the Ibaloys in catching fish were the bana-at and the akdeb to catch small fish. Most common kind of fish caught is the bonog and a small fish or jojo.

Fishing

Socio cultural change

The ibaloys are perhaps the most acculturated and modernized among the ethnolinguistic groups in Northern Luzon, due to early subjugating.

Caused by their long exposure to alien cultures and their proximity to Baguio city.

As early 1700’s, social structure and political life of the traditionally classes and proto-democratic ibaloy society. Cattle industry resulted to the creation of a wealthy and powerful baknang class who assumed leadership in the political and economic aspects of the community.

Moreover, a new concept of land ownership evolved with the cattle industry, called estancia or cattle ranch.

the cattle ranch were abolished or stopped.introduced the western land tenure systemabolishment of the customary system of the possession of the rights to the use of land that is based mainly on the principle of prior rights (primi occupantis).

Americans arrived

• collapse of baknang role in political, social and

economic system.

• Free education were availed by the bagaen and silbi

for them to move upward in the society.

The educated people became effective agents for the

introduction of government policies and programs that

dislocated the traditional roles of the baknang,

mambunong and the elders.

Schools and local government

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They also rejected their tradition in favor of the western culture.

The peshit were diminished and education became the new

source of power and wealth.

The local became all-pervasive catalyst of change as it became

the center of political activity tasked to enforce policies and

disposition of taxes, the enforcement of law (dinteg) and the

dissemination of these policies which were comprehensible only to

educated few.

Ibaloys became more exposed in the outside world, the

borrowed and adopted some of the western practices

which led to blending of cultures.

Youth playing traditional and western music and dances

during marriage ceremonies, a family going to mass but

offering prayers and sacrifices their dead seeking for

guidance and protection, and the language of the ibaloys

were fused with the western languages.