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THE PEOPLE OF KALINGA
Kalinga is both a tribal group and a landlocked county in the Philippines, located in northern Luzon's Cordillera Administrative Region. The Kalinga people reside in a serene environment of rice terraces and the white water rapids of Chico River, which were preserved due their heightened sense of tribal unity and were never conquered by Spanish colonists during their 300-year reign in the country. When it comes to rituals and ceremonies, Kalinga is one of the six Cordillera provinces that still maintain ancient traditions of life.
The term "Kalinga" means "headhunter" or "warrior" which was inspired from the traditional conflict resolution methods they performed including headhunting. In the 1970s, the Kalinga halted headhunting due to the efforts of the Church and the government. The name Kalinga has persisted with the mountain inhabitants who today occupy the region of Kalinga Province.
Art
Dance and movements
The Kalinga have a rich cultural heritage that includes song, dancing, and artisan work. Marriages, fiestas, peace treaty observances, and rites of passage are among occasions when the Kalinga people perform music. The dances listed below are a few of the Kalinga dances.
Gayang Gayang
Birds soaring over rice-growing areas and mountains in Kalinga are portrayed.
Manbuka
It shows how the villagers gather and develop their source of livelihood which is the rich rice terraces.
Kalasag
The warrior shield of Kalinga is called the Kalasag, which is then represented in dances to showcase their might in defending their society.
Bodong
Pagta is a peace covenant signed by Kalinga elders or Pangat.
Segseg
A ceremonial dance performed to drive away evil spirits and brighten emotions at the start of any celebration, such as a fiesta, wedding, or other event.
Chalichog
This is a rice terrace dance, often known as stamping.
Salip
Courtship dance in Kalinga.
Banga
After getting water, the women balance the banga or pots on their heads.
Musical Instruments
Bamboo is utilized to make traditional Kalinga instruments as it is closely linked to the nature and music. Their musical system is heavily dependent on tuning and pitch monitoring being relatively adjustable. The length of the bamboo tubes used for instruments varies, as the portrayal of pitch is strongly dependent on their length.
Tattoo
Kalinga people lived simple but passionate lives in a society where their skin conveyed their social position to the local community. Tattoos in Kalinga are inspired by daily necessities such as rice terraces, ladders, and centipedes. Although the location of designs on women can indicate their social position, individual female tattoos are not known to have significant cultural value. The tattoos of males, on the other hand, are designed to be symbolic, since certain themes are reserved for men in order to symbolize their courage, victories, and the number of people they have slain.
The tattoo tools themselves are created out of bamboo with razor thorns. Long strands of straight grass are dipped in a combination of charcoal and water to mark the design onto the skin. The thorn tip is then immersed in the charcoal solution before being firmly tapped into the pattern on the skin by hand.
Apo Whang-Od is a world-renowned tattoo artist that is considered to be the sole remaining traditional mambabatok or tattoo artist of the region. She now shares her hand tapping method and tribal themes with her 13-year-old granddaughter and apprentice, despite being in her nineties.
Kalinga Tattoo
Kalinga Tattoo
Whang Od: The Kalinga Tattoo maker
Kalinga Culture: Tribal Tattoos and Traditions
Folklore
Kalinga people believe in the ngilin, a malicious water ghost that takes the guise of a human pigmy and stops women from conceiving as well as preying on babies. The alan or kotmo, huge ghouls who feed on corpses, are also feared.
Religion
The Kalinga acknowledge a creator god, Kaboniyan, but only summon him in severe and abrupt crises, such as an accidental death or a storm that destroys the rice production. They take the good will of the mandodwa (benevolent spirits) for granted and concentrate their prayers and sacrifices on pleasing evil spirits who, if not appeased, will wreak havoc on people by seizing their souls. Kalinga must also honor sangasang, the local guardian spirit that lives in a podayan shelter that houses holy bayogstones.
Formerly, male priests led at headhunting rites, but now female mediums called mangalisig in southern Kalinga and mandadawakor manganito in northern Kalinga are more important, conducting ceremonies for cure, communal welfare, and the life-cycle. In the 1990s, Christian conversion, primarily to Catholicism, remained limited because of the formidable geographical barriers to missionary penetration.
Language
Kalinga is more closely related to Tinggian, Isneg, Gaddang, Ibanag, and Ilocano than to Bontok, Kankanai, and Ifugao, and speaks mutually intelligible varieties of the same Austronesian language. To resolve tribal disagreements, they continue to impose "bodong," or peace pacts, among the sub-tribes.
Living Conditions
In the north, Kalinga people reside in hamlets of 6–30 homes, whereas in the south, they inhabit hamlets of over 200. Wood-plank or bamboo-plaiting homes are built on piles, have thatched grass or reed roofs, and are accessible by stairs or a ladder. The north has a rectangle or square floor layout, whereas the south has an octagonal floor plan with a single chamber. Split-bamboo mats are laid over a grating of narrow beams in more traditional dwellings, and the mats are removed and washed in a creek every two or three days.
Clothing
Traditional male clothing in Northern Kalinga consists of a G-string with beads or buttons, a short jacket with beads and tassels, a tube sarong worn over one shoulder, a turban with blossoms and feathers stuck in it, earplugs, an agate-bead choker, and an ornamental betel-bag made of brightly colored textiles. Sarongs, shirts, agate-bead necklaces, brass and mother-of-pearl earrings, and long hair are among the traditional outfits worn by women (augmented with switches of hair from departed or living relatives). Northern Kalinga men today wear lowland-style pants and cut-offs with or without an old shirt, and northern Kalinga women wear cotton dresses. In the south, traditional clothing is still popular, with subdued colors and few embellishments.
Education
During the years of colonization, the Americans shared sanitation practices and schools, and literate Kalinga were soon able to take local administrative positions previously held by lowland Filipinos; their desire for individual distinction inclined them to active engagement in Filipino politics.
Occupations
Even though some Kalinga obtain sufficient modern education to become teachers, municipal employees, or office workers in Baguio or Manila, the majority of Kalinga remain farmers.