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A Study in Tinguian Folk Lore

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A STUDY IN TINGUIAN FOLK-LORE

By

FAY-COOPER COLE



Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of Philosophy, Columbia University

Chicago

1915






A STUDY IN TINGUIAN FOLK-LORE

This paper is based on a collection of Philippine folk-tales recently
published by the Field Museum of Natural History. [1] The material
appearing in that publication was gathered by the writer during a
stay of sixteen months with the Tinguian, a powerful pagan tribe
inhabiting the mountain districts of Abra, Ilocos Sur, and Norte, of
Northern Luzon. In social organization, government, manner of house
building, and many other details of material culture this tribe differs
radically from the neighboring Igorot. Observation has also led me
to the conclusion that the religious organization and ceremonies of
this people have reached a higher development than is found among the
near-by tribes, and that this complexity decreases as we penetrate
toward the interior or to the south. In the main the folk-tales are
closely associated with the religious beliefs of the present day,
and hence it seems unlikely that they will be found, in anything
approaching their present form, far outside the districts dominated
by this tribe. Nevertheless, isolated incidents corresponding to those
of neighboring peoples, or even of distant lands, occur several times.

In the following pages an attempt has been made to bring together the
culture of this people, as it appears in the myths, and to contrast
it to present day conditions and beliefs. In this way we may hope to
gain a clearer insight into their mental life, and to secure a better
idea of the values they attach to certain of their activities than
is afforded us by actual observation or by direct inquiry. It is also
possible that the tales may give us a glimpse of the early conditions
under which this people developed, of their life and culture before
the advent of the European.

It should be noted at the outset that no attempt is here made to
reconstruct an actual historical period. As will appear later, a
part of the material is evidently very old; later introductions--to
which approximate dates may be assigned--have assumed places of great
importance; while the stories doubtless owe much to the creative
imaginations of successive story tellers.

For the purposes of our study, the tales have been roughly divided
into three parts. The first, which deals with the mythical period,
contains thirty-one tales of similar type in which the characters
are for the most part the same, although the last five tales do not
properly fit into the cycle, and the concluding story of Indayo is
evidently a recent account told in the form of the older relations.

In the second division are the ritualistic and explanatory myths,
the object of which seems to be to account for the origin of or way
of conducting various ceremonies; for the belief in certain spirits
and sacred objects; for the existence of the sun, moon, and other
natural phenomena; for the attainment of fire, food plants, birds
and domestic animals, as well as of magical jars and beads. Here it
should be noted that some of the most common and important beliefs
and ceremonies are, so far as is known, unaccompanied by any tales,
yet are known to all the population, and are preserved almost without
change from generation to generation.

Division three contains the ordinary stories with which parents amuse
their children or with which men and women while away the midday
hours as they lounge in the field houses, or when they, stop on the
trail to rest and smoke.

None of the folk-tales are considered as the property of the tellers,
but only those of the third division are well known to the people in
general. Those of the first section are seldom heard except during the
dry season when the people gather around bonfires in various parts of
the village. To these go the men and women, the latter to spin cotton,
the former to make fish nets or to repair their tools and weapons. In
such a gathering there are generally one or more persons who entertain
their fellows with these tales. Such a person is not paid for his
services, but the fact that he knows "the stories of the first times"
makes him a welcome addition to the company and gives him an enviable
position in the estimation of his fellows.

The purely ritualistic tales, called diams, are learned word by word
by the mediums, [2] as a part of their training for their positions,
and are only recited while an animal is being stroked with oil
preparatory to its being sacrificed, or when some other gift is about
to be presented to the superior beings. The writer has recorded these
diams from various mediums in widely separated towns and has found
them quite uniform in text and content. The explanatory tales were
likewise secured from the mediums, or from old men and women who
"know the customs." The stories of the last division are the most
frequently heard and, as already indicated, are told by all. It is
evident even to the casual reader that these show much more evidence
of outside influence than do the others; some, indeed, appear to have
been recently borrowed from the neighboring christianized Ilocano. [3]


TALES OF THE MYTHICAL PERIOD

Reconstruction of the Culture.--In the first division certain actors
occur with great frequency, while others always take the leading
parts. These latter appear under a variety of names, two or more
titles often being used for the same individual in a single tale. To
avoid confusion a list of the fourteen principal actors and their
relationships are given in the accompanying table. It will appear that
there are some conflicts in the use of names, but when it is realized
that the first twenty-six myths which make up the cycle proper were
secured from six story tellers coming from four different towns,
the agreement rather than the disagreement is surprising. As a matter
of fact there is quite as much variation between the accounts of the
same narrator as between those gathered from different towns.


TABLE OF LEADING CHARACTERS [4]

I. Aponitolau. Son of Pagatipánan [male] and Langa-an [female] [5]
of Kadalayapan; is the husband of Aponibolinayen. Appears under the
following names: (a) Ligi, (b) Albaga of Dalaga, (c) Dagdagalisit, (d)
Ingiwan or Kagkagákag, (e) Ini-init, (f) Ling-giwan, (g) Kadayadawan,
(h) Wadagan, (i) Awig (?)

II. Aponigawani. Sister of Aponitolau and wife of Aponibalagen.

III. Aponibolinayen. Daughter of Pagbokásan [6] [male] and Ebang
[female] of Kaodanan. Wife of Aponitolau. Appears as (a) Ayo, (b)
Dolimáman (?).

IV. Aponibalagen. Brother of Aponibolinayen, and husband of
Aponigawani; also appears as Awig.

V. Kanag. Son of Aponitolau and Aponibolinayen. Appears as (a)
Kanag kabagbagowan, (b) Balokanag, (c) Dumanau, (d) Ilwisan, (e)
also at times is identified with Dumalawi, his brother.

VI. Dapilisan, wife of Kanag.

VII. Dagoláyan. Son of Aponibalagen and Aponigawani. Also appears as
Dondonyán of Bagonan--the blood clot child.

VIII. Alokotán. An old woman who acts as a medium. Her home is at
Nagbotobotán, where the rivers empty their waters into the hole at
the edge of the world.

IX. Gawigawen [male]. A giant who owns the orange trees of Adasin.

X. Giambolan [male]. A ten-headed giant.

XI. Gaygayóma. A star maiden who marries Aponitolau. The daughter of
Bagbagak [male], a big star,--and Sinag [female], the moon--.

XII. Tabyayen. Son of Aponitolau and Gaygayóma. Half brother of Kanag.

XIII. Kabkabaga-an. A powerful female spirit who falls in love with
Aponitolau.

XIV. Asibowan. The maiden of Gegenáwan, who is related to the spirit
Kaboniyan. The mistress of Aponitolau.

In consequence of modern rationalism there is a tendency on the
part of a considerable number of the Tinguian to consider these
tales purely as stories and the characters as fictitious, but the
mass of the people hold them to be true and speak of the actors as
"the people who lived in the first times." For the present we shall
take their point of view and shall try to reconstruct the life in
"the first times" as it appears in the tales.

The principal actors live in Kadalayapan and Kaodanan, [7] towns
which our chief story teller--when trying to explain the desire of
Kanag to go down and get fruit--assures us were somewhere in the air,
above the earth (p. 141). [8] At other times these places are referred
to as Sudipan--the term by which spirits are supposed to call the
present earth--while the actors are referred to as Ipogau--the spirit
name for Tinguian. Whatever its location it was a place much like the
present home of this people. The sky, the chief abode of spirits and
celestial bodies, was above the land, and the heroes of the tales
are pictured as ascending to visit the upper realms. The trees,
plants, and animals were for the most part those known to-day. The
ocean appears to have been well known, while mention is made of some
places in Luzon, such as Dagopan and San Fernando in Pangasinan with
which the people of to-day are not at all familiar (p. 89, 168).

We learn that each village is situated near to a river or waterway
by the banks of which shallow wells are dug, and there we find the
women gathering under the shade of the trees, dipping up water to be
carried to their homes, washing and combing their hair, and taking
their baths (p. 48). They seldom go singly, for enemies are apt to
be near, and unless several are in the company it will be impossible
to spread the alarm and secure help in case of attack (p. 43).

Leading up from the spring to the village are bamboo poles on which
the heads of enemies are displayed (p. 43). In cases where the
warriors have been especially successful these trophies may surround
the whole settlement (p. 76). About the town is a defensive wall,
generally of bamboo, but in some cases made up entirely of gigantic
snakes (p. 43). Within this inclosure are many houses. The bamboo
floors are raised high above the ground, while the thatching is of
grass. Ladders lead up to little porches, from which doors open into
the dwellings. At least part of the houses have a cooking room in
addition to that used by the family, while structures containing a
ninth room are several times mentioned (pp. 43, 52, 85).

In one corner of the living room is a box containing blankets, above
which are pillows and mats used by members of the household and guests;
an iron caldron lies on the floor, while numerous Chinese jars stand
about. A hearth, made up of a bed of ashes in which stones are sunk,
is used for cooking. Above it is a bamboo food hanger, while near by
stand jars of water and various cooking pots. Food baskets, coconut
shell cups, and dishes, and a quantity of Chinese plates appear when
the meal is served, while the use of glass is not unknown. Cups of
gold, wonderful jars, and plates appear at times, but seem to be so
rare as to excite comment (pp. 33, 98, 102, 105).

Scattered through the village are numerous small buildings known as
balaua (p. 43), which are erected for the spirits during the greatest
of the ceremonies, and still inside the enclosure are the rice drying
plots and granaries, the latter raised high above the ground so as
to protect their contents from moisture (pp. 150).

About the town pigs and chickens roam at will, while half-starved
hunting dogs prowl about below the kitchens and fight for morsels
which drop from above (p. 99). Carabao are kept and used as food
(p. 101), but in the cycle proper no mention is made of using them as
work animals. [9] Game, especially deer and wild chickens, and fish
are added to the domestic supply of food (p. 80), but the staple
appears to be mountain rice. Beans, coconuts, oranzes, sugar cane,
betel-nuts, and tobacco are also cultivated (pp. 33, 107, 121, 138).

Clothing is scanty but nevertheless receives much attention. The
poorest of the men wear clouts of banana leaf, and the women, when in
danger of capture, don skirts of bark; but on most occasions we find
the man wearing a colored cotton clout, above which is a bright belt
of the same material, while for ceremonies he may add a short coat or
jacket. A headband, sometimes of gold, keeps his long hair in place,
and for very special events he may adorn each hair with a golden bead
(pp. 74, 76, 81)

The cotton skirts of the women reach from the waist to the knees;
the arms are covered with strands above strands of beads, while
strings of agate beads surround the neck or help to hold the hair in
place. To the real hair is often added a switch which appears to be
valued highly (p. 89). Ornaments of gold adorn the ears, and finger
rings of the same metal are several times mentioned (pp. 39, 43, 124).

The tales afford us a glimpse of the daily life. In the early morning
the chilly mountain air drives the people from their mats to the yard,
where they squat about the fires (p. 132). As it becomes light,
part of the women begin pounding out the rice from its straw and
husks (p. 144), while others depart for the springs to secure water
(p. 101). In planting time husband and wife trudge together to the
fields, where the man plants the seeds or cuttings, and his wife
assists by pouring on water (p. 107). In midday, unless it is the busy
season, the village activities are practically suspended, and we see
the balaua filled with men, asleep or lounging, while children may be
playing about with tops or disk-like lipi seeds (p. 139). As it becomes
cooler, the town again takes on life; in the houses the women weave
blankets or prepare food, the older women feed the chickens and pigs
(p. 93), while the workers from the fields, or hunters with their
dogs and game, add to the general din and excitement (p. 80). When
night comes on, if it be in the dry season, bonfires spring up in
different parts of the village, and about them the girls and women
gather to spin. Here also come the men and boys, to lounge and talk
(p. 117). A considerable portion of the man's time is taken up in
preparation for or actual participation in warfare (p. 74). We have
already seen that the constant danger of enemies makes it advisable
for the women to go in parties, even to the village spring. One tale
informs us of a girl who is left alone to guard the rice field and
is promptly killed by the alzado; [10] another states that "all the
tattooed Igorot are enemies" (pp. 43, 155, 161).

Revenge for the loss of relations or townspeople is a potent cause
of hostile raids; old feuds may be revived by taunts; but the chief
incentive appears to be the desire for renown, to be known as "a man
who goes to fight in the enemies' towns" (pp. 90, 59).

Warriors sometimes go in parties, sometimes alone, but generally in
couples (p. 67). At times they lie in ambush and kill young girls
who go for water, or old men and women who pass their hiding place
(p. 97). Again they go out boldly, armed with shield, spear, and
headaxe; they strike their shields as they go and announce their
presence to the enemy (p. 103). In five of the tales the heroes
challenge their opponents and then refuse to be the first to use their
weapons. It is only when their foes have tried in vain to injure them
that they enter the conflict. In such cases whole towns are wiped out
of existence and a great number of heads and a quantity of jars and
other booty is sent back to the towns of the victors (p. 104). Peace
is restored in one instance by the payment of a number of valuable jars
(p. 91).

Upon the return of a successful war party, the relatives meet them at
the gate of the town and compel them to climb the sangap; [11] then
invitations are sent out to friends and relatives in neighboring towns
to come and aid in the celebration of the victory (p. 140). When they
arrive at the entrance of the village they are met by the townspeople,
who offer them liquor and then conduct them to the houses where they
feast and dance to the music of gansas (p. 126). [12] Finally the
captured heads are stuck on the sagang [13] and are placed by the
gate, the spring, and, if sufficient in number, surround the town
(p. 140). Taking the heads of one's neighbors does not appear to
be common, yet cases are mentioned where visitors are treacherously
killed at a dance (pp. 78, 83).

The use of poison [14] is twice mentioned. In one case the victims
are killed by drinking liquor furnished by the father of the girl
about whose head they are dancing (pp. 148, 156).

Bamboo spears appear to be used, but we are explicitly told that
they fought with steel weapons, and there are frequent references to
head-axes, spears, and knives (pp. 65, 76, 120).

Marriage appears generally to be negotiated by the mother of the youth
at his suggestion (p. 128). At times both his parents go to the girl's
home, and after many preliminaries broach the subject of their mission
(p. 128). The girl's people discuss the proposition, and if they are
favorable they set a day for the pakálon--a celebration at which the
price to be paid for the bride is decided upon (p. 49). The parents
of the groom then return home after having left some small present,
such as a jar or an agate bead, as a sign of engagement (p. 128). [15]
The pakálon is held a few days later at the girl's home, and for
this event her people prepare a quantity of food (p. 72). On the
agreed day the close friends and relatives of both families will
assemble. Those who accompany the groom carry jars and pigs, either
in part payment for the bride, or to serve as food for the company
(pp. 72, 128). The first hours are spent in bargaining over the
price the girl should bring, but when this is settled a feast is
prepared, and then all indulge in dancing the tadek (p. 59). [16]
When the payment is made a portion is distributed among the girl's
relatives (pp. 72, 74), but her parents retain the greater part for
themselves. [17] The groom cannot yet claim his bride, although in
one case he is allowed to take her immediately after the pakálon by
making a special payment for the privilege (p. 74). A few nights later
the groom goes to the girl's home carrying with him an empty jar with
which he makes the final payment (p. 73). The customary rice ceremony
[18] follows and he is then entitled to his bride (p. 73). Should the
house or anything in it break at this time, it foretells misfortune
for the couple, hence precautions are taken lest such a sign should,
by accident, be given (p. 60).

In all but two cases mentioned the girl and her husband go to live
with his people. In the first instance their failure to do so raises a
protest; in the second, the girl's parents are of much more importance
than those of the groom, and this may explain their ability to retain
their daughter (pp. 138, 159).

When the bride reaches her future home, she sits on the bamboo floor
with her legs stretched out in front of her. The slats which she
covers are counted and a string of agate beads, equal in length to
the combined width of the slats, is given to her. She now becomes
a full member of the family and seems to be under the orders of her
mother-in-law (p. 60).

The tales give constant sanction for the marriage of near
relatives. Dumanau, we are told, marries his cousin, [19] while we
frequently meet with such statements as, "We are relatives and it is
good for us to be married," or "They saw that they were related and
that both possessed magical power, so they were married (p. 35)." It
appears that a man may live with his sweetheart and have children
by her, yet leave her, and, without reproach, marry another better
fitted to be his wife (p. 54). He may also accept payment for a wife
who has deserted him, apparently without loss of prestige (p. 64). No
objection seems to be raised to a man having two wives so long as
one of these is an inhabitant of the upper world (p. 111), but we
find Kanag telling his former sweetheart that he cannot marry her
since he is now married to another (p. 138). Again, when two women
lay claim to Aponitolau, as their husband, they undergo a test and
the loser returns to her former home (p. 94). However, this rule does
not prevent a man from having several concubines (p., 120). Gawigawen,
we are told, is accompanied to a pakálon by eighteen young girls who
are his concubines (p. 59).

Divorce is twice mentioned, but it seems to call out protest only
from the cast off wife (pp. 63, 149).

Closely associated with the celebration of a marriage seems to be a
ceremony known as Sayang, during the progress of which a number of
small structures--the largest known as balaua--are built. Judging by
their names and descriptions, we are justified in considering them
"spirit houses" as they are to-day.

The details of the extended Sayang ceremony are nowhere given, but
so much is made plain:--At its beginning many people pound rice,
for use in the offerings and for food, and da-eng [20] is danced
(p. 40). After the Libon [21] invitations are sent out, by means of
betel-nuts covered with gold, to those whose presence is especially
desired (p. 62). When the guests arrive at the village spring or
gate they are offered food or drink, and then while they dance they
are sprinkled with water or rice, after which all go up to the town
(p. 41 note 2). A medium who knows the customs and desires of the
spirits constructs a bamboo mat, which is known as talapitap, and
on it offers food. To call their attention she frequently strikes
the ground with the dakidak--split sticks of bamboo and lono [22]
(p. 40). The guests are not neglected, so far as regards food, for
feasting and dancing occupy a considerable portion of their time. The
ceremonial dance da-eng is mentioned, but the tadek [23] seems to
be the one in special favor (pp. 41, 59).

One tale tells us that the Sayang was held immediately following a
head hunt; and another, that Aponitolau went out to get the head of
an old man before he started this ceremony (pp. 69, 76); however,
the evidence is by no means conclusive that it is related to warfare.

On page 105 we are told that Kanag's half sister is a medium, and the
description of her method of summoning the spirits tallies with that
of to-day. At the Sayang ceremony she is called to perform the Dawak,
[24] with the assistance of the old woman Alokotán (p. 106). The Dawak
is also held in order to stop the flow of blood from Aponitolau's
finger (p. 113). The only other ceremony mentioned is that made in
order to find a lost switch (p. 91).

Certain well-known customs are strongly brought out in our
material. The first, and apparently most important, is the necessity
of offering liquor and food, both to strangers and to guests
(p. 58). Refusal is so keenly resented that in one instance a couple
decline to allow their daughter to marry a man whose emissaries
reject this gift (p. 73). Old quarrels are closed by the tender of
food or drink, and friendships are cemented by the drinking of basi
[25] (p. 134). People meeting for the first time, and even friends
who have been separated for a while, chew betel-nut together and
tell their names and places of residence. We are repeatedly told
that it is necessary to chew the nut and make known their names, for
"we cannot tell our names unless we chew," and "it is bad for us if
we do not know each other's names when we talk." A certain etiquette
is followed at this time: old men precede the younger; people of the
home town, the visitors; and men always are before the women (pp. 45,
133). The conduct of Awig when he serves liquor to the alzados [26]
is that of to-day, i.e., the person who serves always drinks before
passing it to others (p. 156).

Certain other rules of etiquette or restrictions on conduct come out
in the tales. We learn that it is not considered proper for a man
to eat with the wife of another during his absence, nor should they
start the meal before he comes in (p. 52). The master of a dance is
deeply chagrined and chides his wife severely, because she insists
on dancing before he has invited all the others to take their turns
(p. 70). Greediness is reproved in children and Aponitolau causes the
death of his concubines whose false tales had led him to maltreat his
wife (p. 116). Unfaithfulness seems to be sufficient justification
for a man to abandon his wife and kill her admirer (p. 78); but Kanag
appears as a hero when he refuses to attack his father who has sought
his life (p. 121).

Of the ceremonies connected with death we learn very little except that
the women discard their arm beads, the mourners don old clothing, and
all wail for the dead (pp. 44, 90). Three times we are told that the
deceased is placed on a tabalang, or raft, on which a live rooster is
fastened before it is set adrift on the river. In the tales the raft
and fowl are of gold, but this is surprising even to the old woman
Alokotán, past whose home in Nagbotobotán all these rafts must go
(p. 131).

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