by: Faye Velasco
"Kankanay", also "Kankanai," "Kankana-i" or "Kankana-ey," has no definite etymological
derivation. It refers to the culture, the language, and the people who, together
with a neighboring group called Ibaloy, comprise the Igorot of Benguet,
the southernmost province of the Cordillera region. After the Ifugao and the Bontoc,
the Kankanay are the third largest cultural community in the mountain provinces
of northern Luzon. In 1988 their population was estimated at 125,000. The
Kankanay have their own language called Mangkayan which is related to the languages
of the Ifugao and the Bontoc, two groups with which the Kankanay share
|There are two Kankanay groups: the northern Kankanay,
also called Lepanto Igorot, and the southern Kankanay. Most of the
northern Kankanay are actually located not in Benguet but in the
southwestern part of Mountain Province (Bontoc), and inhabit the
municipalities of Besao, Sagada, Tadian, Bauko, and Sabangan. The southern
Kankanay, on the other hand, are found in the municipalities of Mankayan,
Bakun, Kubungan, Buguias, and the upper half of Kapangan in Benguet.
"Benguet" is also a term used for the southern group of Kankanay, as well
as for the other group of Benguet Igorot, the Ibaloy, who inhabit the
lower half and the most urbanized parts of the province, which include the
vegetable-growing valley of La Trinidad and the melting-pot city of
In physical characteristics, there are hardly any differences between the northern and southern Kankanay. Both have brown skin, sometimes tattooed, large eyes, and prominent cheekbones. The two groups are culturally one, with similar institutions, beliefs, and practices.
The more ancient northern Kankanay were called "Lepanto" by the Spanish colonizers. This refers to an administration area whose boundaries have changed through successive colonial regimes, but was known as the missing center of the Cordillera.
The southern Kankanay appear to be an expansion of the northern Kankanay group. The settlements in the south seem to belong to the historic period, as evidenced by the small acreage built for rice-terrace culture
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Both northern and southern Kankanay have always been rice-terracing agriculturists. The original 34 villages of the northern Kankanay, located on high slopes of the central Cordillera range, are concentrated near the Kayan-Bauko and Sumadel-Besao areas. These communities appear to have existed long before the coming of the Spaniards to the archipelago. Proof is the extensiveness of their rice terraces, which must have taken a considerable period to build. The fact that these terraces, and the names of the first communities, were noted in the records of the first Spanish expedition to the Cordilleras in 1665, is a confirmation of early Kankanay civilization.
Several reasons have been advanced for the division of the Kankanay into two. One reason is that the group that went up to the hills could not afford to have another group control the source of water, after they were driven away from the coastal belt (Keesing 1968:3). Another reason proposed is that the salutary climate of the Cordillera highlands, with its lush green vegetation and other natural riches, may have attracted the ancestors of the present mountain dwellers to go beyond the "malaria-ridden jungle belt" that stops at the 1,000-m line of the mountains. The northern Kankanay occupy a region which averages 2,000 m above sea level. They may have arrived at their present location due to the process of displacement; or they may have naturally gravitated to a terrain more to their liking or to one that is similar to southern China, which, according to a theory of migration, their ancestors have left behind. The forebears of the northern Kankanay started building rice terraces near the villages.
At the same time, their contiguousness to the lowlands (the foothills and coastal plains of the Ilocos region lie across the boundary to the west) made them more susceptible than the Bontoc, Ifugao, and other mountain people to external influence, but less vulnerable than the Tinguian and the Ibaloy who were even nearer and more accessible to both the Spanish colonial forces and the Filipino lowlanders and settlers. The Spaniards had occupied the adjacent lowlands as early as 1572, but it was only after a hundred years that they were able to reach the territory of the northern Kankanay.
The Spaniards went up the Cordillera in search of the fabled gold. After three years, they left the area, unable to maintain their outposts, and for almost 150 years, the northern Kankanay were left unmolested, and what contact there was between the people of the highlands and the lowlands was indirect. The Spaniards came back in the first part of the 19th century, and established a politico-military comandancia in the Lepanto district in 1852. The Kankanay put up some resistance. Headhunting was part of this mountain culture, a practice which the colonialists-first the Spaniards and later the Americans-sought to end.
Spanish control, wielded through the force of arms and proselytization, eventually set in. Mankayan's copper mines were opened to exploitation by a Spanish mining company. People in some districts were compelled by the Spanish authorities to grow coffee and tobacco for the colonial government. Missions and schools were put up in certain areas (Keesing 1968:4).
The homeland of the northern Kankanay saw access roads built to reach it from the Ilocos coastal region, and these new routes facilitated the influx of Spaniards, Filipino lowlanders, and Chinese traders. The opening of the western flank of the Cordillera set into motion acculturative processes that would have a great impact on succeeding historical periods. These processes would include Christianization, urbanization, political modernization, and integration of a highland agricultural society to a market economy.
The eruption of war between Spanish and American forces, and the subsequent war of independence waged by Filipino revolutionaries against the new colonial forces drew the involvement of the Igorot people. While the nation was undergoing the throes of a full-blown national war, age-old hostilities between the Lepanto Igorot and the Bontoc, their traditional rivals, were revived. A resurgence of headhunting occurred for some time, until pacification set in under the new American regime in 1902. Kankanay, Bontoc, Ifugao, and other Cordillera groups were integrated under the new politico-military dispensation. Protestantism, military service, and education created a new Igorot identity for the Kankanay and the other Cordillera people, especially those who comprised the new educated elite.
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Religious Beliefs and Practices
The supernatural world of the Kankanay is replete with male and female god figures, as well as spirit-beings, who comprise a hierarchy of deities under one supreme entity called Kabunian, creator of all beings and living things in the world. Kabunian is mainly responsible for the welfare and general well-being of all those he created. He is also looked upon as the supreme master who taught humans everything they need to know for life, such as making fire, the cultivation of rice, and marriage rituals. Desirous of a peaceful and bountiful life, the Kankanay utter the words) "Itunin sang kabunayen" (Thank you, Kabunian) at every fortuitous turn of events (Demetrio et al 1991:14-15).
Next to Kabunian is a descending order of lesser gods and spirits. The male gods are Lumawig, Kabigat, Soyan, Okalan, and Balitok. The female gods are Moan, Daongen, Angtan, Bangan, Gatan, and Oboy. Their names are recited and invoked by the Kankanay in various rituals, so that they may intercede for people and facilitate the granting of favors needed or desired.
|Part of Kankanay cosmology is the story of how the
spirits dwelling on earth actually came from the descendants of two mortal
beings, Lumawig and Bangan, who were the first creatures on earth. They
were the survivors of a great deluge which occurred thousands of years
ago, and which was caused by Kabunian, who commanded the waters of the
seas to rise, until all the existing land was inundated. The only place
untouched was a mountaintop where Lumawig and Bangan had sought refuge.
After the flood subsided, Kabunian ordered the two to become husband and
wife, so that the earth could be populated again. But Lumawig and Bangan
refused, because they were brother and sister. They would only do so, they
said, if the Supreme Being could make them laugh, and thus the two
siblings were tricked into marrying each other. Lumawig and Bangan had
four children in all. One was given the task of performing the cañao. This
child's descendants became the Igorot. The second was assigned to weave
cloth or abel, and became the ancestor of the Ilocano. The third was given
|of issuing commands, and his descendants became known
as the "Merkanos." The fourth child was destined to become a spirit who
would inhabit stones and trees, and became the ancestor of the malevolent
spirits whom we know today as the tumungaw or mangmangkik.
The tumungaw or mangmangkik cause various illnesses, and are also responsible for typhoons, epidemics, and other calamities. Four spirits are feared the most: Insaking, Buduan, Kise-an, and Putitik. They inhabit the big heart-shaped stone on the mountain of Tenglawan. When displeased, these spirits cause stomachaches in human beings. Other minor gods and the ailments they bring include the following: liblibayan, spirits who cause pains in the abdomen; an-antipakao, spirits who create reddish spots all over the body; penten, spirits who cause accidental death; kakading, souls of the dead who cause colds, headaches, or fever; pinad-ing, invisible spirits usually in human form who protect people from typhoons and epidemics. The liblibayan and an-antipakao spirits live in sitios where there are people, while the penten inhabit the rivers, springs, and other water bodies. These spirits react angrily whenever people trespass on their territory. The malevolent spirits are believed to be under the sway of a still more powerful and cruel being, known as Mantis Bilig-the god of death and destruction. On the other side, there are benevolent spirits, called kading and pinad-ing, whose protection is sought against ills and misfortunes.
These deities and spirit-beings are invoked by the Kankanay in their rites and rituals related to life, livelihood, and death. Most if not all of the rites and rituals are performed by the mambunong who reads from the bile sac or liver of a sacrificial animal the sentiments or attitudes of the spirits toward the propitiating or transgressing human being.
These are also female mediums called manggengey. Both mambunong and manggengey inherit their religious position from parents who were themselves spiritual leaders. Another hereditary position is that of the mamade or mamadur (agricultural priest), who can be replaced if the rituals he performs fail to produce the good harvest prayed for by the community. Another religious position is that of the balsun, who may be called upon to perform rituals for a specific occasion or purpose, in which he is recognized to be most knowledgeable.
There is a great variety of rites and ceremonies practised by the Kankanay. Several types of economic activities such as planting, harvesting, housebuilding, or digging irrigation ditches call for the performance of these rites. A whole village, or a family financially capable of throwing a feast, takes responsibility for the holding of big and elaborate rites. For determining the cause of illness or divination of events, simpler rites are performed by an individual or by a family group.
One of the ritual ceremonies already mentioned is the bayas. This cañao or feast is the most important festival in northern Kankanay society, which is hosted by the kadangyan, and involves the slaughter of many animals. Only a person of means can afford the amount of food consumed. During the bayas, the kadangyan calls upon his ancestral spirits, and appeals for their continued support for his prosperity. Relatives, villagers, and visitors from other places are all invited to the bayas ritual. During times of plenty, the bayas would be celebrated at least every three or four years, but in recent years the interval has become longer.
The rites observed in connection with the agricultural cycle are deemed indispensable because the whole success of planting and harvesting, i.e., survival itself, may depend entirely on such observance.
Manteneng is a ritual which begins the planting phase. Here, the owner of the rice field plants the first two or three rice seedlings, and recites a prayer asking the spirits of the field to help the plant grow tall. Only after this will the other workers begin the planting of the rest of the seedlings.
Legleg is performed to improve the growth of the plants. This is done whenever the bonabon seedlings show telltale signs of withering. A chicken is killed, and is offered to the spirits of the field, trees, rocks, and other things in the surroundings believed to have been angered or displeased. Four or five long feathers of the chicken are pulled out and stuck into the site where the bonabon are planted. If the seedlings do not show any sign of improvement, the ritual is repeated, this time with more sacrificial chickens.
|The an-anito is similar to the legleg, except that it
is performed to seek intercession for an ailing person.
Harvest entails a different set of rituals. On the first day, the rice fields are declared off-limits to strangers. Along trails, crossed bamboo sticks called puwat are laid out as a warning to passersby against intruding. The owner of the field cuts a handful of rice stalks, and recites a prayer asking for a bountiful crop. Then, the other reapers proceed to cut the rest of the harvest. Nobody is allowed to leave at anytime throughout the day, to prevent "loss of luck."
The opening of a baeg (granary) by a family for rice pounding is an event with its own ritual. The head of the household declares an abayas (holiday) which lasts two days. The father opens the granary, and takes out as many bundles as required for the period of celebration.
The largest and most important of community celebrations among the Kankanay is the pakde or begnas. This is observed for a variety of purpose. When called to ensure an abundant rice harvest, it takes place sometime during May, a month before the actual harvest. It may also be observed when a person dies to ask for the protection and favors of the benevolent deities. The village elders may decide to hold the rites, after the observance of a bagat or big feast by a family to regain luck for the community. Or the occasion might be to celebrate a strange event, such as lightning striking a tree near a house or near a spot where -people have assembled, which is interpreted as Kabunian himself speaking. A pakde or begnas serves to appease him. This usually takes place during the rainy season, when lightning is most frequent. The celebration is held for one day and one night with preparations of food and water, and tapuy (rice wine). On the day of the feast, men with bob and spears come out of their houses and proceed to the village borders, to put up barricades across all entrances. Others take up their spears and accompany the mambunong to a sacred spot where there is a wooden structure called pakedlan. On this a pig is butchered and offered to the guardian deities of the village. The pakedlan is usually built by the mambunong at one end of the village. It consists of a solitary wooden post about 1.3 m in height, with large white stones laid on the ground surrounding it.
Simpler rites, mainly for the purpose of divining the causes of illness, are also observed. Disease is attributed to the workings of malevolent spirits or angered deities. These divinatory rites, performed by a man-anap (medicine man or woman) are of various types. In baknao, the diviner makes use of a coconut shell filled with water. The shell is covered, and a prayer is recited over it. The diviner removes the cover and tries to read in the water the name of the spirit or deity which has caused the disease. In buyan, a stone, a string, and a bracelet are used by the diviner, who ties one end of the string to the bracelet and the other end to the stone. While holding up the stone, he/she calls out the names of various spirits. The spirit who causes the dangling stone to move is deemed the cause of the illness. In sip-ok, the diviner takes a bottle
upside down, and puts budbud (yeast) on its bottom. Praying over it, he implores Kabunian to help reveal the cause of sickness and the type of sacrifice required to cure it. The diviners are called by the particular medium or method they use in the ritual: mambaknao, man-buyan, mansip-ok.
These divinatory rites are then followed by a sacrificial feast called an-anito or mansenga. Animals are butchered and offered to the spirits believed to be the causes of ailments.
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Visual Arts and Crafts
The ordinary everyday costume for the Kankanay male is the wanes (G-string). This is usually white with colored borders, or sometimes dark blue with red stripes and decorated ends. For the female it is the bak-ut or getap (wraparound skirt). Upper bodies are sometimes covered with the galey (a kind of blanket) as a protection against the cold. The blanket incorporates red and blue panels of varying widths, with figures of mortars, snakes, or some anthropomorphic figures. Children are given only the galey for covering until they are six or seven years old, when they start wearing their own wanes or getap. The women also wear a white blouse with short sleeves which are open in front but are buttoned up at the upper end. The getap is usually kept in place with a bakget (girdle), a piece of cloth about 7.5-10 cm wide, and tightly wound twice around the waist. The women weave all the clothing material used for the wanes, getap, galey, and bakget. The material usually comes in long, narrow pieces which are sewn together, the number of seams depending on the purpose for which it would be used. The color of this material is usually blue and white, red, dark blue designs, and red and yellow stripes. A badbad (headcboth) made of either abel (cloth) or kuba (bark) is worn by the men to cover their short hair. Occasionally, the Kankanay male decorates his headcloth with feathers, leaves, and even carabao horns. Women like wearing necklaces adorned with various kinds of stones and beads. They take to wearing collars made of brass or matted rattan, as well as stone and seed bracelets, earrings of copper wire, and head decorations made of beads, beans, and grass. C-shaped earrings are still worn by both male and female Kankanay.
|The other ornamentation known to the Kankanay is body
tattooing. The tattoo art of central Benguet comes in exquisite patterns
of curved and straight lines, with designs executed in indigo blue. The
tattoo is pricked on the breasts and arms-of men and women. The Kankanay
use a small piece of wood they call gisi, to which are attached three iron
points. The same method of tattooing employed by the Ibaloy is used by the
Kankanay, which means adorning the arms from above the elbow down to the
knuckles with elaborate, extensive tattoos made up of crisscross,
horizontal, vertical, and curvilinear patterns. Among the menfolk, tattoos
have become more and more scarce. It is the women who have kept up this
customary adornment, often sporting the tattoo on their forearms.
Apart from cloth weaving with the backloom, the Kankanay also engage in the crafting of baskets out of rattan and bamboo, whose sizes and shapes vary according to use. They also produce wooden bowls, shields, and vases with covers which are usually carved with human or lizard figures on top, on the sides, or underneath.
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The Kankanay have a rich collection of riddle which cover a wide range of topics, such as people, the human body, ailments, actions, food and drink, dress, and adornment, buildings and structures, animals, plants, and natural phenomena. Most Kankanay riddles consist of two parts or statements, both with assonantal rime. Here are three examples.
Wad-an esay Iakey
Mangguyguyud si uey.
There is an old man
Who's dragging rattan. (A rat)
Pising ed Kamaligan
A taro at Kamaligan
cannot be moistened by rain. (The eye)
the nail cannot dent. (A stone)
The telling and retelling of the origin of human beings and spirit-beings, as well as of the natural world, form the colorful body of oral tradition handed down through generations of Kankanay. The myth of the origin of things, and the way by which the external world is perceived and treated, are tightly bound with the worship of the god Kabunian.
The Kankanay do not have long, protracted epics on the scale of the Ifugao Hudhud and the Kalinga Ullalim. What the Kankanay do have are the sudsud, short tales which are recounted in gatherings of adults, or when they are working in the fields during harvest time, doing work at home or around the house yard, or even when just relaxing in their leisure time. There are sudsud for children, told to them by elders for their amusement Such stories would be less serious in tone and in subject than the stories told among adults. Some stories are actually songs, such as the day-eng, which are recited by men and women, old and young, rich and poor, alone or in groups, day or night, at work or at play, in praise of a hero or to rock a child to sleep. These are usually sung to a drawling, rather monotonous tune, using words which either have no meaning at all or whose meaning has been obscured by the passage of time, and yet are understood in their entirety because the themes are well known from past and continuing retelling (Vanoverbergh 1978:83).
The day-eng songs are what could be considered the equivalent of legends and fables. The themes of the day-eng would either be tragic, heroic, or comic. There are often human characters in these stories, just as there are animals given human attributes and undergoing the same gamut of experiences as their human counterparts. While the sudsud and the day-eng may be about some legendary heroes and characters in Kankanay folklore, they do not form a part of religious rites. Instead, another story form which recounts the adventures of spirits is narrated at public and private sacrificial rituals. These stories are called kapia (prayer).
In Kankanay tales, the most recurring characters are those of Gatan, Bangan, Lawigan, and Bugan. Gatan is a mythological hero who is always successful in his undertakings, and enjoys the protection of Kabunian. He has the magical power to work wonders, and exhibits truly suprahuman qualities common m mythic god-hero characters. It is said, for instance, that vegetation breaks into flames at Gatan's approach. Bangan is the female counterpart of Gatan, frequently depicted as opulent and powerful, possessing objects made entirely of gold, and physically so constituted that her delicateness "melts in the sun." She is sometimes described as riding a horse, or laid out on a hammock, or personifying the rainbow in the sweep of her beauty and grandeur. Lawigan is the most popular and persistent of the mythic names. Many tales give him a leading role, although sometimes he assumes a subordinate position as the son of the leading hero, or his younger brother, cousin, neighbor, and other alter egos. Bugan is often associated with Lawigan as his female counterpart, although she first appears in the cosmology as the sister-wile of Lumawig (probably the original name of Lawigan). From their union came the first people of the earth.
In Vanoverbergh's study of Kankanay tales, the following appear to be the main content of the stories: marriage and family life among the Kankanay, social customs and traditions, religious values, beliefs and practices, and tales of magic and imagination.
Here are two short tales recorded by Damiana Eugenio (1989: 291,318). The first tells of how the thunder and the lightning came to be:
Long ago, Lumawig came to the earth and married a girl. She had many sisters. They were jealous because he did not marry any of them. They put garlic under the bed of the couple. Lumawig smelled the garlic and he did not like the smell. He said to his wife: "I shall return to the sky. I shall take half of our child and leave you the other half." He divided the child into two parts, and took the head. The head was angry because it did not have its body, and it talked very loudly as it complained. Lumawig made it a body and gave it legs, and this head became the thunder. The half that Lumawig left behind could not talk, but Lumawig came back for it, made a head for it, and this creature later married the thunder, and it became the lightning.
The second tale speaks of the origin of the human race:
Long ago, the gods came to the earth, but there were no people. They said, "It would be good if there were people. We shall create a man and woman." They took some earth and made two people and let them stand. They plucked the feathers from a chicken and made the chicken jump. "We shall make them laugh so that they will be alive." Then one of the creatures laughed. It became a man. The other heard the first one laugh, and laughed also. It became a woman.
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The musical instruments of the Kankanay are identical with those used by other Cordillera groups, such as the gangsa (flat brass gongs), diwdiw-as (pan pipe), bunkaka or bilbil (bamboo buzzer), sulibaw (hollow wooden drum, used also by the Ibaloy), afiw (bamboo jew's harp), and several flute types. The gangsa is played solo or in an ensemble, particularly by men performing a dance. The other instruments are played either to accompany songs or as a means of entertaining people.
Kankanay songs contain not only rhythm and rime but also poetic expressions and terms that are not used in ordinary speech (Vanoverbergh 1978:1). Aside from the day-eng which contain Kankanay fables and legends, there are day-eng sung at any time, which consist of dialogues between men and women, as well as day-eng cradle songs sung by Kankanay mothers as they put their babies to sleep.
The daing are songs which are performed during a solemn sacrifice. They consist of an exchange between a man and a woman, or between a group of men and a group of women. One side repeats the last part of its counterpart's words to begin their reply. The other side does the same thing, and soon, creating a dialogue in the form of a cycle. Two types of daing are the dayyakus which is used during the sacrificial rituals performed by a headhunter; and the ayugga, whose tempo is much quicker than that of the ordinary daing.
The daday are songs which are sung at the outskirts of the village. The song is a dialogue between the women of the village and a girl, an outsider, who has come to marry a boy from the village. The song ends with the triumphant entry of the girl having been accepted by the women of the village.
"Swinging" songs are rather short, and are sung by men or women. Some swinging songs are in the form of a dialogue, or verbal and vocal contests, between a girl who sits upon a swing and a young man who stands nearby. If the girl loses her momentum in the dialogue, she also loses the contest and must accept the boy's proposal. It is usual that the girl agrees to the contest because she already likes the boy, and Kankanay girls are conceded to be better practitioners of this musical art than the boys.
There are two kinds of mourning songs: soso, which are used on the occasion of a person's death or burial, and the dasay, sung when a person is about to breath his last.
The bindian or bendean is a combined victory or war dance, and a festive dance in thanksgiving for good fortune, such as a bountiful harvest. The hand movements are poised downward, suggesting the people's close affinity to the earth. The basic dance step consists of the stomping of the left foot. The instrumentalists beat their gangsa as they lead the dancers in varied formations. Among the southern Benguet Igorot, this festival is called chungas. The Lepanto Igorot perform this dance primarily during the harvest season.
Tamong is a dance meant to expedite the healing of the sick. Tayaw is another dance performed for the same purpose, accompanied by the offering of sacrificial pigs to Kabunian. Tapuy is served to the dancers who perform in big circles, shuffling, sliding, and hopping. The elders and other venerable members of the village display their priceless heirloom blankets during this occasion.
Tarektek (woodpecker) is a courtship dance which imitates the movements of the bird, with a blanket for a prop. To the rhythmic beat of the gangsa, two male dancers exhibit their prowess in dancing to attract the attention of the female dancer. One male dancer uses the blanket, the other plays the gangsa, as they turn and twist around, coordinating their movements with the object of pursuit.
Aside from the mimetic dances, another form of protodrama are, the rituals where the shaman assumes the role of a spirit or a god. The Kankanay perform a ritual to effect the return of a soul which has "wandered off" on account of sickness. There are two phases in this ritual, the padpad and the paypay. Padpad is the wrenching away of the soul of a sick person from the clutches of a spirit, while paypay is a search undertaken to look for the whereabouts of the wandering soul (Demetrio et al 1991:143). In padpad, the female shaman enters into a trance, makes movements as if conversing and bargaining with a spirit, and attempts to recover it for the patient. The sickness in the body of a person is usually related to an analogous sickness of a character in a myth. A specific god is consulted about the nature and cure of the particular sickness. In paypay, the shaman clutches a chicken under her arm, holds a winnowing basket in one hand and a stick in the other. Armed thus, she goes from place to place, even entering other people's houses, as she tries to look for the sick person's wayward soul. As the shaman goes about her search, she recites a prayer:
Paypay, let us go home to the village, it is a warm place to dwell in; confound this spirit's house where you are dwelling, our house in the village is better, it is a warm place to dwell in.
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