The history and success of Ifugao culture

In the nortern parts of the archipelago, the Philippines, a great indigenous tribe may be located. These great people have some remarkable atributes one would not deny to admire. As the Philippines start to enhance itself into an industrial land(mainly the capital city Manila) majority of the people of this indigenous group refuse to be a part of this modernization and still keep their old ways of life. As their ancestors lived. Their belifes and practices of old. This great nation is the Ifugao.

A brief background of these people would be apropriate.

In the early days of the Philippines, around 100000 years ago. This country was inhabited by primitive hunters who gathered their needs from the surrounding resources. Many thousands of years latter, diverse groups of people from Asia migrated to this land. These people, along with their migration brought with them several agricultural skills and sofisticated social culture. From this complex intermingling of peoples and cultures the infrastructure of a civilization was created and the Philippines as an entity was born.

As time went on, the famous Magellan rediscovered the Phillipines in 1521. In his enocunter with the native people of the Philippines he learned that the inhabitants had already attained strong social ties with neighboring countries such as Indonesia, China, Indochina and Thailand. In 1565 the Spanish returned to the archipelago and established their first permanent settlement on the island of Cebu. From this base they rapidly gained control of the Philippine coastline. As they dominated the country with their influence, they were only partially successful. For other indigenous groups fought for their beliefs. Such braveness was shown as they defended their traditions. Just as the Spanish never relented in their efforts to subdue and convert the Ifugao, either did the Ifugao yield in their struggle to retain their social and spiritual independence. As said by Fr. Juan Villaverde, a 19th-century Spanish priest, "The Ifugao is, and believes himself, an absolute king, avenging with his ever-ready lance the smallest offense not only against his person, but also against his house and his estate. They hate like death the least domination on the part of strangers."

What a great people!

Despite the ongoing effort by both church and government to assimilate and convert the Ifugao, they have remained remarkably unchanged. The Ifugao, who number approximately 120,000, live in widely scattered groups over some 750 square miles of rugged terrain where heavy rainstorms are frequently followed by slides, flash floods and washouts. They are an agrarian people deeply involved with the growing of rice, the ritual and magic which surrounds it, and in maintaining the ways of the revered ancestors.

Typically the Ifugao house sits elevated on four sturdy posts, a windowless structure built of hand-hewn native timbers expertly fastened with mortised joints and tenons. Inside there is an open earth and stone fireplace for cooking, and floormats for sleeping and sitting. Wood ceilings are low to allow for the storage of rice overhead. Underneath the house is a place to sit and gossip and work on household tasks. Although Ifugao houses vary little from this basic configuration, houses of the nobility often feature distinctive architectural refinements such as decorated attic beams, kingposts and doorjambs carved with human effigies, and ornate exterior friezes portraying pigs, carabao and other animals. Separate rice granaries which are smaller, but otherwise of the same basic design and construction of houses, are also evidence of high status within the community, earned by ambitious and industrious individuals.

Religious rites accompany every significant phase of Ifugao life and provide a means by which the unknown or unexplained can be approached and understood. Ifugao religion is a vastly complex structure based on ancestor worship, animism and magical power. The Ifugao pantheon consists of innumerable spiritual entities that represent natural elements, forces and phenomena in addition to ancestral and methphysical beings. The trust and confidence that the Ifugao have in these beings allow them to face what is often a complex and frightening world with a great deal of confidence and understanding. They believe that the gods and other beings are approachable and can be influenced by the proper rites and behavior to intercede on behalf of an individual or the entire community. Generally the gods are viewed as generous and benign beings who enjoy feasting, drinking wine and chewing betel nut, as do the Ifugao themselves. However, the gods are quick to anger and if ignored or treated badly can quickly become ill-tempered, demanding tyrants capable of causing misfortune and injury.

The Ifugao have created an extensive ceremonial cycle in which their deities are honored and feted (such ceremonies also ensure their support and cooperation). Some deities, although acknowledged, are rarely if ever called upon; others with influence over such daily matters as agriculture, health or fighting are in constant demand. Of perhaps the greatest importance to the Ifugao are rice or agricultural deities which have the power to ensure bountiful crops and actually increase the amount of rice already in storage. To accommodate these plenipotent and often voracious spirits, an Ifugao farmer will hire a community artisan to carve a pair of wooden effigies (known as Bululs) which serve as a temporary earthly home to which the rice dieties can be drawn. Although Bululs (usually male and female together) are expensive and are viewed as notoriously demanding, they are considered a wise investment because of their power to augment rice production. While Bululs and other such effigies are treated as purely functional objects, they are nevertheless handsome and powerful forms that reflect the Ifugaos' inborn appreciation of aesthetics.

The creative energy of the Ifugao embodies the values and principles of their deep involvement with agriculture, status and ancestor veneration as well as their relationship with natural and supernatural forces. Art (although the Ifugao would not define it as such) is an integrated part of daily and ceremonial life. The Ifugao are highly skillled craftsmen renowned for their creations which in form and function have been refined over generations. Enjoyment is derived from objects that are both functional and pleasing to the eye; even such utilitarian items as baskets, spoons and bowls are as handsomely crafted as are artifacts and effigies made for the gods. Although secular and religious objects share many of the same images and decorative elements, only those specifically intended for ceremonial use are ritually empowered and in a sense, given life.

A success story of this indigenous group

A young Ifugao physician, who forsook a lucrative practice in the metropolis and went back to the mountains to serve his own people, was picked to receive the grand plum of the 13th Dr. Jose P. Rizal Memorial Award last weekend at the EDSA Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong City. Dr. Felixberto B. Ayahao, a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, could have easily stayed in the city and make a name for himself, but he instead volunteered as a rural health worker in Legawe without remuneration. After graduating in 1987 as a Nellie Keelog Van Schaik scholar, he went to work right away, addressing health concerns, particularly malnutrition, in the far-flung villages, and helped set up livelihood programs. He organized the Ifugao Field Health Workers Association and a Botika sa Barangay (Drug Store in the Barangay) before partly leaving Lagawe in 1991 to teach at Saint Louis University in Baguio and serve as coordinator of the UP Regionalization Program for the Cordilleras. Ayahao took up postgraduate courses in tropical medicine and hygiene at the Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, and otolarymology-head and neck surgery at the UP-Philippine General Hospital.

source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=PROVINCIAL&oid=39884