The Bontoc Igorot Part 7

Here, there, and everywhere, singly or in groups, boys perform the Igorot dance step. A tin can in a boy's hands is irresistibly beaten in rhythmic time, and the dance as surely follows the peculiar rhythmic beating as the beating follows the possession of the can. As the boys come stringing home at night from watching the palay fields, they come dancing, rhythmically beating a can, or two sticks, or their dinner basket, or beating time in the air -- as though they held a gangsa[18]. The dance is in them, and they amuse themselves with it constantly.

Both boys and girls are much in the river, where they swim and dive with great frolic.

During the months of January and February, 1903, when there was much wind, the boys were daily flying kites, but it is a pastime borrowed of the Ilokano in the pueblo. Now and then a little fellow may be seen with a small, very rude bow and arrow, which also is borrowed from the Ilokano since the arrival of the Spaniard.

p.u.b.erty

p.u.b.erty is reached relatively late, usually between the fourteenth and sixteenth years. No notice whatever is taken of it by the social group. There is neither feast nor rite to mark the event either for the individual or the group.

This non.o.bservance of the fact of p.u.b.erty would be very remarkable, since its observance is so widespread among primitive people, were it not for the fact that the Igorot has developed the olag -- an inst.i.tution calculated to emphasize the fact and significance of p.u.b.erty.

Life in olag

Though the o'-lag is primarily the sleeping place of all unmarried girls, in the mind of the people it is, with startling consistency, the mating place of the young people of marriageable age.

A common sight on a rest day in the pueblo is that of a young man and woman, each with an arm around the other, loitering about under the same blanket, talking and laughing, one often almost supporting the other. There seems at all times to be the greatest freedom and friendliness among the young people. I have seen both a young man carrying a young woman lying horizontally along his shoulders, and a young woman carrying a young man astride her back. However, practically all courtship is carried on in the o'-lag.

The courtship of the Igorot is closely defined when it is said that marriage never takes place prior to s.e.xual intimacy, and rarely prior to pregnancy. There is one exception. This is when a rich and influential man marries a girl against her desires, but through the urgings of her parents.

It is customary for a young man to be s.e.xually intimate with one, two, three, and even more girls at the same time. Two or more of them may be residents of one o'-lag, and it is common for two or three men to visit the same o'-lag at one time.

A girl is almost invariably faithful to her temporary lover, and this fact is the more surprising in the face of the young man's freedom and the fact that the o'-lag is nightly filled with little girls whose moral training is had there.

Young men are boldly and pointedly invited to the o'-lag. A common form of invitation is for the girl to steal a man's pipe, his pocket hat, or even the breechcloth he is wearing. They say one seldom recovers his property without going to the, o'-lag for it.

When a girl recognizes her pregnancy she at once joyfully tells her condition to the father of the child, as all women desire children and there are few permanent marriages unblessed by them. The young man, if he does not wish to marry the girl, may keep her in ignorance of his intentions for two or three months. If at last he tells her he will not marry her she receives the news with many tears, it is said, but is spared the gossip and reproach of others, and she will later become the wife of some other man, since her first child has proved her power to bear children.

When the mother notices her condition she asks who the father of the child is, and on being told that the man will not marry her the mother often tries to exert a rather tardy influence for better morals. She says, "That is bad. Why have you done this?" (when the chances are that the unfortunate, girl was born into a family of but one head); "it will be well for him to give the child a s.e.m.e.ntera to work." About the same time the young man informs his mother of his relations with the girl, and of her condition, and again the maker of a people's morals seems to attempt to mold the already hardened clay. She says, "My son, that is bad. Why have you done it? Why do you not marry her?" And the son answers simply and truthfully, "I have another girl." Without attempt at remonstrance the father gives a rice s.e.m.e.ntera to the child when it is 6 or 7 years old, for that is the price fixed by the group conscience for deserting a girl with a child.

It is not usual for a married man to go to the o'-lag, though a young man may go if one of his late mates is still alone. He is usually welcomed by the girl, for there may yet be possibilities of her becoming his permanent wife. A man whose wife is pregnant, however, seldom visits the o'-lag, because he fears that, if he does, his wife's child will be prematurely born and die.

The o'-lag is built where the girls desire it and is said to be commonly located in places accessible to the men; this appears true to one going over the pueblo with this statement in mind.

The life in the o'-lag does not seem to weaken the boys or girls or cause them to degenerate, neither does it appear to make them vicious. Whereas there is practically no sense of modesty among the people, I have never seen anything lewd. Though there is no such thing as virtue, in the modern sense of the word, among the young people after p.u.b.erty, children before p.u.b.erty are said to be virtuous, and the married woman is said always to be true to her husband.

According to a recent translator of Blumentritt[19] that author is made to say (evidently speaking of the o'-lag):

Amongst most of the tribes [Igorot] the chast.i.ty of maidens is carefully guarded, and in some all the young girls are kept together till marriage in a large house where, guarded by old women, they are taught the industries of their s.e.x, such as weaving, pleating, making cloth from the bark of trees, etc.

There is no such inst.i.tution in Bontoc Igorot society. The purpose of the o'-lag is as far from enforcing chast.i.ty as it well can be. The old women never frequent the o'-lag, and the lesson the girls learn there is the necessity for maternity, not the "industries of their s.e.x" -- which children of very primitive people acquire quite as a young fowl learns to scratch and get its food.

Marriage

The ethics of the group forbid certain unions in marriage. A man may not marry his mother, his stepmother, or a sister of either. He may not marry his daughter, stepdaughter, or adopted daughter. He may not marry his sister, or his brother's widow, or a first cousin by blood or adoption. s.e.xual intercourse between persons in the above relations is considered incest, and does not often occur. The line of kin does not appear to be traced as far as second cousin, and between such there are no restrictions.

Rich people often pledge their small children in marriage, though, as elsewhere in the world, love, instead of the plans of parents, is generally the foundation of the family. In February, 1903, the rich people of Bontoc were quite stirred up over the sequel to a marriage plan projected some fifteen years before. Two families then pledged their children. The boy grew to be a man of large stature, while the girl was much smaller. The man wished to marry another young woman, who fought the first girl when visited by her to talk over the matter. Then the blind mother of the pledged girl went to the dwelling, accompanied by her brother, one of the richest men in the pueblo, whereupon the father and mother of the successful girl knocked them down and beat them. To all appearances the young lovers will marry in spite of the early pledges of parents. They say such quarrels are common.

If a man wishes to marry a woman and she shares his desire, or if on her becoming pregnant he desires to marry her, he speaks with her parents and with his. If either of her parents objects, no marriage occurs; but he does not usually falter, even though his parents do object. They say the advent of a babe seldom fails to win the good will of the young man's parents. In the case of the girl's pregnancy, marriage is more a.s.sured, and her father builds or gives her a house. The olag is no longer for her. In her case it has served its ultimate purpose -- it has announced her p.u.b.erty and proved her powers of womanhood. In the case of a desire of marriage before the girl is pregnant she usually sleeps in the olag, as in the past, and the young man spends most of his nights with her. It is customary for the couple to take their meals with the parents of the girl, in which case the young man gives his labors to the family. The period of his labors is usually less than a year, since it is customary for him to give his affections to another girl within a year if the first one does not become pregnant.

In other words their union is a true trial union. If the trial is successful the girl's father builds her a dwelling, and the marriage ceremony occurs immediately upon occupation of the dwelling. The ceremony is in two parts. The first is called "in-pa-ke'," and at that time a hog or carabao is killed, and the two young people start housekeeping. The kap'-i-ya ceremony follows -- among the rich this marriage ceremony occupies two days, but with the poor only one day. The kap'-i-ya is performed by an old man of the ato in which the couple is to live. He suggestively places a hen's egg, some rice, and some tapui[20] in a dish before him while he addresses Lumawig, the one G.o.d, as follows:

Thou, Lumawig! now these children desire to unite in marriage. They wish to be blessed with many children. When they possess pigs, may they grow large. When they cultivate their palay, may it have large fruitheads. May their chickens also grow large. When they plant their beans may they spread over the ground, May they dwell quietly together in harmony. May the man's vitality quicken the seed of the woman.

The two-day marriage ceremony of the rich is very festive. The parents kill a wild carabao, as well as chickens and pigs, and the entire pueblo comes to feast and dance. It is customary for the pueblo to have a rest day, called "fo-sog'," following the marriage of the rich, so the entire period given to the marriage is three days. Each party to the, marriage receives some property at the time from the parents. There are no women in Bontoc pueblo who have not entered into the trial union, though all have not succeeded in reaching the ceremony of permanent marriage. However, notwithstanding all their standards and trials, there are several happy permanent marriages which have never been blessed with children. There are only two men in Bontoc who have never been married and who never entered the trial stage, and both are deaf and dumb.

Divorce

The people of Bontoc say they never knew a man and woman to separate if a child was born to the pair and it lived and they had recognized themselves married. But, as the marriage is generally prompted because a child is to be born, so an unfruitful union is generally broken in the hope that another will be more successful.

If either party desires to break the contract the other seldom objects. If they agree to separate, the woman usually remains in their dwelling and the man builds himself another. However, if either person objects, it is the other who relinquishes the dwelling -- the man because he can build another and the woman because she seldom seeks separation unless she knows of a home in which she will be welcome.

Nothing in the nature of alimony, except the dwelling, is commonly given by either party to a divorce. There are two exceptions -- in case a party deserts he forfeits to the other one or more rice s.e.m.e.nteras or other property of considerable value; and, again, if the woman bore her husband a child which died he must give her a s.e.m.e.ntera if he leaves her.

The widowed

If either party to a marriage dies the other does not remarry for one year. There is no penalty enforced by the group for an earlier marriage, but the custom is firmly fixed. Should the surviving person marry within a year he would die, being killed by an anito whose business it is to punish such sacrilege. The widowed frequently remarry, as there are certain advantages in their married life. It is quite impossible for a man or woman alone to perform the entire round of Igorot labors. The hours of labor for the lone person must usually be long and tiresome.

Most of the widowed live in the katyufong, the smaller dwelling of the poor. The reason for this is that even if one has owned the better cla.s.s of dwelling, the fayu, it is generally given to a child at marriage, the smaller house being sufficient and suitable for the lone person, especially as the widowed very frequently take their meals with some married child.

Orphans

Orphans without homes of their own become members of the household of an uncle or aunt or other near relative. The property they received from their parents is used by the family into whose home they go. Upon marriage the children receive the property as it was left them, the annual increase having gone to the family which cared for them.

If there are no relatives, orphans with property readily find a home; if there are neither relatives nor property, some family receives the children more as servants than as equals. When they are married they are usually not given more than a dwelling.

The aged

There are few old and infirm persons who have not living relatives. Among these relatives are usually descendants who have been materially benefited by property acc.u.mulated or kept intact by their aged kin. It is the universal custom for relatives to feed and otherwise care for the aged. Not much can be done for the infirm, and infirmity is the beginning of the end with all except the blind.

The chances are that the old who have no relatives have at least a little property. Such persons are readily cared for by some family which uses the property at the time and falls heir to it when the owner dies. There are a very few blind persons who have neither relatives nor property, and these are cared for by families which offer a.s.sistance, and two of these old blind men beg rice from dwelling to dwelling.

Sickness, disease, and remedies

All disease, sickness, or ailment, however serious or slight, among the Bontoc Igorot is caused by an a-ni'-to. If smallpox kills half a dozen persons in one day, the fell work is that of an a-ni'-to; if a man receives a stone bruise on the trail an a-ni'-to is in the foot and must be removed before recovery is possible. There is one exception to the above sweeping charge against the a-ni'-to -- the Igorot says that toothache is caused by a small worm twisting and turning in the tooth.

Igorot society contains no person who is so malevolent as to cause another sickness, insanity, or death. So charitable is the Igorot's view of his fellows that when, a few years ago, two Bontoc men died of poison administered by another town, the verdict was that the administering hands were directed by some vengeful or diabolical a-ni'-to.

As a people the Bontoc Igorot are healthful. It is seldom that an epidemic reaches them; bubonic plague and leprosy are unknown to them.