A Model of the Social of Organization

the Northeast Ilongot of

DONALD J. TUGBY

University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

ABOUT 6,000 Ilongots' live in sparsely distributed settlements in mountainous country surrounding the headwaters of the River in Province and near Baler Bay in Quezon Province, Northeast Luzon. The country can be traversed only by bamboo raft along the Cagayan River and by difficult mountain trails. Augustinian missionaries in the first part of the eighteenth century penetrated to the Ilongot heartland in the upper reaches of the Cagayan River but subsequently withdrew. Effective adminis- tration has never been established in this heartland. In the present century a few Ilongots have attended schools that have operated from time to time on the fringes of their territory, venturesome Ilocano and have recently established themselves in small numbers in the valleys in Ilongot country and Protestant missionaries have set up stations in the mountains in the past five years. The Ilongots maintain an ambivalent dualistic relationship with their lowlander neighbours. Their main peaceful contact with the outside world has long been through trading trips to surrounding Christian Filipino town- ships, but they still organise headhunting forays against non-Ilongot groups, partly in reaction to insults and incursions into their hunting grounds and partly because they are stimulated by elements of old Ilongot culture which accorded high status to successful headhunters. The lowlanders perceive the Ilongots as ferocious and intransigent headhunters. The main elements of old Ilongot culture are still viable in some settlements in the Ilongot heartland and almost uninfluenced by recent Ilocano incursions and Christian missions. The

1 General accounts of Ilongot culture based on personal contact with Ilongots have been published by Barrows (1910), Turnbull (1929) and Wilson (1947). These authors do not tell us to which part of the wide territory of the Ilongots the fragments of information they provide on Ilongot social organization relate. This information is not therefore utilised in the present account which is based solely on data gathered by the author in the upper Cagayan river area at Malabing, Segum, Poket, Gingan and Pengazaban (all in Nueva Vizcaya) in October and November 1964. The author wishes to express his ap- preciation of the facilities afforded by the Commission on National Integration, Manila and the help and co-operation of members of the New Tribes Mission, Manila. The field- work was supported by a grant from the Research Committee of the University of Queens- land for which the author is grateful. 254 following brief account concentrates on social organization, a hitherto neglected aspect of Ilongot life.

Economy and Religion

The Ilongots are shifting cultivators whose main subsistence crops are rice and sweet potatoes. They grow also about thirty types of fruits and vegetables. They catch fish with nets, fish spears and bows and arrows, catch birds with traps and hunt deer and wild pigs with dogs. A few fowls and occasionally a pig are kept. One crop of rice per year is taken from each plot. Plots are usually cleared early in the year, planted about June or July and harvested in October or November. An Ilongot settlement usually consists of five to fifteen houses spread over a hillside with each house next to its plot. The male and female roles are sharply differentiated in economic and religious affairs. New plots are made every two or three years. Men lop the trees, which are not cut down, swinging from tree to tree on a rotan "rope"; they erect field structures and may help to collect the harvest, but do little other agricultural work. The central feature of the male economic role is the hunting complex. Men make and care for all the appertenances of the hunt-bows and arrows, spears, knives, baskets and nets; they carefully look after good hunting dogs; and they handle all animal products. When animals are caught, they are skinned, cut up and cooked by men. The key element of the female economic role is rice production. Women plant, weed, thresh, winnow, stamp and cook rice. A woman's status in the community is determined by her ability as a rice provider for her family. One woman was said to have sought a reputation by overproducing rice in relation to her family needs so that she could supply parties of visiting young men (probably headhunters). In short, the complementary roles of men and women can be sharply distinguished in everyday economic actions. The main elements of Ilongot magico-religious beliefs and practices are: Use of omens and portents of the future; belief in malevolent spirits; and un- helpful ancestor spirits. Men play an important part in magico-religious ritual and the Ilongot spirit pantheon itself consists almost wholly of male spirits. Omens and portents of the future play an important role in the day-to-day decision-making of men, particularly in relation to hunting. When an Ilongot man is thinking of going hunting he may interpret his dreams to see what he is likely to catch. The Ilongots believe in a number of malevolent spirits and un- helpful ancestor spirits who will harm the living if not appeased. Ceremonies concerned with spirits of the garden are carried out by women, other cere- monies by men, a division of labour which accords with the sharp distinction between male and female roles in the field of economics.