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after the abstract comes the introduction...
Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Demise, bereavement, fatality, end of mortality or universally known as DEATH, is pertinently described as the final ceasing of vital bodily functions, movement, or activity. Fear of it, exempts almost no one for death itself knows no discrimination. On the other hand, a countable number of cultures believe that death is only a perusal to entering a new life without an end resulting for them to practice different death rituals in order to acquire immortality.
For most people who have experienced loss of a loved one and pain and rejection became inevitable. According to psychologists, the people lamenting had to undergo some traumatic and seemingly long process of recovery, that in some isolated cases, love for the dead and difficulty of letting go goes overboard to the point that in their desperate attempt to retain the memories of the lost loved one; they tend to ornate the cadaver with jewelries and clothe them with finest fabric.
Today, most Filipinos, especially the Tagalogs refer to death as ?pagyao,? ?pagpanaw,? or ?pagkamatay,? and simply consider it to be the expiration of the mortal body and the resurrection of the soul to a higher spiritual level.
The Spaniards first introduced this modern perception on death during their more than 300 years of colonization in the country. It was in these times that Filipinos were acquainted with a new religious conviction, a new set of morals that pushed the primitive beliefs aside. It is indeed factual that Christianity played a crucial role in molding most of the Filipinos? perception anew. But while a unanimous part of the country embraces its newfound religion, a magnanimous part retained their traditions and kept their identity hailed.
The Philippine seas, forestry and highlands is a home for indigenous groups, each one of them has its own respective traditions concerning rituals for the dead.
?Every culture has its own funeral customs or practices dealing with a disposition of the dead. Every society, no matter how primitive, has its own procedures for ensuring the proper treatment of the deceased. Regarded as a socially significant event, death involves rituals and beliefs that prescribe how the dead are to be dealt with and how the survivors are to mourn.? (Casal, 199 cool
Some are even bizarre and illogical to the ?outsiders.?
?Some groups allowed the corpse to decompose in a shallow grave, upon a scaffold or atop a tree, to enable the soul to leave the body.?(Casal, 199 cool
And yet, these burial practices remained and were made known to the next generation by their forefathers through word of mouth.
Folk Media are the verbal action, aural and visual forms that the indigenous ethnolinguistic groups perform for the purpose of entertaining, informing, enlightening, instructing or even educating. This includes the customs, traditions, beliefs, and practices embodied in folklore. The natives have used this technique to pass down the beauty of their heritage from one generation to another.
There are ten major ethnic groups across Northern Luzon alone. The Apayao-Isneg, the Kalinga, the Bontoc, the Ifugao, the Ibaloi, the Ilongot, the Ga?dang, the Tinguian, the Kankanei, and the Negrito. They are the ones considered to be the natives of the Philippine North who have evolved deep-seated indigenous cultures and traditions of the highlands who in one way or another struggled to stay untouched to preserve their risen practices that later on was discovered and caused some of it to be extinct.
The province of Benguet cradles the Ibaloi ethnolinguistic group, specifically in a bowl-like valley called Kabayan.
?Legend has it that when an epidemic broke out somewhere in Pangasinan, a group of people in the beleaguered area decided to evacuate to the North, following the Agno River. Others say that during one of the attacks in Pangasinan by the infamous pirate Limahong from Hong Kong, the terrified people in Lingayen in Pangasinan left their place for fear of their lives. Some of them decided to go up North via the same river route.? (Merino)
Death for the Ibalois? is as socially important as that of a wedding celebration. They have a distinct way of showing their love for their dead that in an attempt to immortalize them, they developed ways to delay the process of their physical decay. Anyone who sees the entire process of mummification shall be filled with awe upon witnessing their compassion for their dead. The process itself could be considered gruesome, but the Ibaloi were raised with much honor to their dead.
Kabayan serves as the Ibaloi settling place for more than centuries now. It witnessed the making of a history that unknown to them shall become the center of attention of the world over. Anthropologists and archeologists alike have been eyeing the indigenous people thriving in Kabayan for the one art that this group has been known for. The Kabayan Mummies are worthy of admiration but not of any comparison in any way, not even those of the Egyptians. Aside from their varying processes, another distinction is their differing educational level. The Ibaloi being primitive and ignorant at the time they mummified their dead and the Egyptians being civilized and literate.
Mummification is a process practiced by the Ibaloi in preserving their dead. It appears that most of the people mummified were tribal leaders and people of ranks for the reason that they can afford to spend for the things needed for the perfection of the process. Mummification defies the disintegration of the human body by making the dying person swallow a salt solution. Soon after he dies, the body is washed and seated in a chair that is set over a glowing fire, to drain it from bodily fluids. The drying or smoking process lasts for weeks or even months. Some say that a prayer is said before the mummy is taken to a cave for burial to keep it intact for centuries.
Prayer is one big integral part of faith and religion. The Ibaloi, though pagan for so long a time, have discovered a way to commune with their god. While the Christians say the ?Our Father? to God the Father; the Muslims their ?Salat? to Allah; and the Buddhists their ?Om Mani Padme Hung? to Buddha; the natives of Ibaloi say their ?Madmad? to Kabunian. During an aremag, Madmad is performed individually by anybody in the wake. It is a silent conversation with the dead to whom the praying individual confesses, proposes or requests anything from the dead.
From birth to death, rituals and songs drape an Ibaloi. Every cahas its own songs that are called Ba-diw. But in the occasion of his final ca the Pinatjan Ba-diw is sung. In an aremag, this Ba-diw is performed to call on the spirit of the dead to intercede with their god, Kabunian, for blessings for the living kin. This idea roots from the belief that dead people of Ibaloi kneel before Kabunian.
The Ibaloi have been practicing Madmad and Ba-diw for many centuries. These two have even been co-existing with mummification but while the latter ceased to prolong its existence because of the changes on some of the Ibaloi customs and the introduction of Christianity, Madmad and Ba-diw continued to be practiced to this date.
Rationale of the Study
Kabayan mummies prove to be the mementos of the Filipino people funerary customs that can compare with the traditions of the world?s greatest and oldest civilizations like those of the Chinese, the Egyptians, and the Greeks.
Cultural practices are those that define a people. They give them not only great honor when recognized but also distinction from the rest. The great art that they practice have withstood the great changes surrounding them, thus preserving each population?s identity.
The Ibaloi ethnolinguitic group?s lost art of mummification is just one of the many rituals that give them distinction. Not only does it contribute to the many assets of the Filipino culture, but it also proves the ability of the practice to withstand time and be amazingly transmitted by mere oral traditions until the late 1800?s. The researchers are convinced that during those times, this practice of mummification had been handed down from generation to generation. Their way of communication, considered as folk media, paved the way for them to be known locally and internationally.
The researchers believe that any further study done on the Ibaloi ethnolinguistic group and their practice of mummification will prove to be a way of promoting the enrichment of their culture. That folk media in itself, without the continuing advancement of technology, can preserve a group?s indigenous burial practice. If this be realized it will put the country?s name beside, if not on top, of all the others.
Significance of the Study
Mummification has become an integral part in the identification of the Ibaloi as a people, that in a wider perspective may give identity to the Filipinos as a nation if and only if this art be given due preservation. This study aims to pursue a deeper understanding of the details on the basic elements in the transfer of the traditional practice that helped sustain its existence until the late 18th century, which the researchers believe to be folk media.
Furtherance of the people?s culture and the utilization of the cultural properties will be further enhanced with supplementary details on the oral transmission of cultures and the likes that this study aims to contribute to the society.
The researchers believe that their study?s success may mean preservation of other ethnolinguistic group?s tradition by learning from booth the Ibaloi?s accomplishments and failures.
?Quest for Immortality? is a study that concentrates entirely on the effectivity of Folk Media in the transfer of the Ibaloi death rituals most specifically, Ba-diw, Madmad, and Mummification.
This study looks back to the Ibaloi history to further understand its past and study in close details how Folk Media, as a medium, played a crucial role in altering one?s history and making it what it is today. Chants performed by these people are the concentrate proofs of how important Folk Media was and is to them. The Ibaloi may have not realized or noticed it, but they have been using it to hand down traditions for hundreds and hundreds of years.
 fytingfish · Fri May 13, 2005 @ 05:48am · 0 Comments |
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