The Aeta (pronounced as “eye-ta,”), Agta or Ayta are an indigenous people who live in scattered,

isolated mountainous parts of Luzon, Philippines. They are considered to be Negritos, who are dark to
very dark brown-skinned and tend to have features such as a small stature, small frame, curly to kinky
afro-like textured hair with a higher frequency of naturally lighter hair color (blondism) relative to the
general population, small nose, and dark brown eyes. They are thought to be among the earliest
inhabitants of the Philippines, preceding the Austronesian migrations.

The Aeta were included in the group of people termed “Negrito” duringSpanish colonial rule as Negritos.
Various Aeta groups in northern Luzon are known as “Pugut” or “Pugot,” a name designated by their
Ilocano-speaking neighbors, and which is the colloquial term for those with darker complexions. In
Ilocano, the word also means “goblin” or “forest spirit.”

A trio of Aetas performing on stage at a show inSM City Clark.

History

The Aeta people in the Philippines are Australo-Melanesians. Today other groups of Australo-
Melanesians are the Aborigines in Australia, Papuans and the Melanesians of the Solomon Islands,
Vanuatu, Fiji, New Caledonia etc. The history of the Aeta continues to confound anthropologists and
archaeologists. One theory suggests that the Aeta are the descendants of the original inhabitants of the
Philippines, who, contrary to their sea-faring Austronesian neighbors, arrived through land bridges that
linked the country with the Asian mainland about 30,000 years ago. Unlike many of their Austronesian
counterparts, the Aetas have shown resistance to change. The attempts of theSpaniards to settle them
in reducciones or reservations all throughout Spanish rule failed.

The Aeta are an indigenous people who live in scattered, isolated mountainous parts of the Philippines.
Aetas are considered as the earliest inhabitants of the Philippines, preceding the Austronesian
migrations. They are nomadic and build only temporary shelters made of sticks driven to the ground and
covered with the palm of banana leaves. The well-situated and more modernized Aetas have moved to
villages and areas of cleared mountains. They live in houses made of bamboo and cogon grass. Aetas are
found in Zambales, Tarlac, Pampanga, Angeles, Olongapo, Panay, Bataan and Nueva Ecija. But because
of the Mount Pinatubo eruption, some of them moved to resettlement areas in Pampanga and Tarlac.

Young girl of Mariveles, 1901

Mining, deforestation, illegal logging, and slash-and-burn farming has caused the indigenous population
in all parts of the Philippines to steadily decrease to the point where they number in the thousands
today. The Philippines affords them no protection. In addition, the Aeta have become extremely
nomadic due to social and economic strain on their culture and way of life that had previously remained
unchanged for thousands of years.

Demographics

The life expectancy at birth of the Aeta is just 16.5 years, with only a third of children surviving to
adulthood at 15 years – at which point life expectancy is still only 27.3 years. Young women reach full
adult height (average 140 cm) at age 12 or 13. The most thorough longitudinal study done of any Aeta
group (or any ethnic community) is available on the Web.

image

Culture

Language

All Aeta communities have adopted the language of their Austronesian Filipino neighbors, which have
sometimes diverged over time to become different languages. These include, in order of number of
speakers, Mag-indi, Mag-antsi, Abellen, Ambala, and Mariveleño.

Religion

There are different views on the dominant character of the Aeta religion. Those who believe they are
monotheisticargue that various Aeta tribes believe in a supreme being who rules over lesser spirits or
deities, with the Aeta of Mt. Pinatubo worshipping “Apo Na”. The Aetas are also animists. For example,
the Pinatubo Aeta believe in environmental spirits such as anito and kamana. They believe that good
and evil spirits inhabit the environment, such as the spirits of the river, sea, sky, mountain, hill, valley
and other places.

No special occasion is needed for the Aeta to pray, although there is a clear link between prayer and
economicactivities. The Aeta dance before and after a pig hunt. The night before Aeta women gather
shellfish, they perform a dance which is partly an apology to the fish and partly a charm to ensure the
catch. Similarly, the men hold a beedance before and after the expeditions for honey.

In the mid-60s missionaries of the American-based Evangelical Protestant mission group New Tribes
Mission, in their effort to reach every Philippine tribal group with the Christian Gospel reached out to
the Agtas/Aetas. The mission agency provided education including pastoral training for natives to reach
members of their own tribe. Today, a large percentage of Agtas/Aetas of Zambales and Pampanga are
Evangelicals. Jehovah’s Witnesses also have members of the Aeta people. (See 1993 Yearbook of
Jehovah’s Witnesses)

Clothing
Their traditional clothing is very simple. The young women wear wrap around skirts. Elder women wear
bark cloth, while elder men wear loin cloths. The old women of the Agta wear a bark cloth strip which
passes between the legs, and is attached to a string around the waist. Today most Aeta who have been
in contact with lowlanders have adopted the T-shirts, pants and rubber sandals commonly used by the
latter.

Practices

The Aetas are skillful in weaving and plaiting.

Women exclusively weave winnows and mats. Only men make armlets. They also produce raincoats
made of palm leaves whose bases surround the neck of the wearer, and whose topmost part spreads
like a fan all around the body.

Medicine

Aeta women are known around the country as experts of herbal medicines.

Art

A traditional form of visual art is body scarification. The Aetas intentionally wound the skin on their
back, arms, breast, legs, hands, calves and abdomen, and then they irritate the wounds with fire, lime
and other means to form scars.

Other “decorative disfigurements” include the chipping of the teeth. With the use of a file, the Dumagat
modify their teeth during late puberty. The teeth are dyed black a few years afterwards.

The Aetas generally use ornaments typical of people living in subsistence economies. Flowers and leaves
are used as earplugs for certain occasions. Girdles, necklaces, and neckbands of braided rattan
incorporated with wild pig bristles are frequently worn.

Music

The Aeta have a musical heritage consisting of various types of agung ensembles – ensembles composed
of large hanging, suspended or held, bossed/knobbed gongs which act as drone without any
accompanying melodic instrument.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeta_peoples

← Video: Isolation or inclusion – can India protect an ancient Andaman tribe on the verge of extinction?
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