Mark Anthony T.

Lim (BSMT 3-7) Midterm Output

The Igorots

Igorot, (Tagalog: “Mountaineer”) any of various ethnic groups in the

mountains of northern Luzon, Philippines, all of whom keep, or have
kept until recently, their traditional religion and way of life. Some live
in the tropical forests of the foothills, but most live in rugged
grassland and pine forest zones higher up. The Igorot numbered
about 1.5 million in the early 21st century. Their languages belong to
the northern Luzon subgroup of the Philippine languages, which
belong to the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) family.

The Igorot peoples are Austronesians. They were known in earlier

days for their wars and practice of headhunting. The Spaniards
forcibly partially subdued them during the colonial occupation of the
Philippines, that process being completed during the period of
U.S. hegemony. Ethnologists distinguish about 10 main ethnic groups,
each with its own dialect and culture. There are also variations within
these groups.
Mark Anthony T. Lim (BSMT 3-7) Midterm Output

Two broader groupings may be made of the Igorot as a whole: one,

by far the larger, comprises the peoples of the higher country
who cultivate wet rice, mostly in steplike terraces on the
mountainsides; the other comprises peoples of the lower rainforest
areas, who grow dry rice in seasonally shifting gardens. Within the
first group the Nabaloi or Ibaloi, Kankanay (Kankanai), Lepanto or
northern Kankanay, Bontoc (Bontok), southern Kalinga, and Tinggian
nearly all live in populous villages, but one ethnic unit, the Ifugao, has
small farmsteads of kinsmen dotted throughout the rice terraces. The
second group—the Gaddang, northern Kalinga, and Isneg or Apayao—
are sparsely settled in hamlets or farmsteads around which new
gardens are cleared as the soil is worked out; some Gaddang live in
tree houses.

Cultural elements common to the Igorot peoples as a whole include

metalworking in iron and brass, weaving, and animal sacrifice. They
believe in spirits, including those of ancestors, and have
complex rituals to propitiate them. There are no clans or tribes, and
political organization is generally limited to the village level. Kinship is
traced on both the paternal and the maternal sides, extending as far
as third cousins.