SAMBAL & BOLINAO

SAMBAL

ORIGIN
Austronesian
LANGUAGE
Sambal, Bolinao, Botolan, Ilocano, Pangasinan, Kapampangan, Tagalog
RELIGION:
The Sambal people have a complex indigenous religion since before Spanish colonization. The
highest-ranking shaman was called a bayoc, who consecrated other shamans and led rituals to the spirits.

HISTORY
● The Sambals were known to be militant and fierce fighters, notorious for their bloody raids on
Christian settlements.
● The Sambal were headhunters, with similar headhunting traditions as the Cordillerans.
● In the Boxer Codex, they were said to immediately cut off the head of people they kill with a
bararao dagger.They then make a crown-shaped incision on the head and remove the brains.
● During the first hundred years of Spanish rule, the Sambal, like most other non-Spanish groups in
the Philippines during the colonial era, had their village structures reorganized and were forced
into reducciones in order to assimilate them into Spanish cultural norms.
● During the colonial period, the Sambals primarily sold valuable timber, which they shipped by
indigenous boats to Manila.

BOLINAO

The Bolinao Sambal live in western Pangasinan (Ilocos Region), particularly in Bolinao and Anda Island.
This area is geographically close to the province of Zambales, where the Sambal are mostly found.

Affinity Bloc: Malay Peoples

People Cluster: Filipino, Tribal
Language: Bolinao- (smk), Ilocano, tagalog
Religion: Christianity - Roman Catholicism

HISTORY

● Bolinao has quite a mysterious past with neither an exact foundation date nor record on when it
was created.
● On September 19, 1988, The Municipal Council of Bolinao through Resolution no 104 adopted
the foundation date of July 25, 1575 in honor of the Patron Saint of the town, St James the Great.

THREE VERSION OF THE BOLINAO NAME

● Pamulinawen Tree
>The boli-bolinao tree was of the Molave family
● Monamon Fish
>The fish commonly called Bolinao by Filipinos.
● Bolido & Anao
> origins is a story of the town Chieftain’s son Bolido and beautiful Anao or Malinaw to whom he
fell in love with.