Igorrotes at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Seattle, WA, 1909
Igorrote Village was the Premier attraction of the A.Y.P.E. Pay Streak.
Igorrote Village
Head Hunting, Dog Eating, Wild People from the Philippines
An Exposition of the Life of a Remarkable Wild People
The Star Feature of the Pay Streak
at the
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Seattle
“Living as they live at home”
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The majority of the following text is verbatim (sic) from a brochure published by the
University Publishing Co., Seattle and Copyright 1906 by the Filipino Exhibition Co.
Facts about the most interesting people in the Philippine Islands Commandingly located at the head of the south Pay Streak, beneath a roof of trees, is picturesquely simple village of the barbaric Bontoc Igorrotes, the remarkable primitive wild people from the mountain fastness of Luzon, in the Philippine Islands. Here, in the greatest of all special attractions, there are fifty of these strange head-hunting, dog-eating people, men women and cute children. Their presence affords visitors to the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition an opportunity to study at close range the life, manners, customs and industries of these interesting and likeable children of nature, who are still in the childhood of a race, as were our own ancestors in the early years of the Christian era. Untouched by outside culture, the Igorrotes live in the village as they do at home.
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| Commandingly located at the head of the south Pay Streak, beneath a roof of trees, is the picturesquely simple village of the barbaric Bontoc Igorrotes |
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| Igorrote Village was the Premier attraction of the Pay Streak. |
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| Here, in the greatest of all special attractions, there are fifty of these strange head-hunting, dog-eating people, men women and cute children. |
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| Performances, consisting of war games and ceremonial dances, tribal songs, spear throwing, tree climbing, sham battles, etc., are given throughout the day and evening. |
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| The Star Feature of the Pay Streak, from the South. |
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| The Star Feature of the Pay Streak, from the North. |
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The Village
In the Village are to be found a score of grass thatched houses of the various types to be found in Igorot-land. Rich men’s houses, a “fa-wi” for the boys and unmarried men; an “o-lag or dormitory for the girls and unmarried women: poor men’s houses; others where young couples are undergoing trial marriages; the “a-to” and “pa-ba foo-nan” or public building, which constitute the home of ceremonials, and a typical “granary” used as a commissary.
Scattered around the Village are enclosures where the natives are working at their primitive industries, the women weaving the gaudy “gee-strings,” with which the men clothe themselves, as well as the cloth for the jackets and skirts and girdies worn by the girls and women. The men are at work at the strange forge, fashioning the head-axes and spears which they use in war and the chase; hewing and mortising the timbers for a house, and carving war shields; others making pocket hats and baskets of rattan strip pings, while three others of the tribe mould and finish the brass pipes used by both men and women. There is never an idle moment in this busy colony and the Village teems with life of a people thousands of years backward in the scale of civilization, struggling to solve the play of the mysterious forces of nature.
Population and Country
There are in all about 300,000 Igorrotes, comprising many dialect groups. They live in the mountain vastness of Luzon, at an elevation of 2,000 to 5,000 feet, and the Bontoc country is devoid of roads and bridges. There is no tropical growth in the higher altitudes, the forest growth being principally pine. The days are warm, not hot, and the nights are so cool that Americans require several blankets.
Government
The Igorrotes live in towns for mutual protection against neighboring enemies. The town is divided into “a-to,” or wards; each a-to is governed by the “old and wise” men, who perpetuate their council by filling vacancies and electing their own successors. As there are no taxes, there is no “rake-off” or “graft.” Hence there is no “head-man” in the community.
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| The women weaving the gaudy “gee-strings,” with which the men clothe themselves, as well as the cloth for the jackets and skirts and girdies worn by the girls and women. |
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| Scattered around the Village are enclosures where the natives are working at their primitive industries |
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| The men are at work at the strange forge, fashioning the head-axes and spears which they use in war and the chase. |
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| In the Village are to be found a score of grass thatched houses of the various types to be found in Igorot-land. |
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| The town is divided into “a-to,” or wards; each a-to is governed by the “old and wise” men, who perpetuate their council by filling vacancies and electing their own successors. As there are no taxes, there is no “rake-off” or “graft.” Hence there is no “head-man” in the community. |
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The People
Among the more than one hundred tribes of the Philippine Islands, the Igorrote is one of the most conspicuous, and easily the most interesting, because of his strange method of life and still stranger customs. So little known is that today he would be as great a curiosity in the City of Manila as here. He is of Malay origin, the “brown man,” without negroid kinship, of a superb bronze color, long straight hair, and remarkable physique, although as a rule not tall. He is the only native man in the Philippine Islands with a keen sense of humor. In all his movements he is singularly graceful. The men wear a breech-clout, called a “gee-string,” and a picturesque little hat, which is not worn as a head covering. but as a pocket. The women wear a short skirt and queer jacket made of native woven cloth.
The Igorrote is a pagan, the basis of his religion being animism, the wide-spread belief of every man in the spirit world. In some strange way he has grasped the idea of one god, Lu-ma-wig, who had a part in the beginning of all things, who lived with them twice as a man in Bontoc and taught them all they know that is worth while, and who still lives in the sky above to care for them There is no priesthood. Any Igorrote may appeal to Lu-ma-wig direct.
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| He is a barbarian in culture, having escaped from savagery through the necessity of earning his living. Unable to cultivate the lowlands because of floods, he terraces the mountain sides with stones, forming “sementeras,” where he grows rice in the dry season, while others grow theirs in the wet season. This is accomplished by diverting streams so that they will irrigate the sementeras.. |
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| He terraces the mountain sides with stones, forming “sementeras,” where he grows rice in the dry season, This is properly shown in the Village on an impressive scale. |
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Hunts Heads
For generations he has been a fierce hunter of human heads. There is constant warfare between neighboring towns, and head hunting is not only a means of self-defense, but in measure, a pastime, for after a member has taken and brought home the head of an enemy, a month is given over to happy celebration. There are rites and ceremonies peculiar to the event, and there are constant dances and feast’s, which bring to the otherwise hard-worked people relaxation and social intercourse.
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| For generations he has been a fierce hunter of human heads. |
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| There is constant warfare between neighboring towns, and head hunting is not only a means of self-defense, but in measure, a pastime. |
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| A-Long Long poses with his Head Axe, Spear and Shield. |
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Eats Dogs
All Igorrotes eat dog. It is a tribal dish (Canao). No female, however is permitted to partake of the dog flesh, because it is considered to have a quality which nerves up the fighter for the head-hunting expeditions, and the Igorrotes do not care to have their women fight. Before agreeing to come to this country, the Igorrotes exacted a promise that their customs would not be interfered with, and they are allowed to have their favorite dish at the Village. the dogs are carried to the “a-to,” or public building, the throat cut, the dog bled, singed, dressed, cut up, boiled and served in true Bontoc style.
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| The dogs are carried to the “a-to,” or public building, the throat cut, the dog bled, singed, dressed, cut up, boiled and served in true Bontoc style. |
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| The dogs are boiled and served in true Bontoc style. The men wear a breech-clout, called a “gee-string,” and a picturesque little hat, which is not worn as a head covering. but as a pocket. |
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The Marriage
Without a numerous family an Igorrote cannot acquire property, since it requires the joint labors of a family to build and cultivate the rice terraces. From earliest years, the Igorrote girl’s education is to the effect that unless she becomes a mother she can never be a permanent wife. Motherhood is exalted. Childless women are of no consequence in the community and are of the fallen class. When an Igorrote maiden fancies a buck, she will steal his pocket hat or pipe, which, in their primitive society, is the equivalent of a proposal, and is really an invitation to call on her at the “o-lag,” Should he reciprocate her regard, a trial marriage is entered upon, and with the coming of a child they are permanently married, the ceremonial lasting several days. Should the union not result in the birth of a child, it is usually terminated at the end of the year, both parties being free to seek other mates. Once permanently married, there is no divorce. There is no tradition in Bontoc of a couple ever having separated where the child has lived.
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| with the coming of a child they are permanently married, |
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Status of Women
Women are not required to do the hardest work, the building of houses, of terraces and irrigation ditches all being done by the men. All of the property given by her parents at the time of her marriage vests in her forever, and half the property acquired during the married life is hers. When she works for another she receives the same wages as a man for equal labor.
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| The women wear a short skirt and queer jacket made of native woven cloth. |
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| From earliest years, the Igorrote girl’s education is to the effect that unless she becomes a mother she can never be a permanent wife. |
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| Childless women are of no consequence in the community. |
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| When she works for another she receives the same wages as a man for equal labor. |
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| There are rites and ceremonies peculiar to the event, and there are constant dances and feast’s, which bring to the otherwise hard-worked people relaxation and social intercourse. |
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| He is of Malay origin, the “brown man,” without negroid kinship, of a superb bronze color, long straight hair, and remarkable physique, although as a rule not tall. |
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| He is the only native man in the Philippine Islands with a keen sense of humor. In all his movements he is singularly graceful. |
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| Performances, consisting of war games and ceremonial dances, tribal songs, spear throwing, tree climbing, sham battles, etc., are given throughout the day and evening. |
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| There is no tropical growth in the higher altitudes, the forest growth being principally pine. The Igorrote is a master at tree climbing. |
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| Tree climbing at the 1904 St. Louis Fair |
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| Igorrote life makes their trip to the Village an ever-to-be-remembered pleasure, full of amusement and human interest. Here a visitor has her bracelet examined. |
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| Their presence affords visitors to the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition an opportunity to study at close range the life, manners, customs and industries of these interesting and likeable children of nature, who are still in the childhood of a race, as were our own ancestors in the early years of the Christian era. |
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