Figure 1.
Child's Cradle and Jumper.
Children are seldom punished or scolded. All the family exhibit real affection for the youngsters, and find time to devote to them. A man is never too old or too busy to take up and amuse or caress the babies. Kissing seems to be unknown, but a similar sign of affection is given by placing the lips to the face and drawing the breath in suddenly. A mother is often heard singing to her babes, but the songs are usually improvised, and generally consist of a single sentence repeated over and over. Page 272Aside from the daily bath, the child has little to disturb it during the first five or six years of its life. It has no birthdays, its hair is never cut, unless it be that it is trimmed over the eyes to form bangs, and it wears clothing only on very special occasions. The children are by no means innocent in sexual matters; but absolute familiarity with nudity has removed all curiosity and false modesty, and the relations between the sexes are no freer than in civilized communities.
When garments are put on, they are identical with those worn by the elders. At all ages the people will discard their clothing without any sense of shame, whenever the occasion demands; as, for instance, the fording of a stream, or when a number of both sexes happen to be bathing at the same time in the village pool. This does not lead to immodesty or lewdness, and a person who is careless about the acts, which are not considered proper in Tinguian society, is an object of scorn quite as much as he would be in a more advanced community.
The first toys generally consist of pigs, carabao, or horses made by sticking bamboo legs into a sweet potato or mango. A more elaborate plaything is an imitation snake made of short bamboo strips fastened together with cords at top, center, and bottom. When this is held near the middle by the thumb and forefinger, it winds and curls about as if alive.
Stilts of bamboo, similar to those used in America, are sometimes used by the older children, but the more popular local variety is made by fastening cords through the tops of half coconut shells. The youth holds a cord in each hand, stands on the shells with the lines passing between the first two toes, and then walks.
Flat boards with cords attached become “carabao sleds,” and in these immense loads of imaginary rice are hauled to the granaries. A similar device serves as a harrow, while a stick is converted into a “plough” or “horse,” as is desired. Imitation carabao yokes are much prized, and the children pass many hours serving as draught animals or drivers. The bull-roarer, made by putting a thin piece of bamboo on a cord and whirling it about the head, makes a pleasing noise, and is excellent to use in frightening stray horses. Blow-guns, made out of bamboo or the hollow tubes of plants, vie in popularity with a pop-gun of similar construction. A wad of leaves is driven through with a plunger, and gives a sharp report, as it is expelled.
Tops are among the prized possessions of the boys. They are spun, or are wound with cord, and are thrown overhand at those of other players, with the intention of splitting or marking them.
Quite as popular, with the small girls, are tiny pestles with which they industriously pound rice chaff, in imitation of their mothers. Page 273
While still mere babies, the boys begin to play with toy knives made of wood, but by the time they are seven or eight years of age, they are permitted to carry long bolos, and before puberty they are expert with the weapons used by the tribe (Plate [XI]). In the mountain regions in particular, it is a common occurrence for groups of youngsters, armed with reed spears and palm-bark shields, to carry on mock battles. They also learn to make traps and nets, and oftentimes they return to the village with a good catch of small birds.
Full grown dogs are seldom friendly or considered as pets; but puppies, small chickens, parrakeets, pigs, and baby carabao make excellent playfellows, and suffer accordingly. From the day of its birth, the young carabao is taken possession of by the children, who will fondle and tease it, ride on its back, or slide off over its head or tail. Soon they gain confidence, and find similar amusements with the full grown animals. These huge beasts are often surly or vicious, especially around white men, but they recognize their masters in the little brown folk, and submit meekly to their antics. In fact, the greater part of the care of these animals is entrusted to young boys.
When not engaged in some of the amusements already mentioned, it is probable that the youngster is one of the group of naked little savages, which races through the village on the way to the swimming hole, or climbs tall trees from the top of which sleeping pigs can be easily bombarded. Should the children be so fortunate as to possess a tin can, secured from some visiting traveller, they quickly convert it into a drum or gansa, and forthwith start a celebration. All can dance and sing, play on nose flutes, bamboo guitars, or Jew's harps.
In addition to songs of their own composition, there are other songs, which are heard whenever the children are at play. They make a swing by tying ropes to a carabao yoke, and attach it to a limb; then, as they swing, they sing:
“Pull swing. My swing is a snake.
Do not writhe like a snake. My swing is a big snake.
Do not turn and twist. My swing is a lizard.
Do not tremble or shake.”
When a group gathers under a house to pop corn in the burning rice chaff, they chant:
“Pop, pop, become like the privates of a woman.
Make a noise, make a noise, like the clay jar.
Pop, pop, like the coconut shell dish.
Sagai, sagai,[36] make a noise like the big jar.”
When the smoke blows toward a part of the children, the others sing over and over:
“Deep water here; high land there.”
A favorite game is played by a number of children. Part stand on the edge of a bank, part below. Those above sing, “Jump down, where the big stone is, the big stone which swallows people. Big stone, which swallows people, where are you?” To this the children below reply, “I am here. I am the big rock which swallows men. Come down here.” As those on the bank jump down, they are piled upon, and a free-for-all tussel ensues. In the midst of this, one of the players suddenly sings out, “I am a deer in—, I am very fat.” With this he starts off on a run, and the rest of the party, now suddenly transformed into dogs, take up the chase, yelping and barking. When the deer becomes tired, he makes for the water, where he is considered safe; but if he is caught, he is rolled and bitten by the dogs.
Another game played by both boys and girls is known as maysansani, and is much like hide-and-go-seek. One boy holds out an open hand, and the others lay their fingers in his palm, while the leader counts, maysansani, duan-nani, mataltali,[37] ocop. As ocop (“four” or “ready”) is pronounced, the boy quickly closes his hand in order to catch a finger. If he succeeds, the prisoner puts his hands over his eyes, and the leader holds him, while the others run and hide. When all are ready, he is released, and then must find all the players; or he is beaten on the forearm with the first and second fingers of all the participants, or they may pick him up by his head and feet, and whirl him about.
Like European children, they have a set of small sayings or acts for use on appropriate occasions. A youngster may come up to another who is eating a luscious mango; when requested for a bite, he is apt to draw down the lower lid of his eye and coolly answer, “I will make a sound like swallowing for you,” and then go on with the feast. He may even hold out the tempting fruit, as if to comply with the request, then suddenly jerk it back and shout “kilat.”[38] This is often the signal for a scuffle.
As the children grow older, they begin more and more to take their place in the village life. The little girl becomes the chief guardian of a new arrival in the family; and with the little one strapped on her back, she romps and plays, while the baby enjoys it all or sleeps serenely (Plate [XII]). The boy also assists his father and mother in the fields, but still he finds some time for games of a more definite character than those just described. Probably the most popular of these is known as agbita or līpī. Page 275
This is played with the large disk-shaped seeds of the līpī plant (Ilocano līpai). Each player puts two disks in line, then all go to a distance and shoot toward them. The shooter is held between the thumb and first finger of the left hand, and is propelled forward by the index finger of the right. The one whose seed goes the farthest gets first shot, and the others follow in order. All seeds knocked down belong to the player, and if any are still in line after each has had his turn, the leader shoots again. When each boy has had two shots, or when all the disks are down, a new line is made; and he whose seed lies at the greatest distance shoots first.
Another common game is patpatinglad, which has certain resemblances to cricket. A small cylinder-shaped missel, called papa-anak (“little duck”), about four inches long, is set in a shallow groove, so that one end stands free; it is then struck and batted with a bamboo stock—papa-ina (“mother duck”). The lad who has driven his missel the farthest is the winner, and hence has the privilege of batting away the papa-anak of the other players, so that they will have to chase them. If he likes, he may take hold of the feet of a looser and compel him to walk on his hands to secure this missel. A loser is sometimes taken by the head and feet, and is swung in a circle,
A game frequently seen in the lowland valleys is also common to the Ilocano children, who call it San Pedro. Lines are drawn on the ground to enclose a space about thirty feet square (see diagram [Fig. 2]). The boys at d try to run between the lines, and at the same time evade the guards a, b, and c. Guard a can run along line 1, or 4 as far as 2. Guard b must stay on line 2; and c must keep on 3. When the runners are captured, they become the guards.