Kankanay Ceremonies / (American Archaeology and Ethnology)

by C. R. Moss

In agriculture and the industrial arts the Kankanay and the Nabaloi have made about equal progress, and practically everything that might be said of the one applies equally to the other. The standard of living is about the same, except that as a rule the Nabaloi have more rice. The houses and the method of their construction are similar, but there is a larger proportion of good houses among the Nabaloi. The household furnishings of the two peoples consist of the same or of similar articles.

Custom Law

The custom law of the southern Kankanay differs from that of the Nabaloi only in unimportant details.[1]

The order of inheritance is the same, and the general principle that property must go to the next generation and that parents, brothers, and uncles can hold it in trust only, applies to the southern Kankanay as well as to the Nabaloi. Another principle of common application by the two tribes is that all relatives of the same degree, whether male or female, inherit equally.

The southern Kankanay and the Nabaloi also have similar customs in regard to marriage, and children are betrothed by their parents in the same way. Among the northern Kankanay the young people choose their own spouses as they do in Bontoc.

Divorces among the Kankanay are rather frequent, though they claim that they are never divorced after children have been born. I know of two cases of divorce, however, between Kankanay wives and their Nabaloi husbands after there were children.

In general, the customs of the southern Kankanay and the Nabaloi regarding the discovery and punishment of crime are the same; but a larger proportion of cases are settled by the Kankanay according to their old custom law, since the Nabaloi have lately become more prone to take their troubles to the white officials.

All the ordeals known to the Nabaloi for discovering criminals or testing the veracity of witnesses are used by the Benguet Kankanay. In addition to these they have the test called manman, decided by looking at the gall of two chickens furnished by the respective contestants. The Kankanay as well as the Nabaloi contestant always appeals to the sun.

Taken as a whole the custom law of the southern Kankanay and the Nabaloi is the same; and judging from the information at present available we may conclude that all the Igorot groups administer justice according to the same basic principles.