Kankanay Ceremonies / (American Archaeology and Ethnology)

by C. R. Moss

The Kankanay ceremonial system is similar to that of the Nabaloi.[1] The rituals are the same in general purpose; they are based on a similar belief in spirits; the important elements of both systems are sacrifice and prayer; and the functions of the priests are the same. The ceremonies of each group must be given in their appropriate places, and a particular sacrifice must be offered in connection with each, though there is probably more latitude of choice among the Kankanay than among the Nabaloi.

There are Kankanay ceremonies corresponding in purpose to nearly all the Nabaloi ceremonies, but as a rule the spoken ritual is quite different. Some of the corresponding ceremonies are called by the same name, and some by different names. In a few cases ceremonies called by the same name are celebrated for entirely different purposes by the two groups.

There is not the same uniformity in the ceremonies celebrated in the various towns of the Kankanay as there is in those of the Nabaloi. As a rule the same rituals are held in the towns of northwestern Benguet, in Ampasungan of Lepanto, and in Bacun of Amburayan. Buguias and Mancayan have the majority of these ceremonies, but not all. On the other hand, a few are celebrated in the latter towns which are unknown in the former.

From the data available, it seems that there is even more difference between the ceremonies of the northern and southern Kankanay than there is between those of the latter and the Nabaloi. It is quite certain, however, that all the Lepanto ceremonies have not been recorded, and when this has been done the rituals of the two sections may show a closer resemblance than at present appears to be the case.

Spirits and Deities

The southern Kankanay have no term by which a supreme ruler of the universe is designated, and it is doubtful if any Kankanay, with the exception of a few who live near the coast, have any conception of such a personage. The translation of “Lumawig” as God in connection with the description of some of the ceremonies presented in Robertson’s publication on the Lepanto Igorot,[2] may be explained by the tendency of the Ilocano township secretaries who did the recording, to interpret Igorot rituals in terms of the Christian religion.

It seems that all the Igorot tribes that have so far been studied recognize Lumawig as one of their great culture heroes. The Benguet Kankanay say that he once lived on earth and was one of them, and that when he died his soul did not go to the mountains with the souls of the other Igorot, but ascended to the sky, where it still remains with the souls of Kabigat, Amdoyaan, and the other great heroes of the past. All the culture heroes are objects of worship.

The kakading are the souls of the dead. They go to the mountains but sometimes return to their villages and cause sickness in order that sacrifice will be necessary. The tanong and amud are souls of ancestors.

The Kankanay as well as the Nabaloi believe in the existence of spirits other than the souls of the dead, which cause sickness or bad luck. Their concept of the special functions of each class of spirits, however, is not in all cases the same as that of the Nabaloi. The belief in the amdag which catch the souls of the living with a net, and in the pasang which prevent the birth of children, is common to both tribes. On the other hand, the ampasit and the timungau, malevolent spirits of the Nabaloi, seem to be regarded rather as culture heroes by the Kankanay. In addition to the amdag and the pasang, the southern Kankanay recognize the following: