ILONGOT ARMBAND BRACELET DAVID HOWARD TRIBAL ART ILONGOT ARMBAND BRACELET

ILONGOT TRIBE PHILIPPINES BRACELET DAVID HOWARD TRIBAL ART

ILONGOT BRACELET DAVID HOWARD TRIBAL ART

ILONGOT TRIBAL USED ARMBAND BRACELET DAVID HOWARD TRIBAL ART

ILONGOT: CEREMONIAL ARMBAND
MOTHER OF PEARL, FERN TRUNK, WOOD,
GLASS BEADS, METAL, FIBER

The Ilongots, also known as Bugkalots, are well known for their intense aggressiveness and cultural conservatism. Their communities straddle the boundaries of Quirino, Aurora, and Nueva Vizcaya, mostly in Dupax, Kasibu, and the Sierra Madre and Caraballo mountains in the headwaters of the Cagayan, Tabayon, and Conwap Rivers. The Ilongot, who are of Indonesian descent, have five subgroups: Italon, Engongot, Kadayakan, Abaca, and Dagkan. Each group has
its own dialect and customs.

Marriage in the Ilongot tribe is characterised with several important practices and traditions. These include the bachelor successfully engaging in headhunt, courtship which includes casual field labour, gift giving and sex. Formal discussions among the the couples’ parents are followed after this before the actual marriage ceremony takes place. There are no restrictions as to who can marry whom (in terms of kinship), although it is preferred that one marries a closely related cousin (because community leadership is held by sets of male siblings).

Presently, there are about 2,500 Ilongots. The Ilongots tend to inhabit areas close to rivers, as they provide a foodsource and a means for transportation. Their languages are the Ilongot language and the Ilocano language, currently spoken
by about 50,000 people.

The Ilongot are a tribe who inhabit the southern Sierra Madre and Caraballo Mountains, on the east side of Luzon Island in the Philippines, primarily in the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Ecija and along the mountain border between the provinces of Quirino and Aurora. An alternative name of this tribe and its language is "Bugkalots."

In Ivan Salva’s study in 1980 of the Ilongots, she described “gender differences related to the positive cultural value placed on adventure, travel, and knowledge of the external world.” Ilongot men, more often than women, visited distant places. They acquired knowledge of the outside world, amassed experiences there, and returned in order to share their knowledge, adventures, and feelings in a public oratory in order to pass on their knowledge to others. The Ilongot men received acclaim as a result of their experiences. Because they lacked external experience on which to base knowledge and expression, Ilongot women had inferior prestige.

On the basis of Michelle Rosaldo’s study and findings of other stateless societies, anthropologists must distinguish between prestige systems and actual power within a society. Just because a male has a high level of prestige, he may not own much economic or political power compared to others that are less prestigious within the society.

Renato Rosaldo went on to study headhunting among the Ilongots in his book Ilongot Headhunting, 1883-1974: A Study in Society and History.

Because of the early experiences of boys living in a close relationship with both parents, who each participate in "motherly" roles, they are relatively unconcerned about the need for achievement or even defaming women. Men involved in household chores do not claim submission to their wives. In social life, the Ilongots show little stratification and sexual inequality but it is certainly present. It is minimized by the fact that women have the right, as well as feel confident enough, to speak their minds. Finally, we find the home gender relations based on equality, focusing on cooperation instead of competition and there is a real intimacy between husband and wife. Rosaldo's conclusion is that perhaps the most egalitarian societies are those where no sex order authority exists, and where the
focus of social life itself is the home.