Pre-Hispanic burial secret now almost forgotten
THE Ifugaos, whose ancestors carved the more than 2,000-yearold Banaue Rice Terraces in the mountains, traditionally do not observe All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day but their burial tradition can be gleaned from a secret they have kept even before the Spaniards came to
How they honored their dead and the tradition they observed in relation to it can be traced back to the time when they began building
These are the pre-Hispanic gungat burial chambers that have been
Villagers believed that centuries ago, the gungat were created by their ammod (ancestors) during the time when the terraces were also being they also created the the gungat for
the gungat could stand any impact Ifugao gungat have a small entrance and tunnel that leads to the burial
As the number of their buried kinsmen increased, the gungat became multi-chambered, each chamber had space enough for the
Inside were the bones of the more distantly departed, some still in their traditional sitting position particularly in the deeper end of
Except for the family who owned them, the existence of and location of these burial sites were not known
One of these ancient gungat in Ifugao province can be found in Hingyon town which is believed have been tended for years by a cer for his ancestors until he himself
Hingyon, now a 5th class municipality, was carved out of the municipalities of Banaue (where pumapayao or builders of the rice Hingyon is located 358 kilometers
Like all other Ifugaos, the people of Hingyon, if legend is to be be
Former Vice Mayor Marcos Bantiyan said the kadangyan (wealthy) are those who are privileged enough
American anthropologists like Samuel Kane, Harold Conklin, and found in their field studies that one indication of an individual’s or household head’s social status is the number of pigs or carabaos he
The butchering of the carabao usually goes hand in hand with how wide an area of the rice terraces a kadangyan owned because the more terraces he owned, the wealthier he was, the more respected he was in his village and the adjoining vil adorned with the skulls of carabaos
But today, a new concept of the kadangyan has emerged in the villages; considered rich are no longer those who own the widest terraces but those who have much money, or who have much cash whether earned locally or from working
The Bantiyan clan of Bito village in Hingyon town is among the kadangyan who have maintained their gungat, continuing the tradition that
A Bantiyan clan member said his father, the late Malayyu Lah-u - dan (descendant) of the clan, was among the last to be buried among the thousands of their ancestors in
Entombment of a newly departed one in the family gungat was as an arduous affair with pallbearers carrying the remains by trekking through allowed to bear the dead and they
After the burial ceremonies are carved out of the gungat must be put back inside immediately so that it would not smell, be dug out by dogs and to prevent insects from well with kabite or tuping (cut rock) so that the mouth of the gungat is airtight and moisture would not
Joseph Habbiling, a seminary graduate, said the gungat is the original lubuk (cemetery) of the Ifugao Jesus Christ in was entombed in a
He added that the Ifugaos now bury their dead in modern cemeteries which are more accessible and practice even for those who still opt
“Many among the Ifugaos have embraced Christianity, and thus, there were changes in our burial practice even in the gungat among
He added that the old practice was for the dead to be placed in bayyaung (blanket) for the dead
A great number of Ifugao natives had left the mountains and settled in the lowlands in neighboring Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino provinces where they now thrive in gungat, which is an important part of the rich Ifugao culture, is slowly