Our study has brought out certain general results. We have seen
that Tinguian folklore has much in common with that of other tribes
and lands. While a part of this similarity is doubtless due to
borrowing--a process which can still be seen at work--a considerable
portion of the tales is probably of local and fairly recent origin,
while the balance appears to be very old. These older tales are so
intimately interwoven with the ceremonies, beliefs, and culture of this
people that they may safely be considered as having been developed by
them. They are doubtless much influenced by present day conditions,
for each story teller must, even unconsciously, read into them some
of his own experiences and the current beliefs of the tribe. At the
same time these traditional accounts doubtless exercise a potent
influence on the thoughts, beliefs, and actions of the people. In
Tinguian society, where custom still holds undisputed sway, these
well-known tales of past times must tend to cast into the same mould
any new facts or experiences which come to them.
We believe that we are justified when we take the viewpoint of
the Tinguian and consider "the stories of the first times" as
essentially very old. How old it is impossible to state definitely,
but a careful analysis of our material justifies us in believing that
they reflect a time before the people possessed terraced rice fields,
when domestic work animals were still unknown, and the horse had not
yet been introduced into their land. That these are not recent events
is attested by the great part they all now play in the ceremonial
and economic life. It is evident that outside influences of great
importance were introduced at a period later than the time when the
Chinese first began to trade along the coasts of the Philippines for
the prized jars, which play such an important rôle in the mythology,
are not to be identified as those of native make but are ancient
Chinese vessels dating back at least to the fourteenth and perhaps
even to the tenth century [81].
It is probable that the glass, porcelain, and agate beads, which
are second only to the jars in importance, are exceedingly old. Many
ancient specimens are still in use and are held for as fabulous prices
as are those found among the interior tribes of Borneo. Nieuwenhuis
has shown that the manufacture of beads had become a great industry
in the middle ages, and had extended even to China and Japan, whence
the products may have spread contemporaneously with the pottery [82].
We have seen that, for the most part, the life, customs, and beliefs
which appear in our reconstruction of "the first times" agrees
closely with present conditions; certain things which seem formerly
to have been of prime importance--such as the sending of a betel-nut
covered with gold to invite guests to a festival or ceremony--appear
to have their echo in present conditions. The betel-nut which played
such a momentous part in the old times still holds its place in the
rituals of the many ceremonies, although it is not now much used in
daily life. The magic of to-day is less powerful than formerly, but is
still a tremendous force. The communication of the ancient people with
other members of the animate world, as well as with the inanimate and
spiritual, and their metamorphosis into animals and the like, offers
nothing strange or inconsistent to the people of to-day. They even now
talk to jars, they converse with spirits who come to them through the
bodies of their mediums, and people only recently deceased are known to
have had the power of changing themselves, at will, into other forms.
In short, there is no sharp break between the mode of thought of to-day
and that exhibited in the folklore. It is true that the tales give
sanction to some things not in agreement with Tinguian usage--such,
for instance, as the marriage of relatives, or the method of disposing
of the dead--and it may be that we have here a remembrance of customs
which long ago fell into disuse.
In a previous paper [83] the writer showed that there have been many
migrations into Abra from the north, south, and west. A part of the
emigrants have become thoroughly amalgamated with the Tinguian people
and have doubtless introduced some part of their material culture
and beliefs. This helps us to understand such conflicts as we have
already noted in regard to the place held by thunder and lightning
in the spirit world, as to the future abode of the spirits of the
departed, as well as other discrepancies which the limits of this
paper have prevented us from discussing.
It is not impossible that those customs of "the first times," which
are at variance with those of to-day, may represent older ideas which
have been swamped, or, on the other hand, the memory of the strange
customs once practiced by the emigrants may have caused them to be
attributed to the people of the tales.
Finally, we believe that a study of Tinguian mythology has shown us
that we can gain a real knowledge of the past of a people through
their folklore; that we can secure an insight into their mental life;
and can learn something of the valuation they attach to certain of
their activities and beliefs, which to us may seem at the surface
trite and trivial.