In American Archaeology and Ethnology
Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 1-186, plates 1-33
February 15, 1919
IFUGAO LAW
By R. F. BARTON
"We are likely to think of the savage as a freakish creature,
all moods--at one moment a friend, at the next moment a fiend. So
he might be were it not for the social drill imposed by his
customs. So he is, if you destroy his customs, and expect him
nevertheless to behave as an educated and reasonable being. Given,
then, a primitive society in a healthy and uncontaminated
condition, its members will invariably be found to be on the
average more law-abiding, as judged from the stand-point of their
own law, than is the case in any civilized state.
"Of course, if we have to do with a primitive society on the
down-grade--and very few that have been 'civilizaded,' as John
Stuart Mill terms it, at the hands of the white man are not on
the down-grade--its disorganized and debased custom no longer
serves a vital function. But a healthy society is bound, in a
wholesale way, to have a healthy custom."
R. R. Marrett, in Anthropology.
CONTENTS
Introduction
Page
The Ifugaos
Sources of Ifugao law and its present status of development
1. Relation of taboo to law
2. Scope of customary law
3. Connection of law and religion
4. General principles of the Ifugao legal system
5. Stage of development of Ifugao law
The Family Law
Marriage
6. Polygamy
7. Nature of marriage
8. Eligibility to marriage
9. The two ways in which marriage may be brought about
10. Contract marriage
11. Marriage ceremonials
12. Gifts to the kin of the bride: hakba
13. Obligations incurred by those who enter into a marriage
contract
14. The binawit relation
15. Property rights acquired by marriage
Remarriage of the widowed
16. The gibu payment to terminate marriage
Divorce
17. Divorce because of necessity
18. Divorce for mutual benefit
19. Divorce which may be demanded by either party
20. Cases where divorce may be demanded by one party or the other
21. The hudhud, or payment for mental anguish
22. Divorce ceremonies
23. Property settlements in case of divorce
Dependents in relation to family law
24. Adopted children
25. Servants
26. Slaves
Illegitimate children
27. Definition of illegitimacy; its frequency
28. Obligations of father to bastard child
29. Determination of parentage
Reciprocal obligation of parents and their children
30. Duties of parents to children
31. Obligations of children to parents
The Property Law
The kinds of property
32. The Ifugao's classification of properties
Family property
33. The Ifugao attitude toward family property
34. Rice lands
35. Forest lands
36. Heirlooms
37. Sale of family property
Personal property
38. Definition
39. Houses
40. Valuable trees
Perpetual tenure
41. Rice and forest lands
42. "Homesteading"
43. Paghok, or landmarks
44. Right of way through property owned by others
Transient tenure
45. Tenure of sweet potato fields
Transfers of property for a consideration
46. The balal
47. Sales of family property
48. Responsibility of seller after property has left his hands
Transfers of property arising from family relationships
49. Methods of transfer
50. Assignment and transfer of property during the lifetime of
the owner
51. Inheritance
52. The passing of property between relatives because of
relationship
53. The law of primogeniture
54. The passing of property to legitimate sons and daughters
by assignment or inheritance
55. The passing of property to other relatives
56. Property rights of bastards
57. Transfers of property to adopted children
58. Servants and slaves as inheritors
59. Wills and testaments
Settlements of debts of the aged and deceased
60. When the debtor has children
61. When the debtor is childless but leaves a spouse
62. Debts for which the kin of the deceased are held
63. Attitude toward debts
Borrowing and lending
64. Lupe, or interest
65. Patang, or interest paid in advance
66. Another form of patang
Go-betweens
67. The go-between
68. Responsibility of go-betweens
69. Conditions relieving a go-between of responsibility
70. Payment due those who find the body of one dead by violence
Contracts for the sale of property
71. On whom binding
Irrigation law
72. The law as to new fields
73. The law as to water
74. The law as to irrigation ditches
Penal Law
Penalties
75. Nature and reckoning of fines
Circumstances which affect penalty
76. Moral turpitude not a factor
Penal responsibility
77. The nungolat, or principal
78. The tombok, or "thrower"
79. Iba'n di nungolat, "the companions of the one who was strong"
80. The montudol, "shower," or informer
81. Servants who commit crimes at the bidding of their masters
82. Likelihood to punishment
83. Drunkenness and insanity in relation to criminal responsibility
84. The relation of intent to criminal responsibility
Other factors affecting liability
85. Alienship
86. Confession
87. Kinship
88. Rank and standing in the community
89. Importance of influential position and personality
89a. Cripples and unfortunates
The principal crimes and their frequency
90. List of offenses
Sorcery
91. The ayah or soul-stealing
92. Other forms of sorcery
93. Punishment of sorcery
Adultery
94. Forms of adultery
95. Punishment of adultery
96. Sex in relation to punishment for adultery
The taking of life
97. General considerations
98. Executions justifiable by Ifugao law
99. Feuds
100. War
101. Head-taking
102. Hibul, or homicide
103. Attempts to murder
104. Wounding
105. Special liability of the givers of certain feasts
106. The labod, fine assessed for homicide
107. Accidental killing of animals
108. Malicious killing of animals
Putting another in the position of an accomplice
109. The tokom, or fine for compromising another
Theft
110. Of theft in general
111. Theft of rice from a granary
112. Theft of unharvested rice
113. Illegal confiscation
Arson
114. Fines assessed for goba or arson
Kidnapping
115. Circumstances under which kidnapping may occur
Incest
116. Rarity of such offenses
Rape
117. Both parties being unmarried
118. Rape of a married woman by an unmarried man
119. Rape of a married woman by a married man
Ma-hailyu, or minor offenses
120. False accusation
121. Baag or slander
122. Threats of violence
123. Insult
Procedure
The family in relation to procedure
124. Family unity and coöperation
The monkalun or go-between
125. Nature of his duties
Testimony
126. Litigants do not confront each other
Ordeals
127. Cases in which employed
128. The hot water ordeal
129. The hot-bolo ordeal
130. Alao, or duel
131. Trial by bultong or wrestling
132. The umpire and the decision
Execution of justice
133. Retaliation
134. Seizure of chattels
135. Seizure of rice fields
136. Enforced hospitality
137. Kidnapping or seizure of persons
138. Cases illustrating seizure and kidnapping
The paowa or truce
139. The usual sense of the term "paowa"
140. Another sense of the term "paowa"
Termination of controversies: peace-making
141. The hidit or religious aspects of peace-making
An inter-village law
142. Neutrality
Appendices
I. Ifugao reckoning of relationship
II. Connection of religion with procedure
III. Parricide
IV. Concubinage among the Kalingas
Glossary 122
Explanation of plates 130
PREFACE
There is no law so strong as custom. How much more universal, willing,
and spontaneous is obedience to the customary law that a necktie shall
be worn with a stiff collar than is obedience to the ordained law
against expectoration on sidewalks; notwithstanding that the latter has
more basis in consideration of the public weal and even in aesthetics.
This little paper shows how a people having no vestige of constituted
authority or government, and therefore living in literal anarchy,
dwell in comparative peace and security of life and property. This
is owing to the fact of their homogeneity and to the fact that their
law is based entirely on custom and taboo.
The Ifugaos are a tribe of barbarian head-hunters. Nevertheless, after
living among them for a period of eight years, I am fully satisfied
that never, even before our government was established over them,
was the loss of life from violence of all descriptions nearly so
great among them as it is among ourselves. I do not, however, wish
to be understood as advocating their state of society as ideal,
or as in any way affording more than a few suggestions possibly to
our own law-makers. Given dentists and physicians, however, I doubt
gravely if any society in existence could afford so much advantage
in the way of happiness and true freedom as does that of the Ifugaos.
But we must realize that probably neither security of the individual
life nor even happiness are the chief ends of existence. The progress
and evolution of our people are much more important in all probability,
and this seems to demand the sacrifice of ease and freedom and of
much happiness on the part of the individuals composing our society.
Acknowledgments are due first to my teacher and friend, Professor
Frederick Starr, for his encouragement and assistance, and, above all,
for his inculcation of respect for and tolerance toward customs other
than our own.
Captain Jeff D. Gallman, whose work among the Ifugaos stands to the
credit of our government of the Philippines second to that of no
other man in the archipelago, assisted me in many ways. He is a man
learned in the "lore of men,"
"Who ha' dealt with men
In the new and naked lands."
Dr. David P. Barrows, now Major Barrows, also rendered me indispensable
aid and encouragement. Dr. A. L. Kroeber of the chair of anthropology,
University of California, and his associates, Dr. T. T. Waterman and
Mr. E. W. Gifford, have read the manuscript and proofs and have made
valuable suggestions which are incorporated in the paper as finally
published. These gentlemen have been unstintedly generous in welcoming
a newcomer in the field in which they are so preëminent.
Dr. George W. Simonton has kindly assisted in preparing the manuscript
for the printer.
The photographs, with one exception, were taken by myself.
San Francisco, California, January 14, 1918.
INTRODUCTION
The Ifugaos
Philippine ethnologists generally agree to the hypothesis that the
Negritos, a race of little blacks, remnants of which now inhabit
mountain regions of many of the larger islands, were the original
inhabitants of the Philippine Archipelago. They advance the hypothesis
that these little blacks were driven by Malay immigrants from their
former homes in the fertile plains to the mountains; and that these
first Malay invaders were driven from the lowlands into the mountain
regions by succeeding immigrations of Malays superior to them in
organization and weapons. [1] By and by, no one cares to hazard how
long afterward, the Spaniards came. They christianized the lowlanders,
except the Mohammedan populations of Mindanao and Sulu. But at
the time of the American occupation the mountaineer descendants
of the first immigration, for the most part, had not received the
spiritual ministrations of Her Most Catholic Majesty's missionaries,
on account of the inaccessible character of their habitat. True,
garrisons and missions had been established in a few localities
among them; but owing to the scattered character of the population,
the independent spirit of the people, their natural conservatism,
and the lack of tact and consideration on the part of the Spanish
officials and missionaries, practically no progress had been made in
christianizing or civilizing them.
The great majority of the non-Mohammedan, non-Christian Malays
inhabit the island of Luzon. The Luzon non-Christian tribes and their
estimated numbers are: Apayaos, 16,000; Benguet Igorots, 25,000; Bontoc
Igorots, 50,000; Wild Gaddanes, 4000; Ifugaos, 120,000; Ilongots,
6000; Kalingas, 60,000; Tingianes, 30,000; Lepanto Igorots, 35,000;
total, nearly a quarter million. All these tribes inhabit the mountain
ranges of the northern third of the island.
The habitat of the Ifugaos is situated in about the center of the
area inhabited by the non-Christian tribes. In point of travel-time,
as we say in the Philippines, for one equipped with the usual amount
of baggage, Ifugao-land is about as far from Manila as New York from
Constantinople. To the northeast are the Wild Gaddan, to the north
the Bontoc Igorot, to the northwest, west, and southwest the Lepanto
and Benguet Igorots; to the east, across the wide uninhabited river
basin of the Cagayan, are the Ilongots. This geographic isolation has
tended to keep the Ifugao culture relatively pure and uninfluenced
by contact with the outside world. Two or three military posts were
fitfully maintained in Ifugao by the Spaniards during the last half
century of their sovereignty; but the lives of the natives were little
affected thereby.
Ifugao men wear clouts and Ifugao women loin cloths, or short skirts,
reaching from the waist to the knees. Wherever they go the men carry
spears. Both sexes ornament their persons with gold ornaments, beads,
agates, mother of pearl, brass ornaments, and so forth. Ifugao houses,
while small, are substantially built, of excellent materials, and
endure through many generations.
It may safely be said that the Ifugaos have constructed the most
extensive and the most admirable terraces for rice culture to be
found anywhere in the world. The Japanese terraces, which excite
the admiration of tens of thousands of tourists every year, are
not to be compared with them. On these steep mountains that rise
from sea-level to heights of six to eight thousand feet--mountains
as steep probably as any in the world--there have been carved out,
with wooden spades and wooden crowbars, terraces that run like the
crude but picturesque "stairsteps" of a race of giants, from the
bases almost to the summits. Some of these terrace walls are fifty
feet high. More than half are walled with stone. Water to flood these
terraces is retained by a little rim of earth at the outer margin. The
soil is turned in preparation for planting with a wooden spade. No
mountain is too steep to be terraced, if it affords an unfailing
supply of water for irrigation. The Ifugao, too, makes clearings on
his mountains in which he plants sweet potatoes, and numerous less
important vegetables. Without his knowing it, he bases his agriculture
on scientific principles (to an extent that astounds the white man)
and he tends his crops so skillfully and artistically that he probably
has no peer as a mountain husbandman.
Of political organization the Ifugao has nothing--not even a
suggestion. Notwithstanding, he has a well-developed system of
laws. This absolute lack of political government has brought it
about that the Ifugao is a consummate diplomat. After an eight years'
residence among them, I am convinced that the Ifugaos got along very
well in the days before a foreign government was established among
them. Through countless generations the Ifugao who has survived
and prospered has been the one who has carried his point, indeed,
but has carried it without involving himself in serious trouble with
his fellows.
The Ifugao's religion is a mixture of an exceedingly complex
polytheism, ancestor worship, and a mythology that is used as
an instrument of magic. His religion seems to be far more highly
developed than that of the other non-Christian tribes.
Attempts made by Spain to colonize the Ifugao in the lowlands
invariably met with failure. The Ifugao is a hillman, and loves his
hills. He is of an independent nature and cannot stand confinement. A
great many prisoners jailed by American officials have courted death
rather than endure incarceration.
While there are well defined tribal divisions that mark off the various
mountain-Malay populations of northern Luzon, the cultures of all
of the tribes are basically similar. Numerous parallelisms, too, are
found with the lowland Filipinos, even now, in features of daily life,
religion, taboo, law, and marital relation. The dialects of all the
tribes inhabiting the islands are branches of the great family of Malay
languages--languages spoken over more than half the circumference of
the globe. The linguistic differences that exist between the mountain
and the lowland tribes seem to be not much greater than the linguistic
differences between the various mountain tribes themselves.
Many things lead us to believe that the culture of the Ifugaos is
very old. We have to do with a people who possess both as individuals
and collectively a most remarkable memory. Ifugao rich men lend to
considerable numbers of clients and others every year during the
"hungry time"--to these, varying numbers of bundles of rice, to
this one a skein of yarn, to that one a pig, and to another again a
chicken. All these bargains and their amounts and their varying terms,
our wealthy Ifugao remembers, unaided by any system of writing or other
artificial means. Many Ifugaos know their ancestors back to the tenth
or even the fourteenth generation, and, in addition, the brothers
and sisters of these ancestors. If we consider the racial or tribal
memory of these people, we find a mythology fully as voluminous as
that of the Greeks. But the Ifugaos have no recollections of having
ever migrated. Unless they have lived for many centuries in their
present habitat, it seems certain that they would have retained at
least in mythical form the memory of their migration.
Another consideration that is significant lies in a comparison of the
rate of rice-field building in these peaceful times, when such work
is not hindered but instead vigorously stimulated by the government,
with the amount of such work accomplished by past generations. One
who stands on some jutting spur of the mountain-side in Asin, Sapao,
or Benaue can scarcely help being impressed with the feeling that he
is looking upon a work of tens of centuries. Any calculation must be
based on vague and hazardous figures of course, but, without having
any theories to prove, and making due allowance for increased rate
of building during peaceful times and for the pressure of the needs
of increased population, from a comparison of the estimated area of
voluntary rice-field building with the areas already constructed,
I come to the conclusion that the Ifugaos must have lived in their
present habitat for at least two thousand years, and I believe that
these figures are too small.
SOURCES OF IFUGAO LAW AND ITS PRESENT STATUS OF DEVELOPMENT
The Ifugaos have no form of writing: there is, consequently, no written
law. They have no form of political government: there is, therefore,
no constitutional or statutory law. Inasmuch as they have no courts
or judges, there is no law based on judicial decisions.
Ifugao law has two sources of origin: taboo (which is essentially
religious) and custom. The customary law is the more important from
the greater frequency of its application.
1. Relation of taboo to law.--The Ifugao word for taboo is paniyu. The
root, which appears under the varying forms iyu, iho, iyao, and
ihao, means in general "evil" or "bad." The prefix pan denotes
instrumentality or manner. The word paniyu means both by derivation
and in use, "bad way of doing," or "evil way." By far the greater
number of taboos have their origin in magic. A very large number of
them concern the individual, or those closely related to him by blood
ties, and for this reason have no place in a discussion of law. Thus
a pregnant woman may not wear a string of beads, since the beads
form a closed circle and so have a magic tendency to close her body
and cause difficult childbirth. This, however, is not a matter that
concerns anybody else, and so could be of no interest at law. It is
taboo for brothers to defecate near each other, but only they are
harmed thereby, and the matter is consequently not of legal interest.
The breaking of a taboo that concerns the person or possessions of
an individual of another family is a crime. The following instances
will illustrate:
In nearly all districts [2] of Ifugao it is taboo for persons of
other districts2 to pass through a rice field when it is being
harvested. It is also taboo for foreigners to enter a village
when that village is observing its ceremonial idleness, tungul,
at the close of harvest time. One who broke this taboo would be
subject to fine. In case it were believed that the fine could
not be collected, he would be in danger of the lance.
It is taboo to blackguard, to use certain language, and to do
certain things in the presence of one's own kin of the opposite
sex that are of the degrees of kinship within which marriage
is forbidden or in the presence of another and such kindred
of his, or to make any except the most delicately concealed
references to matters connected with sex, sexual intercourse,
and reproduction. Even these delicately concealed references are
permissible only in cases of real necessity. The breaking of this
taboo is a serious offense. One who broke the taboo in the presence
of his own female kin would not be punished except in so far as
the contempt of his fellows is a punishment. In Kiangan, before
the establishment of foreign government, breaking the taboo in the
presence of another and his female kin of the forbidden degrees is
said to have been sometimes punished by the lance (see sec. 123).
It is taboo for one who knows of a man's death to ask a relative
of the dead man if the man is dead. The breaking of this taboo
is punishable by fine.
If asked, Ifugaos say that it is taboo to steal; to burn or destroy
the property of another; to insult, or ruin the good name of another;
to cause the death or injury of another by sorcery or witchcraft; in
short, to commit any of those acts which among most peoples constitute
a crime.
The word taboo as understood among ourselves, and as most often used
among the Ifugaos, denotes a thing rather arbitrarily forbidden. It
seems likely that moral laws--from which most criminal laws are an
outgrowth--originate thus: the social conscience, learning that some
act is antisocial, prohibits it (often in conjunction with religion)
or some feature of it, or some semblance of it, arbitrarily, harshly,
and sometimes unreasonably. Thus the first taboo set forth above has
the semblance of being aimed against interruption in the business
or serious occupation of another, or against his worship. The mere
passing near a rice field when it is being harvested or the mere
entrance into a village during the period of ceremonial idleness are
arbitrarily seized upon as acts constituting such interruptions. The
second taboo arose from the purpose of the social consciousness to
prevent marriage or sexual intercourse between near kin. [3] It is
most sweeping and unreasonable in its prohibitions. A third person
may make no remark in the presence of kin of the opposite sex as to
the fit of the girl's clothing; as to her beauty; nor may he refer
to her lover, nor play the lover's harp. Many ordinary things must
be called by other than their ordinary names. Even the aged priests
who officiate at a birth feast must refer in their prayers to the
foetus about to be born as "the friend" and to the placenta as "his
blanket." A great number of things are forbidden in the presence of
kindred of opposite sex that would not shock even the most prudish
of our own people. The third taboo seems to be aimed against the
bandying or the taking in vain of the name of the dead.
It would seem that a primitive society, once it has decided a thing to
be wrong, swings like a pendulum to the very opposite extreme, adds
taboo upon taboo, and hedges with taboo most illogically. With the
ardor of the neophyte, it goes to the other limit, becoming squeamish
in the extreme of all that can in the remotest conception be connected
with the forbidden thing. [4]
Ultimately reason and logic tend to triumph and eliminate the
illogical, impertinent and immaterial taboos, remove the prohibitions
contained in the useful taboos from their pedestal of magic, and
set them upon a firmer base of intelligence, or at least practical
empiricism.
A small part of Ifugao law consists even yet of taboos that are
arbitrary and, except in essence, unreasonable. But the greater part
has advanced far beyond this stage and is on a firm and reasonable
basis of justice. Much of it originated from taboo--even yet the taboos
are remembered and frequently applied to acts that constitute crimes
among ourselves--but the immaterial and arbitrary taboos have been
eliminated. Although the Ifugaos say that adultery and theft and arson
are tabooed, nevertheless their attitude of mind is not the same as
that toward things that are merely tabooed. It is the attitude of the
human mind toward things that are prohibited by law and by conscience.
2. Scope of customary law.--The customary law embraces that which
pertains to property, inheritance, water rights, and to a great extent,
family law and procedure. There is a certain amount of variation in
customs and taboos throughout Ifugao land. This accounts to a certain
extent, perhaps, for the reserved behavior of visitors to a district
distant from their own. Visitors are afraid of unwittingly breaking
some taboo. In general, however, it may be said that laws are very
nearly uniform throughout the Ifugao country.
3. Connection of law and religion.--Religion and law appear conjointly
in (a) transferals of family property; (b) ordeals; (c) certain taboos;
(d) payments of the larger fines; (e) peace-making. The Ifugaos state
that a large part of their customary law and procedure was given them
by Lidum, their great teacher, a deity of the Skyworld, and an uncle
of their hero-ancestor, Balitok.
4. General principles of the Ifugao legal system.--Its personal
character. Society does not punish injuries to itself except as the
censure of public opinion is a punishment. This follows naturally
from the fact that there is no organized society. It is only when
an injury committed by a person or family falls on another person or
family that the injury is punished formally.
Collective responsibility. Not only the individual who commits an
act but his kin, in proportion to the nearness of their kinship, are
responsible for the act. Their responsibility is slightly less than
his. This applies not only to crimes but to debts and civil injuries.
Collective procedure. Legal procedure is by and between families;
therefore a family should be "strong to demand and strong to resist
demands." A member of an Ifugao family assists in the punishment of
offenders against any other member of his family, and resists the
punishment of members of his family by other families. A number of
circumstances affect the ardor with which he enters into procedures
in which a relative is concerned and the extent to which he will go
into them. Among these are: (a) the nearness or remoteness of his
relationship to the relative concerned in the action; (b) relationship
to the other principal in the action; (c) the loyalty to the family
group of the relative principally concerned in the procedure and
the extent to which this relative discharges his duty to it; (d)
evidence in the case bearing on the correctness of the relative's
position in the controversy.
A corollary of the above principle. Since legal procedure is between
families, and never between individuals, nor between a family and an
individual, crimes of brother or sister against brother or sister
go unpunished. The family of the two individuals is identical. A
family cannot proceed against itself. But in the case of incest
between a father and a daughter the father might be punished by the
girl's mother's family on the ground that he had committed a crime
against a member of that family. It is true that just as great an
injury would have been committed against the family of the father,
since the relationship of the daughter to that family is the same
as to her mother's family. But the father, the perpetrator of the
crime, being a nearer relative of his own family than his daughter,
his family certainly would not take active steps against him. Were
the crime a less disgraceful one, the father's kin would probably
contest his penalty.
The family unity must at all hazards be preserved. Clemency is
shown the remoter kin in order to secure their loyalty to the family
group. A large unified family group is in the ideal position of being
"strong to demand and strong to resist demands." The family is the
only thing of the nature of an organization that the Ifugao has,
and he cherishes it accordingly.
Collective recipiency of punishment. Just as the family group is
collectively responsible for the delinquencies of its members, but in
less degree than the delinquent himself, so may punishment be meted out
to individuals of the group other than the actual culprit, although
naturally it is preferred to punish the actual culprit; and so may
debts or indemnities be collected from them. But only those individuals
that are of the nearest degree of kinship may be held responsible;
cousins may not legally be punished if there be brothers or sisters.
Ifugao law is very personal in its character. For the different classes
of society there are in the Mampolia-Kababuyan area five grades of
fines in punishment of a given crime, four in the Hapao-Hunduan area,
and three in the Kiangan area.
Might is right to a very great extent in the administration of
justice. For a given crime, one family, on account of superior
war footing, or superior diplomacy, or on account of being better
bluffers, will be able to exact much more severe penalties than
another. Especially is Ifugao administration of justice likely
to be unfair when persons of different classes are parties to a
controversy. I doubt very much, however, whether this characteristic
of Ifugao administration of justice be more pronounced than it is in
our own.
5. Stage of development of Ifugao law.--Reasons have already been given
for believing the Ifugao's culture to be very old. His legal system
must also be old. Yet it is in the first stage of the development of
law. It is, however, an example of a very well developed first-stage
legal system. It ranks fairly with Hebrew law, or even with the
Mohammedan law of a century ago. R. R. Cherry in his lectures on the
Growth of Criminal Law in Ancient Communities demonstrates these stages
of legal development: First, a stage of simple retaliation--"an eve
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life." Second, a stage
in which vengeance may be bought off "either by the individual who has
inflicted the injury or by his tribe." Third, a stage in which the
tribe or its chiefs or elders intervene to fix penalty-payments and
to pronounce sentence of outlawry on those who refuse to pay proper
fines. Fourth, a stage in which offenses come to be clearly recognized
as crimes against the peace and welfare of the king or the state.
No Ifugao would dream of taking a payment for the deliberate or
intentional murder of a kinsman. He would be universally condemned if
he did so. However, he would usually accept a payment for an accidental
taking of life. There is still, however, an element of doubt as to
whether even in such a case payment would be accepted. For nearly
all other offenses payments are accepted in extenuation. Ifugao law,
then, may be said to be in the latter part of the first stage of
legal development.
THE FAMILY LAW
MARRIAGE
6. Polygamy.--The extent to which personality affects what an Ifugao
may or may not do without being considered an offender is illustrated
in the matter of polygamy. Any Ifugao, except one of the most powerful,
who might try to take a plural wife would only bring upon himself
heavy punishment--punishment that would be administered by the kin of
the first wife. But men who are very wealthy and who are also gifted
with a considerable amount of force of character sometimes take a
second or even a third wife, and compel the kin of the first wife to
recognize her and her children. In other words, they make polygamy
legal for themselves. The first wife is of higher class than succeeding
wives. Her children have inheritance rights to all the property their
father had at the time of the taking of the plural wife. The following
is a typical instance of the taking of a plural wife:
Guade of Maggok, an extremely wealthy man, after marrying and
having a number of children by his first wife, began habitually
to have illicit intercourse with another woman. The kin of the
first wife demanded a heavy indemnity. Such was their bungot
(ferocity) that they succeeded in making Guade think that he was
in imminent peril of losing his life, and in collecting double
the amount usual in such cases. But having paid the fine, Guade
rallied to his support all his kin and kept up the relations with
the woman, taking her as a second wife. Nor did the kin of the
first wife attempt to prohibit this, well knowing that they had
gone far enough. The second wife is recognized, and her children
are recognized, as legitimate. Guade informed me recently that
he was thinking seriously of taking a third. Guade is admired
and envied by every one in the community apparently; whereas a
man of less force would be condemned by public opinion.
When a plural wife is taken a heavy payment must be made the first
wife and her kin. This may amount to about 500 pesos.
7. Nature of marriage.--Marriage among the Ifugaos is a civil
contract of undefined duration. It may last a month, a year, a
decade, or until the death of one of the parties to it. It has no
essential connection with the tribal religion. True, at almost every
step in its consummation the family ancestral spirits and the other
deities are besought to bless the union in a material way in the
matter of children and wealth and by giving the two parties long
life. But this is a matter of self interest, and not of hallowing
or consecrating the union. Should the omens be bad, the two people
do not marry because they are afraid that in the shape of sickness
or death or childlessness, ill fortune may overtake them if they do
so. And even after the marriage has been fully consummated should
it happen that at any one of three certain feasts performed by the
parents of the couple during the year in connection with their rice
crop, the omen of the bile sac [5] should promise ill, the marriage
is dissolved. No promises are made by the contracting parties to each
other or to anybody else. Nor do the contracting parties take any part
in any religious ceremonials or in any marriage ceremonials of any
kind. Marriage may be terminated at any time by mutual agreement. But
that marriage is considered a contract is shown by the fact that if
either party terminates the marriage against the will of the other
the injured party has the right to assess and collect damages.
The theory that marriage should be permanent in order to provide
the better for the training and rearing of children has no legal
embodiment. [6] It is, however, established by custom that in case of
divorce a property settlement according to the wealth of the family
must be made on the children.
8. Eligibility to marriage.--Any person of any age may marry. The
consent of the parents is not necessary. But there is taboo on
the marriage of cousins within the third degree. This taboo may
be rendered inoperative, except in the case of full cousins, by
an exchange of animals ranging from two pigs in the case of the
nearer relationships to one small pig or a chicken in the case of the
remoter. The girl's kin in all cases receive the more valuable animals
in this exchange. But the marriage of first cousins is absolutely
tabooed and never occurs. It is said that children are sometimes
coerced into marriage against their will; but I have heard of only
one case in which physical force was used, and even in this case the
attempt ended in failure.
9. The two ways in which marriage may be brought about.--Those children
that will inherit a great deal of property are married usually,
but by no means always, by a contract [7] marriage; those who will
inherit no property, or but a small amount, and those who, married
by the preceding method, have lost their spouses, or who on reaching
a maturer age, do not find themselves compatible with their spouses,
and consequently remarry, are married by a trial marriage. However,
it should be said that even a contract marriage is a trial marriage
to a great degree. In fact, one inclined to be prudent in his speech
would never pronounce an Ifugao marriage a permanent one until the
death of one of the parties to it.
The trial marriage is merely a primitive sexual mating in the
dormitories of the unmarried. It might be called a courtship,
it being understood that, except in its very incipiency, Ifugao
courtship postulates an accompaniment of sexual intercourse. It is
very reprehensible, but not punishable, for a girl to enter into two
such unions contemporaneously. The moral code is hardly so strict
with respect to the male.
In case the two individuals are satisfied with each other, that is,
in case they find themselves compatible, and nearly always in case
the girl becomes pregnant and the youth has no reason for misgivings
as to the parentage of the child, the youth, after consultation with
his parents, sends a distant relative or friend, who is not related
to the girl, with betels for a ceremonial conference in which the
hand of the girl is asked in marriage. Generally it requires two or
more trial marriages to select for a person his more permanent mate.
10. Contract marriage.--The contract marriage is usually arranged for,
and its first ceremonies at least performed while the children are
quite small. Its purpose is to guard against the commission of such
a folly on the part of the child who will be wealthy as marriage to
a less wealthy spouse. The danger is that such a child, sleeping
in the common dormitory, will give way to the ardor of youth and
temporarily mate with one below him in station, and that the union
so begun prove permanent.
As a rule the couple married by a contract marriage while yet children
are elevated by the uyauwe feast to the category of the kadangyang
(upper class). The uyauwe feast is not an essential part of the
marriage ceremonials, but is an addition to them.
The following is the history of a typical marriage of this kind:
Dulinayan of Ambabag, when his son was about two years old,
sent a go-between to Likyayu, also of Ambabag, whose daughter
was somewhat younger than Dulinayan's son, with betels for a
ceremonial conference looking toward a marriage between the two
children. He stated that he would contract to give his son his
fields at Takadang, and wished to know what fields Likyayu would
give his daughter. The go-between returned, stating that Likyayu's
people did not consider Dulinayan's fields at Takadang seriously,
and asked that he assign the boy his fields at Banggo and Dayukong
in order that they might consider the union of their daughter
with his son. The go-between stated that Likyayu was considering
bestowing on his daughter his field at Takadang.
Dulinayan returned the go-between to state that he did not take as
being very serious Likyayu's statement that he intended to give
his daughter only the field at Takadang. He made the proposal
that Likyayu add to the field at Takadang the one at Danok,
and stated that if Likyayu would do so he would give his son
the fields at Banggo and Dayukong, as Likyayu suggested. Likyayu
accepted this proposal.
After two or three more conferences, it was agreed that Dulinayan
was to assign his son the following movable family property:
1 rice-wine jar, 1 gansa, 1 gold ornament. Likyayu was to assign
his daughter 1 rice-wine jar, 1 gold ornament, and 1 pango (string
of ancient beads). Besides the above, Likyayu would give, at the
proper time, a house for the young couple. Each of the two men
would present his child a granary.
The above agreement made, Dulinayan sent a pig called tokop di
mommon and a pig called imbango. These pigs were sacrificed
by Likyayu and his kin. The omens of the bile sacs promised
well. Likyayu returned 1 natauwinan (4 spears), as the mangdad
of the imbango.
About three years elapsed before anything further was done toward
the completion of the marriage. During this period Dulinayan on
behalf of his son furnished Likyayu's household with what firewood
was needed and kept his granaries in repair. Whenever his son's
betrothed fell ill, or whenever her parents or grandparents
fell ill, Dulinayan furnished a pig for sacrifice. And whenever
Dulinayan's son or his son's parents or grandparents fell ill
Likyayu furnished a pig. Likewise when one of the direct ascendants
of either of the young couple died the other family furnished a
pig for the funeral and a death blanket as one of the burial robes.
In the year 1912--that is, three years after the contract was
made--Dulinayan sent a man to propose an uyauwe. Each family
performed a granary feast to determine whether the time was
propitious. The omens being good, each family notified the other of
the fact. Dulinayan then sent a large pig as the hingot. Likyayu's
people returned a small pig as hulul di hingot. Then Dulinayan
furnished a large pig for the bubun, and the two families met
for the first time during the period of the negotiations and
sacrificed and prayed together.
A short time afterward the children were made kadangyang by the
giving of an uyauwe feast. At this feast Dulinayan gave hakba
(marriage presents) to Likyayu and his kin.
In a contract marriage there is always an assignment to the children of
the property that they will inherit. The amount of property settled
upon either of them is equal or very nearly equal to that settled
on the other. Nor may the parent of one of the children sell any
of this property except for the purpose of providing animals for
sacrifice in case of the illness or death of the child or one of his
direct ascendants, or in case of the illness or death of the child's
betrothed, or one of his direct ascendants (see sec. 13).
11. Marriage ceremonials.--The following are the steps taken to
consummate a typical marriage in the Kiangan-Maggok area:
(a) The boy's kin send the girl's kin a pig. This pig is sacrificed
by the girl's kin. The omen of the bile sac is consulted. The pig is
eaten. This feast is called mommon.
(b) The boy's kin send another pig to the girl's kin. The girl's kin
sacrifice this pig. The omen of the bile sac is consulted. This feast
is called imbango.
A non-essential part of the ceremonials, but an important matter
in some contingencies, is the return by the girl's kin of a gift
to the boy's kin in exchange of the pig sent for this feast. This
return gift is called mangdad. Its effect is to nullify any right on
the part of the boy's kin to demand a repayment of the pig sent for
this ceremony in case the marriage should for any reason whatever
fail to be effected. Even though the failure to complete or effect
the marriage be the girl's fault, if the mangdad has been sent, the
boy's kin have no right to ask a return of the imbango. The return
gift is of much less value than that made by the boy's parents.
(c) The boy's kin send the girl's kin a pig, which pig is sacrificed
by the girl's kin. The omen of the bile sac is consulted. This feast
is called hingot.
A non-essential part of the ceremonials, but one important in the same
way as in the preceding ceremony, is the return by the girl's kin of
a small pig, called the hulul di hingot (exchange of the hingot).
(d) The kin of both the contracting principals meet at the girl's
house and sacrifice a large pig furnished by the boy's kin. This feast
is called bubun, and has for its especial purpose to obtain from the
gods of animal fertility long life, health, and many children for the
young couple. It is attended by a giving of gifts by the kin of the
boy to the kin of the girl, except that in the case of a contract
marriage between kadangyang (the upper class) the giving of these
gifts is often deferred till the uyauwe ceremony, which, while not
part of the marriage ceremonials, often follows immediately after them.
The programme of marriage ceremonials among the northern Ifugao is
somewhat different.
(a) Same as (a) above. This ceremonial is omitted except in marriages
between the wealthy.
(b) The boy's kin sacrifice a pig at his home, sending half of it,
if the omen of the bile sac promises well, to the kin of the girl
in a back basket, called bango, whence originates the term imbango,
meaning "carried in a bango."
(c) The boy's kin take a pig to the girl's home. The girl's kin
furnish another and smaller pig. Both families participate in a
religious feast. This feast is called tanig, and seems to include
both the bubun and the hingot of the Kiangan people.
(d) Ceremonial idleness for the boy and the girl is required during
a period of five days. On the third day the couple go to one of their
fields, it being taboo for either of them to stumble on the way. The
trip is in one respect somewhat like the time-honored cutting of the
cakes in one of our own marriage feasts to secure a prognostication
as to which of the two spouses will die first. Stumbling on the part
of one of the couple, however, would indicate that that one would die
not only first but soon, and would probably lead to a refusal on his
or her part to go ahead with the marriage. [8] Arrived at the field,
the girl weeds a part of it, and the boy gathers some wood from a
near-by forest. Then they go home, the boy carrying the bundle of wood.
In case a bad omen of the bile sac is encountered in any of these
ceremonies, the marriage is not proceeded with, since the belief is
that misfortune would surely attend it.
In the case of the poor, some of the above ceremonies may be omitted;
or chickens or smaller pigs may be substituted for any or all the
pigs. The above programme is simply that which is to be followed out
if the groom be financially able to do the "right thing."
In case the spouses are related, two pigs--a male and a female--are
sacrificed, and the ceremony called ponga is performed. The larger
pig is furnished by the boy. The nearer the kinship the larger the
pigs necessary for this ceremony.
At no time are any vows or promises made by the principals. At no
time, except in the fourth ceremony among the Northern Ifugao, do the
principals have any active part in the ceremonies. Indeed, they may
not eat the meat of the pigs or chickens killed at their own wedding,
for it is taboo to them.
12. Gifts to the kin of the bride: hakba.--In the Kiangan area, but
in no other, expensive gifts are made to the kin of the bride. These
gifts are called hakba. Only in the case of the very poorest are
gifts foregone. The gifts are distributed to the girl's kin, the
nearer kin receiving the more valuable and the remote kin the less
valuable articles. But the elder of a line of cousins by a single
uncle, for example, receives a more valuable present, the next in
age a less valuable one, the next in age a still less valuable one,
and so on, the youngest getting nothing if he have many brothers and
sisters. No distinction is made between male and female kin. The gifts
may range from two death blankets, worth 16 pesos, to a spearhead
worth 0.20 peso.
Except in the case of the poverty-stricken, there is nothing for it
but to pay these presents. If they be not forthcoming, the kin of the
woman seize the pig provided for the bubun ceremony, carry it home
and guard it well till such time as the groom comes forward with the
hakba gifts, when they return it for the ceremonial.
The following is a list of the hakba given by Dulinayan of Ambabag to
Likyayu's family of the same village on the occasion of the marriage
of the son of the former to the daughter of the latter.
12 clouts at P1 P12
10 woman's skirts at P2 20
42 death blankets at P8 336
10 woman's girdles at P2 20
10 war knives at P1 10
3 iron pots at P5 15
1 bayaó (blanket) at P5 5
1 rice-wine jar at P8 8
2 gansas at P8 16
620 "irons" (spears, knives,
axes, etc., at an average
value of P .50 each) 310
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Total P752