The ifugao tribe are the ethnic group inhabiting Ifugao Province. They reside in the municipalities of Lagawe (capital of Ifugao), Aguinaldo, Alfonso Lista, Asipulo, Banaue, Hingyon, Hungduan, Kiangan, Lamut, Mayoyao, and Tinoc. The province is one of the smallest provinces in the Philippines with an area of only 251,778 hectares, or about 0.8% of the total Philippine land area. As of 1995, the population of the Ifugaos was counted to be 131,635. Although the majority of them are still in Ifugao province, some of them have moved to Baguio, where they work as woodcarvers, and to other parts of the Cordillera Region. The term “Ifugao” is derived from “ipugo” which means “earth people”, “mortals” or “humans”, as distinguished from spirits and deities. It also means “from the hill”, as pugo means hill. The term Igorot or Ygolote was the term used by Spanish conquerors for mountain people. The Ifugaos, however, prefer the name Ifugao.
Ifugao, group of wet-rice agriculturalists occupying the mountainous area of northern Luzon, Philippines. They are of Malay stock and their language is Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian), as is that of their neighbours, but they have developed a number of cultural characteristics that set them apart. They numbered nearly 70,000 in 1939, but World War II reduced their population to a figure (1948) of 50,000. By the late 20th century, their population had increased to about 190,000. The Ifugao live in small hamlets of 5 to 10 houses scattered among the rice terraces. Early Spanish missionaries were impressed with the construction of the Ifugao houses—achieved without saws or other such tools—and with the decorative carvings adorning the beams and moldings of each house.
The Ifugao people inhabit the most rugged and mountainous part of the country, high up in the central Cordillera in northern Luzon. The term “Ifugao” is composed of the prefix i meaning “people of” and pugaw meaning “the cosmic earth.” It could also have been derived from the term ipugo, which means “from the hill.” Ifugao mythology, however, says that ipugo is a type of rice grain given to the people by Matungulan, the god of grains. Ifugao is also the name of a province, one among six of the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR). It covers about 251,778 hectares of territory, 81.77% of which has a slope of over 18 degrees. It consists of 11 municipalities—Banaue, Hungduan, Kiangan, Lagawe, Lamut, Mayoyao (Mayaoyao), Alfonso Lista (Potia), Aguinaldo, Hingyon, Tinoc, and Asipulo—with Lagawe as the provincial capital. The province is known for its rice terraces that are found in nine upland municipalities.
The Ifugao is a group that lives in a mountainous region of north-central Luzon around the of town Banaue. Also known as the Ifugaw, Ipugao, Yfugao, they are former headhunters who are famous for their spectacular mountain-hugging rice terraces. The Ifugao are believed to have arrived from China around 2000 years ago. Their first contact with the outside world was through American military officers and schoolteachers early in the 20th century. Communication with them was made easier when better roads were built to the areas where they live. In the past the Ifugao were feared head-hunters, just as other tribes in the mountainous regions of northern Luzon. Their war-dance (the bangibang) is one of the cultural remnants of the time of tribal conflict. This dance is traditionally held on the walls of the rice terraces by the men, equipped with spears, axes and wooden shields and a headdress made of leaves.
Mention the word “Ifugao” and it immediately calls to mind the famous man-made Banaue Rice Terraces in northern Luzon, which has been included as one of the wonders of the world. In fact, the word Ifugao is said to have come from ipugo, which means “from the hill.” The tribes’ main source of living is agriculture because they are surrounded by mountain ranges. Each village is composed of 12 to 30 houses built near rice terraces and other agricultural resources. Ifugao is one of the places in the Philippines that has not been influenced by the Spaniards; they did enter Ifugao territory but were unable to touch their culture and values. Ifugao culture values kinship, family ties, and religious and cultural beliefs. The wanno or g-string is the traditional attire of male Ifugaos. There are six types of wanno, which are used depending on the occasion or the man’s social status. Ifugao women wear tapis, a wraparound skirt. There are about five kinds of skirts.
Located at the foot of the Cordillera mountain ranges, lies the province of Ifugao. And whenever Filipino locals hear the word Ifugao, the striking image of the Rice Terraces (also known as Mga Hagdang-Hagdang Palayan) comes to mind. These terraces are reported to cover around 4,000 miles and its length is roughly half of the Earth’s circumference – approximately 12,500 miles. Ancestors of the Ifugao tribe carved thousands of these step-like terraces in the mountains with their bare hands – thus, creating a beautiful sight that people often refer to as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” The Ifugao tribe belongs to the bigger group of the Igorots, which comprises numerous tribes in the northern part of the country. They are popularly known as rice cultivators and their tribe has lived on these mountains for more than 2,000 years.
Early Ifugao culture had a ranked social organization based on kinship. The kadangyan were the elite land owners of rice fields, the tagu were kadangyan relatives who did not hold elite status, and the nawotwot who were considered poor worked for the kadangyan. Ifugao status was seen through the size of their rice fields, material things they owned, the feasts they performed, the attires and jewelry they wore, and their roles in the community. “The poor are those who have only one or two small rice field or none at all. They depend largely on their kaingin for subsistence or on the meager return they receive from the rich people for their services rendered… A rich Ifugao has five or more rice fields whose yield fills two or more granaries. Other assets are forests, gold, jars, house hold items of value, and a considerable amount of money. The affluent Ifugao commands respect and to some extent wield authority although there is no formal code which prescribes duties and rights.”
Among highland peoples of the insular Southeast Asia, the Ifugao enjoy the rare distinction of becoming widely known not under some originally generic term for “[savage] mountaineer,” but under their own name for themselves as mispronounced by their Christianized Gaddang neighbors: i-pugaw, “the people of the known earth.” The Ifugao belong to a group of peoples inhabiting northern Luzon’s Cordillera Central who are collectively known among Filipino lowlanders as “Igorots,” a term that first appears in Spanish records as a label for mountaineers who came down to Pangasinan to trade gold. As these Igorots resisted Spanish colonial rule, acculturation, and Christianization for three centuries, the Spanish referred to them as infidels and fierce and independent tribes, distinguishing them from the indios, the tribute-paying, trouser-and dress-wearing, and church-going lowlanders.
Mention the word “Ifugao” and it immediately calls to mind the famous man-made Banaue Rice Terraces in northern Luzon, which has been included as one of the wonders of the world. In fact, the word Ifugao is said to have come from ipugo, which means “from the hill.” The tribes’ main source of living is agriculture because they are surrounded by mountain ranges. Each village is composed of 12 to 30 houses built near rice terraces and other agricultural resources. Ifugao is one of the places in the Philippines that has not been influenced by the Spaniards; they did enter Ifugao territory but were unable to touch their culture and values. Ifugao culture values kinship, family ties, and religious and cultural beliefs. The wanno or g-string is the traditional attire of male Ifugaos. There are six types of wanno, which are used depending on the occasion or the man’s social status. Ifugao women wear tapis, a wraparound skirt. There are about five kinds of skirts. Batad is surrounded by beautiful amphitheatre-like rice terraces. Batad Ifugaos have three dialects: Batad, Duclingan, and Ayangan.
According to Ifugao mythology, Wigan and Bugan are the ancestors of the Ifugaos who had lived in a village called Kiyyangan (now Kiangan). They are believed to be children of deities in Kabunyan or the Skyworld. By some force of circumstance and with the consent of their father, Wigan and Bugan married each other and went to live in Daya or the Western world where they begot two boys and three girls. Years after, their descendants inhabited the Ifugao world. After the occurrence of a great flood, it is believed that only Kabigat and his sister Bugan survived. Eventually, they married each other and settled in Kiyyangan where they had many children. Aside from the myth, there exist three other theories on the origin and migration of the Ifugaos – all concluded by prominent scholars on Cordillera studies. The first is that of H. Otley Beyer, as cited by Dulawan (2005) stating that, “the ancestors of the Ifugao belonged to the first wave of Malays who came to the Philippines from the southeastern part of the Asian continent many centuries ago.” Beyer claims that these ancestors occupied the area around Lingayen Gulf from where their descendants decided to move to the North. Upon reaching Bokod in Benguet, they traversed to Kayapa (now a municipality in Nueva Vizcaya) “where they settled and built the rice terraces.” Many years after, their descendants moved northeast to Ifugao, passing through Asipulo, Kiangan and Hingyon and finally settling in Banaue “where they began the construction of the first rice terraces in Ifugao” (12). Beyer claims that the rice terraces in Kayapa are older than those in Banaue which is why he believed that the descendants of the Ifugao ancestors migrated from Kayapa to Ifugao. This theory however, is criticized by other researchers because there is no concrete evidence of culture similarity between the people in Kayapa and the people in Banaue.
The hudhud chant of the Ifugao tribe is a form of verbal folklore — defined as any type of lore involving words (Sims 12). It is a ceremonial chant that is sung during four different ceremonies. It’s started by the lead chanter, typically an elderly woman, and chorused by the younger women of the tribe. The hudhud is a nationalistic display celebrating the ethnic pride of the Ifugaos. The introduction of Christianity to the Philippines significantly weakened the prevalence of the hudhud within these indigeonous communities. This tradition was awarded a UNESCO accolade, showing its cultural significance to the archipelago. “Hudhud stories are lengthy narratives sung in alternating lead and chorus manner… and show how the hero/ heroine is challenged in deeds and ordeals when faced with the dilemma between preferential obligations and ethical wisdom” (Revel xiii) They are also described as being a “musical record of Ifugao myth, traditional beliefs passed down orally”. As a result, it is a pivotal part of Ifugao culture as it details the tribe’s storied history, as well as celebrates the achievement of famous local heroes to empower members of this culture with pride.
The Ifugaos are among the ethnic groups living in northern Luzon, particularly in the Cordillera region. Culture and language variations subdivide this group into three parts: the Tuwali (found primarily in the communities of Kiangan and Lagawe), the Ayangan (found primarily in the communities of Banaue, Hingyon, and Hungduan), and the Henanga (found in the communities of Mayoyao and Aguinaldo). Despite being labeled a fifth-class municipality, the province of Ifugao is endowed with rich vegetation. Mount Amuyao (approximately 2,780 feet above sea level) and Mount Polis, which are among the 10 highest Philippine mountain peaks, are found in Ifugao. The Ifugaos trace their ancestry to two legendary figures: Pfukhan and Gwikhan. Known as legendary ancestors, their names are normally invoked during rituals. The Ifugaos have long depended on wet rice farming and have developed a profound rice farming tradition.
Ifugao is a laidback, mountainous province in the Cordillera Region of Northern Luzon, Philippines. Its many natural lures can meet your simple-to-elegant desires for a place to see, live or invest in. Its people have remained steadfast to their mores that custom is the basis of all laws, even as modernity slowly creeps on them. The sceneries of the province are stunning. You will cherish the grandeur of its 5 clusters of rice terraces… its centerpiece attraction. You will wonder how its people built those terraces with primitive tools 2,000 years ago. The known tribes of the province are Tuwali, Ayangan, Hanglulo and Kalanguya. They are distinguished by their dialects. They were once feared head-hunters, like the other tribes in Benguet and Kalinga. They were once very antagonistic to strangers… always suspecting of them as dominion grabbers.
Indigenous Peoples Literature 