Ifugaos preserve wedding customs

Ifugaos preserve

wedding customs

WHO SAYS indigenous wedding is a

dying culture in the 21st century? Not

the Ifugaos whose marriage custom or

tanig spanned generations and

withstood Western influences.

The people of Ifugao, home of the world-famous rice terraces,

preserve and nurture tanig as a way of protecting the sanctity

of marriage.

Thus when the Inquirer's

Ifugao correspondent

Maribelle Dulnuan decided

to tie the knot with

Kiangan Councilor

Geronimo Bimohya, she

faithfully observed what

her ancestors had practised

eons ago.

'Moma'

During the moma (engagement), Bimohya sent a mediator or

mungawi--his closest relative who is respected in the

community--to Dulnuan's parents to ask her hand in marriage.

The moma was set early in the morning of May 2 and witnessed

by Dulnuan's relatives and fellow villagers. The mungawi asked

Dulnuan if she wanted to marry Bimohya, her boyfriend for a

year.

After she answered yes, the mungawi asked her parents to

allow the Dulnuan and Bimohya to be officially engaged.

The mungawi then offered a sow and eight chickens to the

Dulnuans as a gift from the groom's family.

For those belonging to the Ifugao's lower class, however, six to

eight chickens will be enough.

The pig was butchered and its meat distributed to the whole

neighborhood. The eight chickens, however, were evenly

distributed to the girl's immediate family members. The chickens

were cooked and shared for breakfast by those who witnessed

the moma.

''The method of distribution makes one understand why Ifugaos

are close-knit and are well-versed with their family tree,''

Dulnuan said.

When the people present during the moma declared, ''Hiya

peman, tinamtaman chi inyali na (Indeed, I bear witness, I

tasted the pig he brought),'' the mediator warned potential

suitors that the bride was getting married.

In Banaue, the man's relatives are not supposed to attend the

engagement proceedings. The pig or the chickens are sent

through the mediator.

In Kiangan, the man's family can attend social gatherings before

the wedding with the girl's family but they need to bring two

more pigs for the occasion.

'Tanig'

Two months after the moma, a much-awaited grand tanig takes

place.

Traditionally, the mumbaki (native priest) offers the pigs to the

Ifugao gods. The native priests then examine the pigs' bile to

foresee situations awaiting the union.

If the bile is full or in good condition, the couple can live

together. But if the pig's bile is empty or has defects, it means

that the gods do not favor the relationship.

A second pig is then offered. If the bile is still empty, the couple

has to wait for one more year and offer another pig to the gods.

Modern couples may consider a garden or a beach wedding as

beautiful and romantic but nothing beats a tanig solemnized at

the heart of the Ifugao rice terraces.

On July 3, the Dulnuan-Bimohya nuptial was officiated by a

Christian minister at a family resort area at the middle of the

world's ''stairway to heaven.''

Since both Dulnuan and Bimohya are Protestants, the two

carabaos and 11 pigs which were set for the occasion were not

offered to the Ifugao gods that day.

Nevertheless, at the wedding night, a group of mumbakis

gathered together and led the caqao (Cordillera feast) to thank

Kabunian for a successful marriage. Three native pigs were

butchered during the feast.

Dressed in their own costume, the native priests asked the

Ifugao gods to bless the newlyweds with children. They also

prayed that the couple's dead ancestors would protect the

guests on their way home.

To celebrate the union of two Ifugaos, the couple's relatives,

friends and visitors from faraway places estimated to be more

than 2,000 joined the mumbaki in a caqao which started at 7

p.m. until 6 a.m. the following day.

They danced, played their gongs and other musical instruments,

uttered local chants and feasted on the butchered carabaos and

pigs.

In the new millennium, will Ifugao residents still practice tanig?

''We would like to pass to the future generation what our great

grandparents had taught us. We would make sure that our

children would value our rich culture,'' the Bimohya couple said.