The Itneg people, also known by the Spanish word Tinguian or “Mountain Dwellers”, are an ethnic group from the upland province of Abra in northern Luzon, Philippines.
Through immigrating higher into the mountains, they eventually descended from the Kalinga, Apayao and Kankana-ey tribes to form their own distinct culture, and have divided further into another 9 subgroups.
The Itneg inhabit a deeply spiritual world, where many day-to-day activities such as growing food, hunting and building dwellings are deeply interwoven with their connection to the spirit world. To the Itneg, there are two distinct classes of spiritual beings: natural spirits, who have existed eternally, and the spirits of the dead, who reside forever in Maglawa, a place between the Earth and the Sky. Natural spirits include the creator Kadaklan who watches over all things, Kabonīyan who guides and offers assistance, and Alan, a mischievous but kind half human half bird-being. Periodically, these beings are addressed through ritual, which often includes music, prolonged dancing and the sacrifice of pigs, where the blood is mixed with rice and offered to the gods.
Women often wear a tapis, a wrap-around skirt that reaches below the knees, and a ceremonial short-sleeved jacket. Beads are highly important to the Itneg, signifying wealth and social status, and often accompany rituals such as engagement, where bracelets of colourful beads are curated by men to prove their affection to their potential bride. Men wear a ba-al to cover their privates, a long-sleeved jacket for ceremony and hunting, and a large, dome-shaped hat. Hunting and fishing are sacred practices for men, who employ snares and woven basket traps to catch small game and freshwater eels, fish and crustaceans. Most important of all weapons is the lance or pīka, a long spear used for hunting pigs and in defending their land from neighbouring tribes. The blade of the pīka is extremely sharp and often barbed, and often has a metal or material covering, allowing it to be used effectively as a staff for mountain climbing. Some subgroups utilised a detachable blade, which, attached to the handle with a heavy line, would stay stuck into the animal and as it attempted to escape, would become increasingly entangled as the line was dragged through the undergrowth.
The Itneg cultivate a variety of different fruits and vegetables, including yams, sweet potato, coconut, mango and bananas. Of all crops, however, rice is the most valuable. Cultivated traditionally in wet terraces, rice forms not only the staple of their diet, but the centerpiece of many rituals and customs. Furthermore, basi, a liquid of fermented sugar-cane juice and cinnamon, is used both ritualistically and as a recreational intoxicant. Besides being used to wish for health and well-being to a newly married couple, basi is used as an offering to bring protection from spirits of the dead, and as a tool in ceremony to achieve spirit possession, where one of the many natural spirits uses the body of a shaman as a medium to communicate to the mortals of the tribe.
Today, although subject to attempted colonization by the Spanish and Americans, many Itneg continue to practice their traditional lifestyle in their mountainous homelands of northwestern Luzon. They currently number approximately 50,000 individuals, or 3.17% of the population of Abra.
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