The purpose of this article is to describe the native wrestling and other games, which have been performed in the ritual settings of Ifugao society, Philippines. Such ritual games and competitions need to be disclosed and comprehended within the cultural context of Ifugao society. Since the consciousness of rivalry symbolically relates with the world view shared by the Ifugao individuals, especially metaphysical usages of power, the connotation of Ifugao magic, sorcery and its protection should be considered to unravel the differences of violence found between competition and sorcery.The Ifugao is renown for large scaled rice terraces for some thousands years at the southeastern part of Cordillera mountains in the northern Luzon island. The UNESCO recognizes its rice terraces as one of the world cultural heritages in 1995.Barton is probably the first anthropologist who noticed the Ifugao wrestling and introduced it as “bultong” in his study of law and customs [1919]. He shortly described its wrestling as an ordeal observed when the embroilment over the possession of a rice terrace should be disposed. However he excluded its cultural aspects from his descriptions of bultong.People of Hapao at the Hungduan municipality, Ifugao province, call their wrestling “dopap” instead of bultong mentioned by Barton, though they belong to the same dialect group with Kiangan where Barton conducted his researches. Nowadays they never practice dopap as a device for an ordeal, but they still inherit it well in their society. My research is based on the interviews of the native taxonomy on dopap, such as wrestling styles and techniques.The distinguished features of dopap as an ordeal were as followings : (1) Before the wrestling match began, the perfqrmers negotiated and decided which style should be chosen, which techniques should be prohibited and how many times to wrestle. (2) Since wrestlers fought in a rice pond, there were some limitations on available techniques. (3) In the wrestling match, direct body contacts and strength of players were more emphasized than techniques. (4) Ritual for reconciliation should be given immediately after wrestling.Although the dopap was uniquely flourished in Ifugao culture, people of Hapao seemed to prefer ritual 'lance throwing' called duha for an ordeal. The reason of such preference should be clarified by deliberating the differences between dopap and duha, and symbolic meanings of both 'wrestling' and 'lance' must be taken into consideration.A Village of Hapao is geographically divided into two parts by the natural boundary of the Hapao River. In early April, two groups used to gather respectively both the riverbanks and attend to a communal meeting so called tungo. Tungo was a rite held during the agricultural interval before rice harvest, and the contest by a 'tag-of-war' in the river called pun'ok was performed in this occasion. This ritual game was thought of as water festival. When players slipped off into the river, the upside downs of players' body symbolically represented cultural structure of Ifugao in both topological changes and time passages. For example, the dominance of upriver (daya) is giving way to downriver (lagud) and a dry season turned into a raining season, famine is replaced to fertility. Another game called hakingking also held during the tungo supported this interpretation. The Ifugao cultural structure exemplifies the resembled Japanese cultural one, which Auehant (1981) pointed out through analysis of Japanese traditional Sumo-wrestling with other cultural elements.Secularized plays and games together with modernization entered Hapao and social changes became so serious since early 1960s. Today, the municipal government revived this tungo for the regional development of tourism since 1992, and it is held every two years now. Some competitions are modernized, and the ritual and social significance of competitions mentioned
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Open Access
Jul 26, 2023
Edgar Gutiérrez-Gómez + 4
