PEOPLE, CULTURE AND ARTS
The Ilongots and the Dumagats are the original
inhabitants of the province, which used to be the forest region of Nueva
Vizcaya. These tribal groups roamed the hinterlands, building their huts in the
heart of the jungle. The Ilongots used to be
a feared tribe because of their
headhunting ritual, which coincides with the blooming of the red-blood flower
of the “bagbag-tree”. They are simply half naked and clothed g-strings for the
male and wrap skirts for the females. They are also fond of coiled wire
bracelets and fancy jewelries.
The Ilongots are hunters and slash
and burn farmers living around the headwaters of the Cagayan River who have a
strong pride in their penchant for hunting heads but they have already
abandoned the practice. Men do most of
the hunting while the women plant rootcrops, rice, tobacco and bananas in small
cleared fields. The Ilongots have little
contact with lowland people except when occasionally trading dried deer
meat.
Other
cultural communities like the Ifugaos and the Igorots in search for the
proverbial “greener pasture” migrated to the province and are now living in the
highlands. Of the ethnic groups, the Ifugao have the greatest number.
With the onset of the Christian
settlers like the Ilocanos, who form the majority of the people living in the
province, the Tagalogs, Pangasinenses, and the other people from neighboring
provinces, these indigenous tribes went deeper into the forest.
